Mr. Kevin McCarthy:

Departments also have to negotiate within expenditure ceilings in a given year, which affects their capacity to deliver. While it is ultimately Exchequer-neutral because it comes back in as an appropriation-in-aid, Departments must provide for it within their expenditure ceiling. There were constraints on overall spend levels in the 2012-16 period, which forms part of the complexity. It also feeds into calculations about the levels of Government debt.

In 2013 and 2014, disbursement levels were down at €1.4 million and €1.9 million, respectively, while the figure rose to €8.9 million in 2015, €12 million in 2016 and €16 million in 2017, so the trajectory has been upwards. This has been partly because of slowness in getting measures off the ground but, while there have been long lead-in times, they are beginning to gather momentum. There are other areas, however, where momentum has not been gathering and we need to look at the continuing relevance of those measures.