Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 27 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 7

Written Answers. - Departmental Expenditure.

Richard Bruton

Question:

249 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the way in which spending in the first six months of 2002 compares to the budgeted profile for spending for each major programme of his Department's spending; and his forecast for year-end overruns. [15113/02]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

The spending for the first five months of 2002 on the justice group of Votes as compared to the budgeted profile for the same period is set out on the following table.

Vote	Expenditure	Profiled Expenditure	Variance	Variance
	€	€	€	%
Justice Equality & Law Reform	81,565,000	94,155,000	12,590,000	13.37
Garda Síochana	387,518,000	368,859,000	18,659,000	5.06
Prisons	133,325,000	123,539,000	9,786,000	7.92
Courts Service	35,272,000	30,904,000	4,368,000	14.13
Land Registry & Registry of Deeds	12,747,000	12,264,000	483,000	3.94
Totals	650,427,000	629,721,000	20,706,000	3.29

For a variety of reasons, it is not unusual to have differences between actual expenditure and the monthly profiles prepared at the start of the year. A 3.29% variance is not in itself particularly significant at this stage of the year.

At this point in time I am not forecasting that there will be any year end overrun on any of the justice group of Votes with the exception of the prisons Vote where an overrun of €20 million is forecast. This overrun has already been noted and approved by the Government.