Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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It is not that the hubs are costing us more than we would have expected, necessarily. It is just that the money has been already spent and we have moved money across, and now we are seeking this additional Estimate to cover the money that has been already spent. On the breakdown between the money already spent and that to come, we will know that at the end of the year, depending on how things break down. The approach the Department has taken is that where money is needed for emergency accommodation, we make it available. We make it available at the time as we need to.

Where we have regarded money spent as additional capital funding available this year, we have made a request to cover some of those costs, as well as some of the costs that will come in at the end of the year. This money comes from the same subhead as capital social housing spending. It is only at the end of the year that we balance out the costs to see how the money has been spent. To be clear, where a request comes in for money for emergency accommodation we make that available. If a local authority has a site or a building where funds are needed for capital refurbishment, we make that available. We will then allocate it under that subhead at the end of the year.