Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

It is coincidental then. I wanted more information than was given in the Minister of State's script. It would be helpful, for example, if for the €26.9 million under the heading for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine it was shown what percentage this figure represented of the original capital budget. Agriculture, agrifood and the rural economy are critical to our economic performance, the social cohesion of rural Ireland and so on. In this light and given our straitened times, how is it that there was an underspend of almost €27 million? According to the Minister of State, it is not necessarily a prerequisite that the moneys carried over will be used for the same purpose.

See this speech in context