Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like the information to be provided to the committee before the vote in the Dail to accept it.

A number of Departments that are seeking to carry forward unspent allocations for capital expenditure in 2012 to 2013. Of those, which Departments required a Supplementary Estimate in December? We had Supplementary Estimates across a range of Departments amounting to over €1 billion. It was the highest level of requirement for Supplementary Estimates to meet current expenditure last year since the foundation of the State. That is one year after the Department came into operation and I would have expected expenditure to be closely matched.

I can understand how it happens in the Department of Health and HSE. We hear the debate in the HSE that some money allocated for capital ended up being used for current spending. Did that happen in any of the Departments that required Supplementary Estimates? How much of the money included in the Estimate for capital expenditure last year is not being carried forward because it was used as current expenditure?

The Oireachtas approved the Estimates for 2012 when they were announced by the Minister in December 2011 and funding was provided in the capital investment programme to cover a large number of projects. The reason we have a carryover is because projects do not proceed due to planning, an overestimation or tenders not being in place. Perhaps the planning process had not been completed. What are the five or ten largest projects that did not proceed in 2012? The Minister has provided us with a breakdown of Departments and subheads but I would like to know the breakdown by project. The schools building programme amounts to a large part of this. The schools building programme contained an estimate for the year and if the officials in the Department of Education and Skills building unit are competent, which they are, they had an idea of the projects on which the funding was to be used. Some did not go ahead for a variety of reasons. What projects did not proceed in 2012 for which the Oireachtas had provided money? Some are multi-million projects, with staged payments spanning a number of years. It may be that the project proceeded but the work was not completed but I am sure some projects did not get off the ground when it was expected. Perhaps the Minister can provide information on the project that did not proceed.

There is nothing in the document about why the money was unspent. There is no argument about how the money will be spent in 2013. What mechanism does the Minister have in place to ensure the capital budget in 2013 will be spent in 2013 so that we are not back here next year in the same position?

Can the Minister explain the amount surrendered to the Exchequer in these Departments because it could not be carried over? On page 12, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government carried some €43 million into 2013, of which €34 million was for water services and €9 million for Leader projects. The next column shows €56,693,000 in remaining savings that was not used to meet capital savings shortfalls in headings under A3 and A9. I understand these moneys were surrendered to the Exchequer. Can we have a summary of how much was surrendered and could not be carried forward because it did not meet the guidelines in legislation? The money we carry forward can be used this year but the money surrendered, which bolstered the deficit for the end of last year, is a bigger shame. I am not talking about people spending money willy-nilly in the last two months of the year. I can understand ongoing projects having planning issues. When Departments come to the Minister with an estimated requirement for capital expenditure, the Minister must ask himself, before finalising Estimates for the current year, what discussions he will have with the line Minister of the Department.

The Minister said €99 million was unspent last year in the capital budget. Of that, €43 million could be carried forward to 2013 under the rules but €56 million was surrendered to the Department of Finance because the recipient Department could not spend it. Are some Departments coming in with higher Estimates to cover themselves and looking for money that they will have to surrender back to the Exchequer at the end of the year?