Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that information. What she is saying is that €69 million was available for spending this year but that only €20.3 million has been spent to date, which means that €49 million is left to be spent in two months. I ask the Minister to explain how it is that in ten months of the year only €20 million has been spent, when the Department had budgeted for far more. No doubt the Minister went fighting to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and told him that she needed a lot of money for this scheme. I ask the Minister to explain why the spending under this scheme is so slow. Is the infernal habit repeating itself whereby local authorities send in their bills at the end of the year?

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