Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Turning to capability development, I was interested in the language used by the Minister for public expenditure during the Budget Statement. He referred to "an additional €34 million in capital expenditure, compared to the original plan, to further progress the priority recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces and the independent review group, as well as funding the first year of the tribunal of inquiry." The actual capital allocation on this line, however, is the exact same euro for euro. Does that mean the original plan was to cut capital expenditure? The language the Minister used was interesting. He did not say it was an additional €34 million, but an additional €34 million compared with the original plan. In fact, there is no increase at all and------