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

But the money is not lost. The point that was being made or suggested was that because this is a carryover, the money is being handed back but that is wrong. In fact, because it is a carryover, it is being retained within the Department but spent in a different year. The absence of a carryover would mean the money is not being spent in the Department but the presence of a carryover means that it is. There is a real and fundamental misunderstanding of what a carryover is here. The money is being spent but just in a different calendar year.

Charges in relation to waste and mismanagement were made strongly by Deputy McGrath a moment ago. He made a point about accountability. I am here in front of the Dáil and in front of an Oireachtas committee very regularly regarding the use of taxpayers' money and that is as it should be.

I will be the first to acknowledge there are a number of areas in which things should have been done better, and I have acknowledged that in the past. I will still make the point that the vast majority of our country's money, particularly when it comes to capital expenditure, is being used in the way the country would want and does deliver projects that are either on time or broadly on budget.

I will make a broad point about costs going up. Just because a cost goes up does not mean it is the same thing as a cost overrun. We have gone through a period in which the cost of building anything in our country has gone up for reasons that are beyond our control. The Deputies will know this as well as I do. The prices of concrete, wood, metal, energy and all the things we need, just as the private sector needs, to build a home or deliver a wastewater treatment plant or any other project have gone up. Much of that increase is because the costs of raw materials and energy have also increased. The cost of something going up is not the same as a cost overrun. In many cases, the increase is not due to any alleged incompetence or inefficiency. The private sector is having to spend more to deliver certain projects, and no State or Government is immune to those changes in the price of the raw materials we need to deliver very big projects or any projects at all.

Deputy Boyd Barrett made a point about a State construction company. I look forward to having that debate with him in the coming weeks. It is still worth emphasising that the State does deliver and build homes. It builds them through local authorities. As I noted in my speech a moment ago, in 2023, 11,938 social homes were delivered. I know that is not the same as built and I know many of them were purchased. However, the majority were built by the State. They were built by local authorities, which, as the Deputy knows as well as I, are units or parts of the State. While there is definitely a discussion to be had about a State construction company, and I will have that debate with the Deputy-----

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