asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
Written Answers. - Departmental Estimates.
601.
The 1981 budgetary provision in respect of the group of Estimates for which the Minister for Finance is responsible did not under-provide for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the estimates by the then Government. The Deputy will appreciate that Estimates for any financial year are not normally restricted to charges known to exist when estimates are being approved. The excesses set out on the attached sheet emerged for the reasons stated.
|
1981 January Budget Provision |
1981 Outturn |
(2)—(1) |
(3) as % of (1) |
Reasons for excess |
|
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
|
|
£000 |
£000 |
£000 |
% |
||
|
(I) Capital |
|||||
|
(a) Voted Services Office of Public Works |
|||||
|
E. New Works, Alterations and Additions |
21,830 |
22,630 |
800 |
3.7 |
Difficulty of precisely projecting rate of expenditure on works under contract. |
|
G.2 Arterial Drainage — Construction |
7,500 |
9,000 |
1,500 |
20.0 |
Provision was based on restriction of overall level of activity which in the event did not emerge. |
|
(b) Non-Voted Services ACC (Non-Exchequer |
100,000 |
107,679 |
7,679 |
7.7 |
Partly due to high level of ACC loan re-structuring of this, non-exchequer, capital. |
|
Foir Teo Exchequer |
6,700 |
5,183 |
— |
— |
|
|
Non-Exchequer |
1,300 |
1,948 |
648 |
50.0 |
Own resources greater than expected. |
|
(II) Non-Capital |
114 |
125 |
11 |
8.8 |
Supplementary Estimate per Renumeration |
|
1. President's Establishment |
Vote for special pay increases. |
||||
|
2. Houses of the Oireachtas and the European Assembly |
6,311 |
6,661 |
350 |
5.5 |
£159,000 special pay increases £191,000 mainly secretarial assistance and office equipment for TDs and Senators. |
|
6. Office of the Minister for Finance |
13,501 |
13,684 |
183 |
1.4 |
Supplementary Estimate per Renumeration Vote for special pay increases. |
|
7. Comptroller and Auditor General |
700 |
745 |
45 |
6.4 |
Special pay increases. |
|
8. Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
49,861 |
57,049 |
7,188 |
14.4 |
£6.088 special pay increases £1.000 P.O. services for increased rates of charge and volume. |
|
9. Public Works and Buildings |
34,412 |
38,412 |
3,971 |
11.5 |
£1.152m. Special Pay Increases £.770m. Rent costs of new leases taken - not provided for £.750m. Price and volume use increases for fuel and light not provided for £1.299m. Miscellaneous unforeseen items not included in original estimates. |
|
10. State Laboratory |
667 |
818 |
151 |
22.6 |
Special pay increases. |
|
12. Office of the Attorney General |
2,305 |
3,131 |
826 |
35.8 |
(1) Special pay increases(2) legal costs of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Stardust Fire Disaster.(3) other legal costs and expenses which fell due in 1981 but were unforeseen in 1980. |
|
14. Miscellaneous Expenses |
308 |
1,453 |
1,145 |
372 |
£1,164,000 Supplementary for McCartin Group. |
|
15. Stationery Office |
6,615 |
7,122 |
507 |
7.7 |
(1) Special pay increases(2) Increases in the price and demand for paper items. |
602.
asked the Minister for Labour if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January, 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
The overall amount allocated to the Department of Labour in the January 1981 Estimates has proved sufficient to finance the various services provided by the Department and its agencies in 1981.
There will be certain excesses on individual subheads of the Vote occasioned by the undertaking of additional commitments during the year or because certain services proved more costly than anticipated. These excesses are being met from savings elsewhere in the Vote and additional receipts from the European Social Fund which are treated as appropriations-in-aid of the Vote. The larger excesses involved where covered by the Supplementary Estimate for a nominal £10 approved by Dáil Éireann on 9 December.
A final excess of about £25,000 is anticipated on the amount — £6.7 million — provided in subhead A1 — Salaries, Wages and Allowances. This excess represents the cost of a number of pay awards not provided for when the 1981 Estimate was settled, less savings on the subhead, primarily due to non-filling of posts for some or all of the year.
603.
asked the Minister for the Public Service if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
In respect of the Department of the Public Service, the under-provision in the 1981 Estimates amounted to £190,000. This arose entirely on the pay subhead and most of the posts concerned were in the Central Data Processing Services of my Department. The amount of £190,000 represents 2.6 weeks shortfall in salary costs for the Department as a whole.
604.
asked the Minister for Transport if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
I would refer the Deputy to my contribution to the debate on the Supplementary Estimate for my Department on 10 December 1981, columns Nos. 1637 to 1639 of the Official Report (Vol. 331) for that date refer.
An earlier Supplementary Estimate for my Department was taken without debate on 9 July 1981.