Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, I would love to be able to give a commitment to allocate more moneys in 2013 from the sources he identified. In the case of the dormant accounts, we are precluded from doing so by the troika. The Department of Finance will verify that under the general Government borrowing requirement, the dormant accounts moneys referred to by the Deputy are included under the general Government borrowing ceiling. It is hard to explain to people that this money is available and can be drawn down at any time but is counted as borrowings because it is seen as money owed by the State to individuals who may have a dormant account in the future. Notwithstanding this, we were able to achieve some savings this year to provide €88,000 for five towns. I know the Deputy would have loved to have done this in 2010.

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