Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I think there is. That is the short answer. I want to see Departments spend their capital allocations in full. I do not want to be giving money to Departments and then seeing significant underspends at year end. There can be reasons for that. With Covid, for example, in the whole area of housing and construction, there was a shutdown for a period of time, and we have seen the impact that has had in completions in that particular quarter, which is understandable. In the normal run of events, I want to see capital budgets spent for the purposes for which they are given, but there is merit in providing a multi-annual commitment and that can be done at two levels.

It can also be done at the individual Vote level so that within the overall Department allocation, there will be certainty about the allocation for a particular area of activity. That is something we are looking at.

The Deputy's point about housing was a fair one.