Fianna Fáil Environment Spokesperson Barry Cowen TD has responded to tonight’s publication of the monthly exchequer returns which show that Minister Alan Kelly has actually underspent his capital budget by almost a third – 31.6% in the ten months of 2015.

Deputy Cowen commented, “For a number of weeks now we have had to endure daily briefings by Alan Kelly to the effect that he is the man with a plan to solve our housing crisis, but is being blocked by others.  We have been consistent in rejecting this posturing by Mr Kelly, but tonight’s figures demonstrate the extent to which his priority has been talking about the great plans he has, rather than getting on with implementing anything.

“Tonight we see that over the course of the first ten months of 2015, a year when our housing crisis has developed into a full scale homelessness emergency, the Minister responsible for the issue has failed to spend almost a full third of his capital budget.

“This is a cause of major concern and will come as a shock to families waiting for something resembling a coherent plan from the Government.  The Minister needs to explain as a matter of urgency why this backlog in investment has occurred and how he plans to spend a third of his budget in the final two months of the year.”