Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They are options I am willing to look at. We have capital carryovers in place every year. I take the Deputy's point that when the need for new homes and Garda stations to be built and more investment is so great, it is frustrating for Deputies to see significant capital underspends in Departments.

The Deputy has asked for the overall figures. The vast majority of Departments have capital spend drawdown for the year of between 95% and 100%. There are a number of Departments in which that is not the case. The reasons for that is well known. It is because of challenges that are there. Housing is at 93% and social protection is at 93%. Those figures are the drawdown of the total capital budget. The finance group is at 90% and foreign affairs is at 69%. The reason for much of that is the difficulties with delivery of capital projects in an inflationary environment and the changes and difficulties we have had in the aftermath of Covid. I will look at the options the Deputy raised because, given the level of social need, I want to see every cent of capital budgets being spent in any given year.

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