Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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917. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the way in which her Department’s annual amount for contingent liability is set; the factors considered when setting contingent liability; if forecasting is undertaken regarding setting future amounts; the contingent liability figure for her Department for 2020; and if the contingent has been utilised to date in 2020. [36910/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A contingent liability arises in any situation where past or current actions or events create the risk of a call on Exchequer funds in the future, for example, entering into guarantees, litigation or contractual indemnities. As required by Government Accounting procedures, any contingent liabilities must be noted in the annual Appropriation Account.

Since establishment the Department has not entered into or accepted any contingent liability and, as such, no amount of the Department's voted money is set aside for this use. Again, in line with Government Accounting procedures, any possible future agreement to enter into a contingent liability would be subject to detailed consideration and analysis of potential exposure and potential benefits, and sanction from the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform.