The row between the Departments of Transport and Environment over an €81 million "adjustment" requested as part of the current round of public spending cutbacks has been resolved.
In his June memo, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, allocated a cut of €81 million to the Department of the Environment.
But the Minister, Mr Cullen, refused to accept the full cutback as some of his Department's functions were transferred to the newly constituted Department of Transport after the election.
After several weeks of negotiations, the Department of Finance confirmed yesterday the issue had been resolved.
A spokesman said €81 million had been sought from Environment and €30 million from the old Department of Public Enterprise in the June memo. It was agreed €15 million of the €81 million would be transferred to the new Department of Transport. Some €10 million of the €30 million sought from Public Enterprise was also transferred to Transport.
He said the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources would have to stand the balance of €20 million in savings, leaving Environment with €66 million in cuts.
A spokesman for the Department of Environment told The Irish Times the cuts would be applied across the board and there would be no effect on operational projects. The savings would be found in monies not taken up this year in public housing, waste management and urban regeneration. The spokesman stressed these were monies that would not have been spent and that there would be no effect on planned projects for next year.
A spokesman for the Department of Communications said the €20 million in savings will come from monies not spend to date on developing the broadband network around the country.
He also stressed it is money not taken up and there would be no effect on services.