Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The main portion goes to the dairy and beef investment programmes, in other words, the expansion of large beef and dairy processing facilities. Significant aid was granted, probably before my time in some cases, but we must still pay the bills. Some schemes might receive grant approval for significant amounts, yet they might not proceed with the development or spend the money for a couple of years. Every year, we are uncertain about how much of the marketing and processing grant aid that has been allocated will be actually drawn down. This year, we visited the grants' recipients and asked them whether they were going to spend the money. Spending it is fine, but we need to know so that it can be factored into the Estimates. The sooner the money is spent, the better. It allows us to plan more accurately. This money rolls over year on year and, from an accounting point of view, is only drawn down when it is spent even though it may have been granted a number of years prior. The money in question was granted in 2007 or 2008. This is unsatisfactory in terms of planning, as these are significant sums of money. However, the projects are also significant. They involve modernising and upgrading beef and dairy processing, which require large capital investments and the grants that were allocated in 2007 or 2008.