Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The hundred €400,000 due to the reduction in the allocation to MABS in the national development was due to less than anticipated spend on a number of projects that it had. It was not over and above the day-to-day business that it does. It had specific projects that did not cost as much as it had anticipated at the beginning of the year. Approximately €100,000 of the €1.1 million was due to a reduction in the allocation to a the number of MABS companies. As the committee will be aware - it is a conversation that we have had a number of occasions in the past - there were a couple of reasons the company streamlined the way it used to do business. One was for governance and also to have better outputs. A plus from its perspective happens to be a reduction in the cost of governance and the running of the businesses. The was also €100,000 of savings, even though it is not really savings, because it is due to a delay in the processing of the dedicated advocacy pilot scheme that we announced earlier on this year. It is just late in starting. Once it kicks in it will have a fund associated with it, which is why the €100,000 has not been spent.

I will come back to the Chairman later on with exactly how many vouchers were issued, how many were redeemed and how many were not.