The Department of Rural Development was allocated €88 million in capital expenditure this year. By the end of last month just €16 million had been spent, according to Fianna Fail. This means that with two-thirds of the year gone, less than 20% of the funding has been spent, the party's spokesperson on regional, rural, gaeltacht and island affairs Éamon Ó Cuív has said.

Eamon O'Cuiv stated that €72m in deparment funding remains unspent on developing rural projects and Minister Ring should be called before Oireachtas Rural Committee to explain why.

“In both 2016 and 2017, I warned of a similar scenario to this and was told I was exaggerating," Ó Cuív said. "However, the Department’s end of the year out-turn underscored my predictions.

“Rural communities up and down this country are in desperate need of investment and yet this Government continues to neglect its development."

Response

However, the Minister for Rural Development Michael Ring said that his department has already spent just under €26 million in capital projects to benefit rural Ireland.

As Deputy Ó’Cuív well knows, the majority of the Department’s spending occurs in the latter part of the year

“It would appear that the Deputy has neglected to factor in a capital carryover of €7.7 million from 2017, most of which has been spent,” Minister Ring said. “As Deputy Ó’Cuív well knows, the majority of the Department’s spending occurs in the latter part of the year. My Department requires local authorities to undertake significant, or sometimes all the work envisaged, before reimbursing them.

“I would not wish to be part of any system where the measure of Ministerial performance is simply that he or she spends their budget quickly, as opposed to spending it properly to deliver proper outcomes benefiting communities.”

He added that he fully expects that all of his Department’s budget will be spent this year.

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