Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Every time I meet local authorities, and I meet them fairly often, I continue to put pressure on them to get the money spent. As I said to them yesterday, if they do not spend the money, it is very hard for me to make the case for more money. Deputy Ó Cuív will appreciate that because there are always competing demands at budget time. The budget for this year is €69 million. We have spent more than €20 million so far, but I expect significant levels of draw down before Christmas. As the Deputy knows, the bills do tend to come in towards the end of the year.

I have taken steps to use savings in other areas this year already. For example, I transferred money into LIS. I was also able to provide some additional funding for the community centres fund and I expect much of that money will be drawn down very quickly because the grants in the first tranche are relatively small.

I assure Deputy Ó Cuív that I am continually putting pressure on local authorities to spend the money available.

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