Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Annual Exchequer funding provided by my Department is allocated to various programmes and subheads in the Revised Estimates and approved by Dáil Éireann. For practical reasons, as set out in public financial procedures, there are two arrangements to vary the allocations between subheads. These are the passing of a technical Supplementary Estimate by Dáil Éireann or a process called virement, which is usually used for lower value transfers and requires the prior approval of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.

The total amount transferred in my Department through the virement process in the three years 2020 to 2022 was €3 million in capital and €2.5 million in current funding. These virements represent 0.15% of my Department's total budget allocation over the three-year period. In all cases, prior approval was obtained from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform before proceeding with the transfer of funds. The detailed information requested regarding funds vired between different subheads in my Department will be provided to the Deputy directly.

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