Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 December 2014
73. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the anticipated extra expenditure required next year across all Departments to maintain the current level of public services taking account of demographic changes, pending pay increments and so on and all other factors being equal. [47441/14]
View answerThe Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015 2017 published on Budget Day set out multiannual expenditure ceilings for Ministerial Vote Groups and Estimates of Expenditure for 2015 in respect of all Government Departments and Offices.
Compared to the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) 2014, gross current expenditure for 2015 shows an increase of €429 million with capital expenditure increasing by €210 million. In addition significant savings from reductions in the Live Register have been reinvested to meet expenditure pressures. These funds have been allocated to areas such as Social Protection, Health, Education, Justice and Housing in order to support key policy initiatives and to ensure that demographic pressures are met.
It is estimated that there will be an increase of 18,000 in the number of pensioners next year. The estimates of expenditure published on Budget Day show an increase of €185 million in the allocation for pension related payments through the Social Protection Vote and Social Insurance Fund.
Demographic demands are being met in the Education Sector with the pupil-teacher ratios in all schools remaining unchanged. The additional current expenditure of €60m for Education in 2015, compared to the REV 2014 allocation, will be mainly used to deal with demographic pressures and for extra resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants. Provision has been made for an additional 1,700 full-time posts comprised of 920 mainstream teachers, 480 resource teachers and 365 Special Needs Assistants.
Health Expenditure is being protected with €305 million of the overall increase of €429 million in gross current expenditure being directed to support the delivery of existing services and Programme for Government initiatives in the Health area.
Moving beyond 2015, there will be a number of expenditure pressures emerging over the coming years, most notably those related to demographics and their impact on the Social Protection, Health and Education sectors. The expenditure ceilings for 2016 and 2017 contained in the Comprehensive Expenditure Report provide for expenditure increases in these areas to accommodate these demographic pressures. Decisions regarding the finalisation of these allocations for 2016 and 2017 will be taken in the context of the Budget for those years with due regard to the level of expenditure required to ensure the effective delivery of key public services and the fiscal parameters set out under the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), in particular the Expenditure Benchmark.
