Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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196. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the specific reason for the underspend in gross voted expenditure of €7 million as outlined in appendix V of the June 2018 fiscal monitor; the specific projects that have an underspend; the value of the underspend on each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31311/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy correctly notes, there is €7 million underspend in gross voted capital expenditure across the Public Expenditure and Reform Vote Group as outlined in Appendix V of the June 2018 Fiscal Monitor.  I wish to provide the Deputy with a detailed breakdown of the underspends and  the reasons for same as follows:

The underspend in the Public Expenditure and Reform Vote Group is due, in the main, to the delayed  roll-out of the Financial Management Shared Services Project in the National Shared Services Office (Vote 18). Gross capital expenditure for Vote 18 is behind profile in June by €4.9m approximately.

The Public Appointments Service (Vote 17) received a capital allocation of €1.5m for 2018. €750,000 was allocated towards a programme of upgrades to their premises in Chapter House. However, due to timing issues the year to date allocation has not been spent.

€750,000 was allocated for the replacement and upgrade of the Public Appointments Service IT recruitment platform. However, the initial phase encountered unexpected delays in concluding an open procurement process aimed at bringing in external expertise to assist with the project. Due to this phase of the project starting later than anticipated, this has resulted in a shift is associated payment schedules and the timelines for subsequent phases of the project. Vote 17 is behind capital profile by €465,000 approximately at the end of June.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Vote 11) is approximately €500,000 behind capital profile at the end of June. The underspend is due to the timing issues with a number of projects in the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer. 

The Office of Public Works (Vote 13) is €1.2m approximately behind capital profile at the end of June. The capital underspend is attributed mainly to timing issues with new works, alterations and additions.