The Department of Agriculture returned a net surplus of €253m last year, the report notes. This was the largest surplus generated by any Government organisation in 2016.

Of the €1.36bn voted in the budget, the Department used only €1.26bn, leaving an underspend of €106m, or nearly 8%.

There has been widespread criticism of the delays in getting money out to farmers under Rural Development Programme schemes, but Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has countered that spending would catch up over the five years of the programme.

In addition, the Department had excess receipts of €147m after raising more of its own revenues than planned in last year’s budget.

Of the surplus generated in 2016, the Department retained €22m for spending this year and surrendered the remaining €231m to the Exchequer.

Agriculture alone accounted for 40% of all the unspent funds surrendered to the Exchequer at the end of last year.

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Department of Agriculture had largest underspend last year

The report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General this Friday on the accounts of public services in 2016, shows that a significant section of the budget allocated to agriculture was unused.