Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform

Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2014: Motion

5:10 pm

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

Exactly. I have two technical questions before I move on to my substantive question. In the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport there is a carry-forward of €1.8 million for a payment for the SAR helicopter contract. There is a related question in respect of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, as shown on page 9 of the notes received. On page 10 of the notes some €7 million will be allocated to support the continued implementation of the mortgage-to-rent scheme. Wearing my public expenditure hat, will the Minister of State please explain the reason these are considered capital expenditure as opposed to current expenditure? I would have thought the mortgage-to-rent scheme was current expenditure. The reason I ask about the payment, in respect of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, for a helicopter contract is that I understand in normal Government accounting practice that Garda cars are always taken as current expenditure even though the Minister of State and I may think they should be capital because they could last five years and yet could be crashed the first morning one goes out. Effectively, the full amount has to be provided in current expenditure in the year it is spent. Will the Minister of State explain why the helicopter contract is capital expenditure?

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