Priority Questions. - Book of Estimates. – Dáil Éireann (28th Dáil) – Wednesday, 28 Nov 2001

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

When the 1998 AEV was being published in November 1997 I decided that the summary tables should include information on the forecast outturn for 1997. I regarded this as a useful innovation which would enable the proposed allocations for 1998 to be compared with expected expenditure in 1997. I continued this practice in each of the subsequent three years. However, I decided it would not be appropriate to adopt the same approach this year because I had not had the opportunity when the 2002 AEV was being finalised to deal with the emerging pressures for additional spending across a number of Votes. Instead I adopted the practice, which had been in operation prior to 1997, of including the 2001 Estimate figure as approved by Dáil Éireann.

As the Deputy will be aware, the White Paper on Receipts and Expenditure is published by my Department on the weekend before the budget. The White Paper will be published at the usual time again this year and will, as usual, include the forecast outturn of expenditure for 2001, the pre-budget estimated expenditure in 2002, both voted and non-voted, and Estimates of receipts from taxation in 2002 at pre-budget.

The following table shows the forecast 2001 outturn figures for current and capital expenditure by Vote. These figures reflect the intention to seek Dáil approval for Supplementary Estimates on a number of Votes. The figures may of course be subject to slight revision in light of emerging spending trends.

The total forecast outturn for net voted current expenditure in 2001 is 20,653,734. The total forecast outturn for net voted capital expenditure is 4,947,276. A breakdown of the forecast outturn for 2001 by subhead is not available at this stage in the year. This information will be provided, as usual, in the 2002 Revised Estimates for Public Services which will be published in the spring.

VoteNo.	Service	2001 Forecast OutturnNet Voted Current000s	2001 Forecast OutturnNet Voted Capital000s
1	President's Establishment	1,887
2	Houses of the Oireachtas and European Parliament	64,359
3	Department of the Taoiseach	21,803	6,000
4	Ordnance Survey Ireland	3,441	1,946
5	Central Statistics Office	42,568	2,532
6	Office of the Minister for Finance	85,779	11,753
7	Superannuation and Retired Allowance	164,002	16,966
8	Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General	5,087
9	Office of the Revenue Commissioners	254,224
10	Office of Public Works	133,296	250,132
11	State Laboratory	5,382
12	Secret Service	420
13	Office of the Attorney General	10,684
14	Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions	16,340
15	Valuation Office	6,220
16	Civil Service Commission	11,344
17	Office of the Ombudsman	4,108
18	Chief State Solicitor's Office	25,437
19	Office of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform	160,898	14,363
20	Garda Síochána	898,000	24,530
21	Prisons	260,000	41,120
22	Courts	53,775	26,461
23	Land Registry and Registry of Deeds	27,435	899
24	Charitable Donations and Bequests	390
25	Environment and Local Government	716,478	2,419,419
26	Office of the Minister for Education and Science	233,917	39,363
27	First Level Education	1,298,472	150,451
28	Second Level and Further Education	1,516,504	177,954
29	Third Level and Further Education	1,104,592	194,836
30	Marine and Natural Resources	95,461	122,442
VoteNo.	Service	2001 Forecast OutturnNet Voted Current000s	2001 Forecast OutturnNet Voted Capital000s
31	Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	982,491	107,618
32	Public Enterprise	297,225	439,300
33	Health and Children	5,619,064	373,621
34	Enterprise, Trade and Employment	846,576	226,782
35	Tourism, Sport and Recreation	183,211	92,046
36	Defence	697,194	54,840
37	Army Pensions	124,207
38	Foreign Affairs	135,745	3,928
39	International Co-operation	239,411
40	Social, Community and Family Affairs	4,099,626	9,080
41	An Comhairle Ealaíon	43,068	5,079
42	An Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta, Gaeltacht agus Oileán	157,399	122,855
43	National Gallery	6,215	9,142
44	Flood Relief		1,818
	Total	20,653,734	4,947,276

Mr. J. Mitchell: Will the Minister explain why he left this column out of this year's Estimates? Was he not trying to hide something? Was he not admitting in the other sentence he used, about ongoing pressures for additional expenditure, that the Book of Estimates he published was not the real Book of Estimates?

Mr. McCreevy

As I pointed out, I introduced the innovation in my first published Estimates volume in November 1997 of publishing the forecast outturn. Until then the only figures that appeared in the AEV was the Estimate approved many months previously. It took no account of revised Estimates that would possibly have been passed and what Supplementaries would be introduced. I took what I thought was an innovative step of publishing what I thought the forecast outturn was going to be. I introduced that.

Mr. J. Mitchell

Why not continue it?

Mr. McCreevy

The Deputy can have it in the figures available now but the reason for not doing so is that I wanted the best information available. It was impossible before the AEV to sign off with a number of Departments on what they expected their supplementary demands would be. Supplementary Estimates were put before the House in the last two days which must go to committee and be debated. It was not possible with a number of headings to decide what the outturn would be, particularly with regard to some of the major spending Departments. That was the only reason.

Mr. J. Mitchell

It is funny that the Minister can give figures this week when he could not give them last week. Was he not in fact trying to mislead the media into a false assessment of next year's Estimates? Will he tell us what additional expenditure has now been agreed between his press conference on the Book of Estimates and now that were not included in the Book of Estimates?

Mr. McCreevy

The Deputy suggested that the Estimates for 2002 are in doubt. The Estimates for 2002 are those I provided in the AEV. The question relates to why the forecast outturn was not there. I have already elucidated the reasons for not including it on this occasion. I introduced this in the first place much to the chagrin of my Department which opposed the additional work, but it does necessitate trying to get an estimate from various Departments before the AEV, probably in the middle of November, of what their Supplementaries are going to be. The Minister of State, Deputy Cullen, has just told me that the Office of Public Works has only submitted its Supplementary Estimate today.

Mr. McGrath

To buy those expensive premises.

Mr. McCreevy

It would have been false to publish a forecast outturn on this occasion by Vote head because it would not have been realistic. I decided to adopt the previous practice. At this stage the Supplementary Estimates from a number of Departments have been put before the House in the last two days and they must go to committees to be voted on. I am therefore in a position to give the Deputy the prospective forecast outturn for 2001, which is subject to the usual revision. There may be some changes between now and the end of the year. That is quite normal. I introduced the innovation of changing what had gone on for the last 60 or 70 years.

Mr. J. Mitchell

The Minister has repeated about five times that he introduced this innovation in 1997. I am trying to find out why he dropped the innovation this year. I believe he is hiding something, just as the Minister for Health and Children was hiding the problems in the health boards which accidentally got onto the Internet, though they were taken off. I want the Minister to acknowledge that he deliberately left out this column because the Book of Estimates had not been completed. He published a Book of Estimates which was incomplete and, in a certain sense, fake.

Mr. McCreevy

The Deputy is slightly mistaken as regards the purpose of the Book of Estimates which relates to Estimates for next year. The Estimates for 2001 are now largely historical, although they were included in the recent Book of Estimates for the purposes of comparison. One could include the Estimates for the last ten years if one wished to identify trends during that time. When publishing a Book of Estimates, there is no obligation to publish Estimates for the present year, as the only requirement is to publish Estimates for the year to come. The Book of Estimates is about necessary expenditure for the coming year.

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 28 Nov 2001