Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 October 2012
268. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there is currently any legal impediment to the provision of multi-annual Government expenditure ceilings and multi-annual Ministerial expenditure ceilings. [44142/12]
View answerThe Programme for Government includes a commitment to developing multi-annual budget plans across a three-year time horizon. In keeping with this commitment, the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014 introduced a range of budgetary reforms including a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), published in December last year. The key features of the MTEF include multi-year aggregate expenditure ceilings along with Ministerial expenditure ceilings. The multi-annual dimension to the ceilings encourages a more focused approach to medium-term structural and strategic planning of expenditure within departments.
As a further incentive to encourage prudent and responsible management of expenditures within the allocated Ministerial ceilings, the MTEF includes a provision for Departments to carryover some portion of any unspent current expenditure allocation from one year to increase the expenditure ceiling for the next year. This feature will operate in a similar manner to the capital carryover facility which was introduced in 2004 as part of the multi-annual capital investment framework and has been operating successfully since its inception.
Initial expenditure ceilings were set out in the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014 and currently form the basis of the Estimates 2013 discussions. The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012 aims to put these reforms on a permanent statutory basis by replacing the corresponding section of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011. This is also in keeping with EU/IMF Programme commitments to introduce fixed expenditure ceilings into law. This important innovation in Irish policy-making will put Ireland’s resource allocation and planning in line with best international practice and I look forward to discussing and debating the provisions of the Bill before the Oireachtas in the coming weeks. The full operational details of the MTEF, including the arrangements for current carryover, will be set out in a Circular from my Department, and initial consultations on the form of the draft Circular are already under way at official level.
