Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1219. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason that capital spending under his Vote group is -76.6% to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42527/22]
View answerAt the end of June my Department was €8m or 46% underspent on its capital allocation and not the 76.6% indicated by the Deputy. The variance in the capital underspend was mainly due to an underspend on Subhead E04 of €7.9m, the International Protection Seekers Accommodation.
The capital allocation under E04 is €12.5m in 2022 and is being used to purchase properties as part of the commitments in the White Paper to end Direct Provision. Delays arose due to the Departments involvement in the humanitarian response to the Ukrainian conflict with staff working on the White Paper diverted to deal with this. However, this was a temporary arrangement and it is expected that all of the Department's capital allocation of €33m, including €12.5m for the White Paper, will be spent this year.
It should be noted also that at end August, the latest available data, that the capital underspend on the Vote was reduced to €7.4m or 34% and the underspend on subhead E04 was reduced to €6.9m.
