Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I understand. We need to know the purpose to which the €27 million will be put.

Defence is to take a further €500,000 in respect of buildings. The Government has closed barracks across the State. How did this underspend occur? What, in the name of all that is rational, is this about at a time when, instead of ensuring the upkeep of buildings, they are being vacated by Army personnel?

I am given the most cause for concern by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, where the underspend was greater than €18 million. This relates to Enterprise Ireland grants, science and technology funding and micro-finance. Every Deputy is being inundated by people who are desperate to get their hands on funding for their start-ups and new ideas, some of which are good. When they approach their enterprise boards, they are often told that there is no money left. They go elsewhere and are told that the cupboard is bare. The Minister of State, my Opposition colleagues and I require more than a one-line statement about there being an underspend of more than €18 million. How could this occur in a climate in which there is a virtual credit drought? Small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, and new innovations, technologies and start-ups will return the bulk of the almost 500,000 people who are on dole queues to work. Will the Minister of State address this point?

The Minister of State should discuss the headlines item by item and indicate what percentage of each original capital budget is represented by the proposed carryover. I appreciate that he might not have the information with him, but will he explain why there was an underspend in each case? To what purpose will the underspends be put?

The manner in which Estimates are handled by the Oireachtas is deficient. I am still a relative newbie, but it is astonishing that the process by which moneys are allocated and spent is sequenced so irrationally. We discuss moneys that have been spent and moneys that have not been spent but are intended to be spent. The entire process is incoherent. I took the Government's word when, upon taking up office, it promised greater transparency and coherency in the budgetary process. I am disappointed, as this has not proven to be the case. The sum of €114 million is not insubstantial. We need a more detailed account from the Minister of State and some members of the Cabinet of why this underspend occurred.

I will echo another Member's point. It is unlikely that the State will yield anything like €114 million from the household charge.

See this speech in context