Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

In December 2009, the previous Government approved disbursements from the Dormant Accounts Fund for a once-off measure to the value of €1.25 million for the five new provincial towns incorporated under RAPID. These are Ballina, Dungarvan, Enniscorthy, Mullingar and Rathkeale. InDecember 2010, Pobal, which advertises, appraises and recommends beneficiaries under various dormant accounts measures, submitted recommendations to the value of €1.25 million for this RAPID additionality measure. All the recommendations are for capital expenditure.

However, under Government accounting procedures, disbursements on dormant accounts measures are paid in the first instance up front from the Department's Vote in the same way as with any other spending programme. We have to source funding for dormant accounts programmes from our Exchequer allocation in the annual Revised Estimates Volume. The dormant accounts capital budget for my Department for 2011 is fully committed to existing projects and our priority in the light of the available allocation must be to ensure that there is sufficient funding to meet existing legal contractual commitments.

The position with dormant accounts expenditure compared with other funding programmes is that once spending takes place, it is reimbursed to the Exchequer from the dormant accounts fund in accordance with the Dormant Accounts Acts, in the form of appropriations-in-aid payable through the Department's Vote. In this way, the costs associated with dormant accounts measures are Exchequer neutral. Departments cannot spend appropriations-in-aid directly themselves once they are reimbursed from the fund. They are instead refunded to the central Exchequer. Moneys disbursed from the dormant accounts fund increase Government debt levels as the money belongs to the account holder, who can reclaim it at any time, and not to the State. Consequently, every euro spent from the fund is regarded in accounting terms as a potential Government liability.

I can confirm that eight capital projects have been prioritised by Pobal under the RAPID additionality measure for Rathkeale. The matter of progressing the measure to contract stage is being kept under active review in the light of availability of funds between now and the end of this year.

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