Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Second, the reason Laois County Council had zero commitments was it did not enter into commitments when it did not know it was guaranteed funding. It is being penalised for being prudent whereas in respect of the other counties, the Minister of State has indicated that €18 million of commitments were entered into without a guarantee of funding and consequently, they have access to the first tranche. In other words, the responsible local authority that was clearing its waiting lists and not entering into commitments has been unfairly penalised. I spoke today to the Minister of State's departmental officials in Ballina, who genuinely were very helpful, and a letter was sent today by Laois County Council seeking some additional funds from the capital reserve. The Minister of State will understand the point that because Laois County Council was highly organised in its business, it did not have commitments it could not meet and the council should not be penalised for that. During the course of the year, the Minister of State should make good a significant amount from that reserve.

My final point is I do not accept the premise of the Minister of State's comments on scarce capital resources within the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Last year alone, there was a vote in this Chamber on the subject last week, €63 million of underspent funding on the water investment programme was handed back to the Department of Finance-----

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