Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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884. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the percentage of her Department's capital budget allocation that was spent in the first 11 months of 2023; and the figures for the corresponding period in 2022, in tabular form. [54485/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department’s gross capital budget for 2023 is €231 million, with an additional €14.5 million available from capital carried forward from 2022, giving a total available capital budget of €245.5 million for 2023.

In 2023, the capital carry forward from 2022 of €14.5 million, has been fully utilised. In addition, to end November 2023, there was gross capital expenditure of €141.9 million, or 61% of the €231 million.

For the corresponding period in 2022, capital carry forward of €16.86 million was also fully utilised. In addition, to end November 2022, there was gross capital expenditure of €108.3 million, or 56% of the 2022 gross capital budget of €193.9 million.

These figures are outlined within the below table, and do not include expenditure of capital carried forward into 2022 (€16.86 million) and into 2023 (€14.5 million) - both of which were fully utilised earlier in each year.

It should be noted that the nature of the Department’s capital programmes means capital expenditure is strongest in the last few months of the year, as local authorities and other delivery partners submit claims for work that have been completed throughout the year.

Departmental expenditure is being closely managed, and full use of our capital funding is expected by year end, although similar to previous years, the Department will carry forward some unspent capital funding from 2023, for use in 2024.