AQW 26327/22-27

Mr Andrew McMurray
Alliance Party
South Down

Tabled Date: 29/04/2025
Answered On Date: 14/05/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy whether she has any plans to provide further funding towards revitalising Downpatrick town centre in the 2025-26 financial year, given that less than half of the support funding allocated following the 2023 autumn floods in the South East was spent.

Answer:

Whilst Conor Murphy agreed to allocate up to £10 million from his 2024/25 budget to deliver three schemes, the cost of delivering the schemes was lower than anticipated. When it became clear that this was the case, Minister Murphy asked officials to explore options for utilising any unused funding, including options to transfer funding to other Departments for flood related spend, but given the time frame available, no realistic options were identified. Any unspent money was reallocated across the Department of Economy to meet other capital pressures. My department is leading on setting up a cross-departmental group to explore options for future flood schemes to support recovery and resilience for all those impacted by flooding and this is something that Downpatrick businesses will potentially benefit from.