Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will seek to carry over some of the allocation for the Department. I will have a €7.7 million carryover. As I stated, I am monitoring the local authorities and I will also announce a number of schemes in the coming weeks. As with all Ministers, I do not want funding for my Department to be returned to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I want to spend my allocation on rural development on which it should be spent.

We must also be fair. As a new Department, we are still in the process of setting up. I am in discussions with the local authorities to obtain all the details I need. As most members will be aware, local authorities wait until the end of the year to submit receipts. Some projects are under way in Galway and Mayo and some of the funding will be drawn down. Once I have received accurate information, I will know how much expenditure I have available to me. I am examining ways and means of spending some of this money and I will also seek to carry some of it over to next year. To be fair to the local authorities, they did not have much time to do the work on some of the schemes. For example, the deadline for submissions under the town and village renewal scheme was October. I must be fair to them on that basis.