Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All the virements have been approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The funding under schemes such as CLÁR, the rural development scheme, town and village renewal and the rural recreation scheme is being paid to the local authorities in 2016 by my Department in line with approved sanction and on the basis of their project proposals and funding agreements with the Department. My Department will closely monitor expenditure on both schemes to ensure it is in line with the public spending code and that the funding is spent properly and in accordance with the project proposals. I will be meeting with the local authorities and the CEs and I will impress on them the need for the money to be spent on the projects as soon as possible. There has been a broad welcome for this funding for rural Ireland and I was anxious to get it out to those areas and have it spent. Many of these projects are with local communities and I am sure they are ready to spend the money. I expect that will be the case.