Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the drawdown of capital expenditure from the Exchequer is detailed each month and is publicly available in the Fiscal Monitor, which is published on the gov.iewebsite. All line Departments and agencies submit information on their expenditure levels against profile to my Department, along with an explanation outlining details regarding any variance of underspending or overspending against profile.

The latest capital expenditure figures available to the end of May reveal that the net capital spend, including capital carryover, was €2.7 billion. When the carryover amount is omitted, the net capital spend amounts to just under €2.2 billion, which is €453 million or 17.1% behind the profiled amount of €2.648 billion, with all but two Departments declaring underspends against profile.

Expenditure on capital infrastructure and programmes for the first five months is some €310 million or 16.4% ahead of the same period last year. Capital expenditure by its nature tends to be lumpy, with a particularly high drawdown at year end. It is therefore not unusual for Departments to record an underspend or overspend against profile throughout the year.

The Government has committed to investing €165 billion in capital programmes and projects across a range of investment sectors, as set out in the national development plan published last October. In the current year, almost €12 billion is available to spend on vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action, and our annual capital investment as a percentage of national income is among the largest in the European Union. We will continue to monitor and report on capital expenditure developments as the year progresses.

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