As the Deputy is aware, the Finance Act 2004 makes provision for Departments and agencies to carry forward capital money from the current financial year into the next financial year. This recognises the difficulties inherent in the planning and profiling of capital expenditure, and that such projects may be subject to delays.
Given the closure of construction sites for most of the first half of the year, in line with public health requirements, such delays were inevitable this year. I therefore decided to fully utilize this deferred surrender provision and will be carrying forward 10% of the Departments capital budget from 2021 to 2022. This amounts to €16.86 million in capital funding.
These funds are not lost, but are now available for use in 2022, where the funds will be used to further support capital schemes in the rural and community development programme areas. The use of this deferred surrender will ensure that the resources provided to my Department in 2021 are put to best use, and that the funds can be used to invest in rural areas and our communities in 2022.