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Public Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 October 2011

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Questions (53)

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

73 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which public expenditure reduction targets identified in the context of the EU-IMF bailout have been achieved and are on target to date under the various headings identified, those which have exceeded expectations and those below target; the extent of capital and current expenditure involved; if it is possible to indicate the areas most likely to yield the most potential for contribution to economic recovery with least negative impact on growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28500/11]

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Written answers

Under the terms of the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support, an overall current expenditure reduction of €2,090 million was targeted in 2011, with an additional €1,800 million from capital. This reduction was to be made up of social protection expenditure reductions, a reduction in public service employment numbers, a reduction on existing public service pensions on a progressive basis and other programme savings. These savings were introduced in Budget 2011, and underpin the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2011, approved by the Dáil in July of this year.

Overall current and capital expenditure to the end of September is running 2.2% or €749 million behind profile in net expenditure terms, with a breakdown as set out in the attached table which was published on 4 October. As regards the contribution to economic recovery, this is a key consideration for the Government in assessing the outcome of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure and the Capital Review, and will have a major bearing upon the budgetary decisions to be made by the Government in the period up to the December budget.

End-September 2011 — Analysis of Net Voted Expenditure

Performance against profile at end-September

Ministerial Vote Group

End September Profile

End September Outturn

Variance

Variance

€m

€m

€m

%

Agriculture, Fisheries & Food

887

723

-164

-18.5%

Current

678

566

-113

-16.6%

Capital

209

157

-52

-24.8%

Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

185

182

-3

-1.5%

Current

155

153

-2

-1.1%

Capital

30

29

-1

-3.3%

Children and Youth Affairs

163

112

-50

-30.9%

Current

160

111

-49

-30.7%

Capital

3

2

-1

Communications, Energy & Natural Resources

160

141

-19

-11.8%

Current

74

66

-8

-10.8%

Capital

86

75

-11

-12.7%

Community, Equality & Gaeltacht Affairs

105

105

0

0.0%

Current

98

98

0

0.0%

Capital

7

7

0

0.0%

Defence

643

627

-16

-2.4%

Current

637

621

-16

-2.5%

Capital

5

6

0

5.0%

Education & Skills

6,183

6,115

-68

-1.1%

Current

5,861

5,791

-69

-1.2%

Capital

322

323

1

0.3%

Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation

533

489

-44

-8.3%

Current

226

219

-7

-3.2%

Capital

307

270

-37

-12.1%

Environment, Community & Local Government

963

863

-100

-10.3%

Current

442

427

-15

-3.4%

Capital

520

436

-85

-16.2%

Finance

257

246

-11

-4.2%

Current

256

244

-11

-4.4%

Capital

1

2

1

44.0%

Foreign Affairs and Trade

581

509

-72

-12.4%

Current

580

508

-72

-12.4%

Capital

2

2

0

-7.4%

Health****

9,916

9,889

-27

-0.3%

Current

9,640

9,657

17

0.2%

Capital

276

232

-44

-16.0%

Justice & Equality

1,568

1,609

41

2.6%

Current

1,514

1,566

52

3.4%

Capital

55

43

-11

-20.3%

Social Protection

10,228

10,110

-118

-1.2%

Current

10,222

10,107

-115

-1.1%

Capital

6

4

-2

-39.1%

Public Expenditure and Reform

586

563

-23

-3.9%

Current

509

490

-19

-3.8%

Capital

77

73

-4

-5.1%

Taoiseach’s

147

128

-19

-13.0%

Current

147

128

-19

-13.0%

Capital

0

0

0

0.0%

Transport, Tourism and Sport

1,028

1,001

-27

-2.6%

Current

477

481

4

0.9%

Capital

551

520

-31

-5.6%

Less Departmental Balances

30

59

29

Total Net Cumulative Voted Spending

34,101

33,353

—749

—2.2%

Current

31,644

31,173

—471

—1.5%

Capital

2,458

2,180

—278

—11.3%

Question No. 74 answered with Question No. 69.
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