Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
309. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on developing an economic model to measure the impact and who loses or gains most from public service spending cuts or tax increases as the UK Treasury has; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29639/14]
View answerThe necessary expenditure reductions which have taken place over the past number of years have seen Ireland emerge from the Troika programme and its economy return to growth. Throughout this difficult period of fiscal adjustment, this Government has at all times endeavoured to spread the burden fairly throughout the economy in order to protect the most vulnerable in society.
The Deputy will be aware that analysis of the impacts of tax measures and changes to some payments from the Department of Social Protection such as Family Income Supplement is published as part of the budgetary process over a wide distribution of income levels.
This material is also supplemented by the regular analysis and commentary which is provided by the Department of Social Protection and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), both of which use the SWITCH model for estimating the effects of social welfare and tax rate changes on Irish households. The results from this analysis feed into budgetary considerations.
These models are capable of analysing taxation and cash benefits only. The quantification of the benefits arising from public services more generally is more challenging. The Deputy can, however, be assured that decisions regarding the allocation of funds for public services undergo rigorous assessment and when making decisions on Budgetary matters, the Government is very much aware of issues in relation to equality, poverty and social exclusion.
The Revised Estimates Volume has been expanded so that now each Department and Office also reports about key performance information relevant to their area of operation. The purpose of this is to show what services are being purchased with public money and the impacts of these services. This facilitates consideration of the benefits being delivered to citizens and society in general from the Voted expenditure allocations.
The Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) was established in 2012 to enhance the role of economics and value for money analysis in public policy making. This service is evidence of the commitment to ensure that sufficient analytical capacity is available to the Government to deliver a high standard of policy evaluation consistent with international best practice.
