Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 November 2012
32. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if any public service cuts he is considering in budget 2013 will be weighed up against the possible impact on front-line services and on the wider macroeconomic environment; if so, the way he intends to do same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51615/12]
View answerThe Comprehensive Review of Expenditure was the culmination of an intensive exercise carried out by all Departments in 2011 to identify means of reducing expenditure, in line with commitments under the Joint EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland, while minimising the impact on service delivery. All proposals, including those from members of the public and third party submissions, were fully appraised for this exercise and the outcomes were published in the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012 – 2014 (CER). The Central Expenditure Evaluation Unit (CEEU) within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform promotes best practice in the evaluation of programme expenditure across all Government Departments and Public Sector Agencies. In particular, the CEEU supports implementation by Departments of Value for Money and Policy Reviews and has been involved in bringing several of these reviews to completion in recent years. Furthermore, as part of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, the CEEU also produced a series of cross cutting evaluation papers covering a range of topics which were published on the Department's website in 2011. The role of evaluation was further enhanced by the introduction earlier this year of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES). The work of the Service will support Departments in evaluating policy and expenditure options; value for money exercises; cost benefit and regulatory impact analyses; and regulatory and competition issues.
One of the primary objectives of the Government is to stabilise the debt to GDP ratio and reduce it to a lower, safer level over time. This will be done through the implementation of further budgetary consolidation as well as policies which foster employment and economic growth. In reducing public expenditure and reforming services, we must be conscious of our obligations to reduce public spending in a way that is fair, that protects those who rely on public services, that supports employment and enterprise and that takes a more strategic view of what needs to be done to position ourselves for economic recovery over the medium to longer term.
