Just under £7 million was spent last year by the Government last year on relocating people under threat. Twelve months earlier, at the height of an alleged IRA spy scandal that caused the Stormont power-sharing administration to collapse, the bill stood at a staggering £43.7m as security force personnel demanded moves. Applications for the Special Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings (SPED) scheme fell from a high of 689 in 2002/03 when the espionage plot was uncovered, to around 120 in the last financial year.