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

There was an underspend last year. I can come back to the Deputy with the figure; I do not have it now. His question referred to particular projects rather than the overall budget. I can get that information for the Deputy and I will make sure he gets it tomorrow.

As for projects being abandoned, there is no budgetary reason that I am aware of for projects of a certain level to which the Department is committed stopping. I am not aware of such a reason they cannot move forward. As I said, looking at where we are up to the end of May, from a capital spend point of view, there was an underspend for this year. It may be the case that as the Minister looks to the medium term, he is worried about the inability of all these projects to be funded in a few years. That could be a reason. However, looking at where we are at the moment, inside this year there is a capital underspend, but I am assured that it will be minimised as the year goes on. I will work with the Minister for Transport on that.

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