Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 23 together. In response to the Deputy’s query, the total capital funding allocated to the Department for investment in 2022 is €2.547 billion. As of the end of August 2022, €926.116 million in capital was profiled for expenditure and €707 million was issued. The variance was €219.110 million. In addition, €155.043 million of unspent capital was carried over from last year, of which €151.238 million was issued.

I will briefly summarise the expenditure profile for each programme. Under programme A, sustainable mobility, active travel and greenways, expenditure is €86.572 million compared to profile of €62.856 million, or 38% ahead of profile. Under programme B, sustainable mobility, carbon reduction and public transport, taking electric vehicle, EV, and EV infrastructure grants first, expenditure is €50.425 million, compared to profile of €63.034 million, or 12% behind profile. Expenditure is €165.856 million for heavy rail and public transport investment compared to profile of €271.148 million, or 39% behind profile. Under programme C, road safety and road networks, expenditure is €402.068 million compared to profile of €526.617 million, or 24% behind profile. Under programme D, civil aviation, expenditure is on profile, with no expenditure scheduled to take place prior to the fourth quarter. Under programme E, maritime transport and safety, expenditure is €1.311 million, compared to profile of €1.647 million, or 20% behind profile.

For subheads with underspends, the reasons for variations between expenditure and profile are as follows: in grants and infrastructure, the LEV grants provide funding towards several EV purchase grants, which are demand led. In general, demand was lower than expected at this point in the year due to global supply chain issues impacting on the availability and delivery of new vehicles into the Irish market. The drawdown of funding for infrastructure is also being impacted by global supply chains. In addition, the launch of a scheme for apartment charging had been delayed and was launched with Zero Emissions Vehicles Ireland, ZEVI, on 21 July. Under heavy rail safety and development, the underspend is predominantly due to the reduction in spend on DART+ fleet because of a renegotiation of the timing of milestone payments, with a significant down payment made to Alstom in December last year, which had originally been scheduled for this year. There is also a reduction in expenditure on new Intercity railcars due to an updated delivery schedule of 2023 for the majority of railcars.

In the area of public transport infrastructure, the underspend is predominantly due to a reduction in spend on ticketing, technology and integration, support and the bus programme. In the case of BusConnects Dublin, there have been delays to the delivery of new fleet. In construction and development of national roads, some of the underspend relates to the timing of payments. Regarding significant project delay, as Roadbridge Ltd. went into receivership in March, leading to the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge project being suspended.

Finally, in the area of regional roads, expenditure to end August on protection and renewal of regional and local roads was close to profile while expenditure on road improvement projects was behind profile. The shortfall in expenditure for road improvement projects is due largely to the impact of the Roadbridge receivership on the Coonagh to Knockalisheen distribution road project.

I will not read out the rest of this reply, but I would make the point that those underspends at this present time will be clawed back. We will not have a significant underspend at the end of the year. There are a number of additional rail and public transport projects that we expect to deliver and spend on in this year, which will mean that those underspends will not accrue at the end of the year.

See this speech in context