Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 October 2018
86. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated surplus to be surrendered to the Exchequer by the end of 2018, by Department and by budget line, in tabular form. [40504/18]
View answerAs outlined in the September 2018 Fiscal Monitor published by the Department of Finance, overall gross voted expenditure to the end of September 2018 was €44,874 million. This was only slightly over profile, by €13 million, and €3,208 million, or 7.7 per cent, higher than expenditure for the same period in 2017. Gross voted current expenditure of €41,601 million was €265 million, or 0.6 per cent ahead of profile and €2,451 million, or 6.3 per cent ahead of the same period last year. As set out in the September 2018 Fiscal Monitor, at the end of September 2018, 13 out of 17 Ministerial Vote Groups were either broadly in line or below profile, with an aggregate underspend across these 13 Ministerial Vote Groups of €188 million versus their gross current expenditure profiles.
At this stage of the year, it is difficult to accurately predict the scale of potential underspends at the end of the year to be surrendered to the Exchequer. However, the expenditure outturns for the last two years provide an indication of the potential range.
As reported in the December 2017 Fiscal Monitor, gross voted expenditure in 12 out of 17 Vote Groups was in line or below profile for the year. These profiles reflected the allocations set out in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2017 published in December 2016 and the Further Revised Estimates presented to the Dáil on 17th October 2017. Across these 12 Vote groups, there was an aggregate underspend on current expenditure of €208 million. As set out in the December 2016 Exchequer Statement, gross voted expenditure in 11 out of 16 Ministerial Vote Groups finished the year at or below their total expenditure profile. The aggregate underspend on current expenditure across these 11 Vote Groups was €238 million.
Thus, the level of underspends on current expenditure by Vote groups that underspent relative to profile in 2016 and 2017 suggests that underspends for 2018 of the order of approximately €0.2 billion could reasonably be expected.
