Pearse Doherty
Question:100. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality where the €70 million cut to the justice budget will take effect. [45964/13]
View answerTuesday, 5 November 2013
Questions (100)
Written answers
The reduction of €70 million in the Justice budget relates to the gross current expenditure allocation for the Vote Group in 2014 compared with the corresponding allocation in the 2013 Revised Estimate Volume.
Given the composition of the Vote Group where circa 77% of all current expenditure refers to pay and pensions, the greater proportion of the reduction relates to payroll costs. In all €45 million of the budgetary adjustment relates to payroll reductions encompassing the impact of measures under the Haddington Road Agreement and staffing reductions across all areas of the sector.
In the region of €13 million of the adjustment relates to reductions in non-payroll expenditure across the votes, including a reduction of €5.2 million in relation to the provision for Asylum Seekers Accommodation in the Justice and Equality Vote, mainly due to the decrease in the numbers in Direct Provision. There are other reductions in various administrative and operational areas across the various votes.
The final element of the reduction, approximately €12 million, is in respect of non-recurring costs in 2014 relating to events such as Ireland‘s Presidency of the European Union.
There are also a number of smaller technical adjustments in Estimates 2014, including the provision of €2 million in additional funding for the redeployment of staff from elsewhere in the Civil Service to the Garda Vetting Unit.
Question No. 101 answered with Question No. 77.