Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department was allocated a gross budget of €389 million for 2022, of which €195 million was current and €194 million was capital. However, €10.5 million was repurposed from capital to current to provide supports to assist the response to the Ukraine crisis, effectively reducing the capital budget to €183.5 million, which was supplemented by a €16.86 million carry forward from 2021 to 2022.

There are no projects on hold in my Department due to capital funding pressures. However, the delivery of some projects supported by the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), Town and Village Renewal and the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme have been delayed as a result of the continued impacts of COVID-19 and challenges in the construction sector. This is largely due to delays in projects moving to construction phase, supply chain issues and, more recently, inflation issues making procurement more challenging. Progress greatly improved in the second half of 2022, with 14 Category 1 RRDF projects complete, and a further 43 now at construction phase. Others are moving through formal approval and procurement processes. In addition, I also approved funding of €115 million for 23 major new rural regeneration projects last November which will be delivered over two phases.

Any of the savings in the available budget were repurposed for the aforementioned Ukraine Supports, increased funding for the Local Improvement Scheme by €11 million, to increase funding for the Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) by €5 million, and to increase LEADER funding by €4 million.

€14.5 million of unspent capital funding from 2022 was carried over for use in 2023. Given the recent progress made with the RRDF and other funds, I expect an increased level of project completion in 2023, and the capital carryover will allow the Department to meet this funding requirement when it is needed.