Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The appropriation account for the Agriculture, Food and the Marine Vote shows gross expenditure of €1.2 billion was incurred in 2013. In addition, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is the accredited paying agency for EU direct payments which amounted to €1.4 billion in 2013. These are accounted for separately from the Vote. The Vote expenditure in 2013 was spread across four major expenditure programmes: €327 million, or 27% of the total, was spent under the agrifood policy, development and trade programme; €213 million, or 18%, was spent on the programme for food safety, animal health and welfare and plant health; €412 million, or 34%, was spent on rural economy, environment and structural changes measures; and €254 million, or 21%, was spent on schemes of direct payments to farmers. Note 3 to the appropriation account provides further detail on the spending under each of the programmes.

Net expenditure under the Vote was around €36 million less than provided for in the estimate for 2013. With the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, €16.8 million in unspent capital allocations under the rural economy, environment and structural changes programme was carried over to 2014. The remainder of the surplus for the year, totalling €19.4 million, was liable for surrender to the Exchequer.

The Department provides substantial funding each year for a number of public bodies that operate under its aegis. These include: Teagasc, An Bord Bia, the Marine Institute, Horse Racing Ireland and Bord na gCon. The Department is also directly responsible for management of the six statutorily-designated fishery harbour centres. In the audit certificate for the Vote, I have drawn attention to the statement on internal financial control and the disclosure by the Accounting Officer that the Department procured goods and services under 19 contracts, to a value of just under €5 million, that were not compliant with all relevant procurement guidelines.