John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is asking if cycle 5 of the programme is fully paid, or what is remaining to be paid. In monetary terms, cycle 5 was the largest of the five cycles which awarded a total of €359 million in funding across 36 distinct projects. My Department continues to make payments to the colleges via the Higher Education Authority in respect of the PRTLI cycle 5. Total expenditure by my Department on PRTLI in 2016 was €30.7 million, including the additional €20 million Supplementary Estimate payment for 2016. The remaining total liabilities under cycle 5 will now be reduced to €36 million. We have been paying down cycle 5 liabilities at a rate of approximately €30 million per annum, with some variation around the precise timing of the payments. At this stage, we expect to clear PRTLI cycle 5 liabilities by the end of 2018.

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