Statement from the Infrastructure Minister on unspent budget claims

Infrastructure Minister,  Liz Kimmins has responded to a number of reports that the Department has handed back unspent budget.

She said: Recent commentary around DfI handing back' capital funding over a two-year period misrepresents how government finance works. 

My department was allocated earmarked funding by the Executive including specifically for the A5. The rules state that any unspent earmarked funding must be returned to the Department of Finance. The reason that much of this funding was returned, was due to the ongoing legal proceedings which has prevented me from proceeding to construction and spending this funding as intended.

Any funding returned by departments are then reallocated by the Executive. I successfully bid for additional funding across that two-year period and my Department received  £163m allowing me to provide additional funding across roads, wastewater infrastructure and Translink.