Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 728: To ask the Minister for Defence the amount of funding committed to in his Department for capital projects; if he will provide details of the projects and funding committed; the funds that have been drawn down for the projects; when the balance will be drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26628/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Department is engaged in an ongoing capital building programme designed to modernise and enhance the training, operational and accommodation facilities available to members of the Defence Forces. The programme provides for new projects and the continuation of capital building work already underway. An overall capital provision of €9m has been allocated to the Department for 2012. Some €2.8m of this overall amount has been allocated for IT hardware and associated licensing support costs and €6.2 million has been allocated for capital works projects at military installations. A further €500k is also available for capital works projects as capital carryover from 2011.

Approximately €2.7m of the 2012 capital works allocation is being expended on a range of capital building projects which were already in progress from 2011 and which are at various stages of completion across a number of military locations. These include the installation of an Automated Marking System at the firing range at Kilworth Camp and the renovation of facilities for military personnel at Aiken Barracks, Dundalk.

The balance of the provision for capital works will facilitate new starts in 2012. Principal new projects proposed for 2012 include the construction of a replacement Hangar at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel and the provision of further Automated Marking facilities. They also include the development of proposals for the upgrade of the Ammunition Depot Buildings at the Defence Forces Training Centre at the Curragh.

The Capital funding for 2012 is reduced from the previous year's allocation, following the trend of recent years, and this is reflected in the number of new start projects to be undertaken in the current year.