Mr. Hubert Loftus:

Sometimes the most simple questions are difficult to answer. The Department has traditionally paid the minor works grant in November or December of each year, or maybe in the following January. That is all within the school year, which runs from September to August. As part of the Department's profiling of its spend, we want to provide a tighter window within that in order to improve certainty. The amount available for minor works grants, at €29 million, is not insignificant. This funding has to be managed and profiled and I do not want to mislead the committee by saying it will be paid on a particular date. However, it is something of which we are conscious and our intention is to provide more certainty.