Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
241. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funds allocated as part of Budget 2021 to payments of the pandemic unemployment payment outside of the recovery and contingency funds. [11550/21]
View answer242. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funds allocated as part of Budget 2021 to payments of the employment wage subsidy scheme outside of the recovery and contingency funds [11551/21]
View answer243. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the expected profile of payments through the pandemic unemployment payment and employment wage subsidy scheme from January to the end of June 2021; and if he expects the need for a supplementary estimate in the event that funds allocated to the contingency fund are insufficient to fund additional payments under the schemes. [11552/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 241 to 243, inclusive, together.
The Departmental Estimates for 2021 presented to the Dáil in December included expenditure on Covid-19 related measures and supports of €6½ billion, within the overall gross voted expenditure amount of €82.4 billion. In addition there was €5.4 billion held back in Contingency Funds to be made available for further measures to address the challenges of Covid-19, bringing the overall expenditure ceiling for the year to €87.8 billion. Within the overall allocated amount of €6½ billion, as set out in Expenditure Report 2021, there was €3.2 billion allocated to the Department of Social Protection for additional expenditure on employment and income supports arising from Covid-19. This includes €1.2 billion in respect of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and €0.6 billion for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
Included in the expenditure figures in the recently published Fiscal Monitor is just under €0.8 billion in expenditure incurred by the Department of Social Protection on the EWSS, which is broadly in line with profile at the end of February. Further to this nearly €1.1 billion has been spent on the PUP to the end of February reflecting the impact of Level 5 restrictions. This leaves expenditure on the PUP €0.7 billion ahead of profile at the end of February. However, taking into account underspends on other schemes, overall gross voted expenditure for the Department of Social Protection is just over €0.4 billion ahead of profile at the end of February.
Given that the aggregate expenditure of €1.9 billion to date this year on the EWSS and PUP is above the aggregate allocation of €1.8 billion for both schemes, as we move forward through March and quarter 2, additional expenditure would be fall to be met by reallocating from the Contingency Funds.
In this current week, payments of €140 million are being made by the Department of Social Protection to 468,847 people in receipt of the PUP. If this was maintained through March, overall expenditure on the PUP would be approximately €1.8 billion, which would leave expenditure on this scheme c. €1.2 billion ahead of profile.
The extent of the demand on these funds in quarter 2 will depend on the situation with the virus and the restrictions in place. Based on current restrictions, there is aggregate expenditure of over €0.2 billion per week on the PUP and EWSS. In addition to utilising the Contingency Funds, as the assumptions underpinning the REV allocations saw recipients transferring from the PUP to jobseekers payments, it can be expected that relative to the REV allocations there will be some underspends on jobseekers payments that will partially offset the additional expenditure on the PUP.
This additional expenditure on the EWSS and PUP would place a significant demand on the Contingency Funds. However, with the vaccine rollout underway, the significant measures in place for households and for businesses should support the commencement of a recovery in the Irish economy as restrictions are eased. The question of the need for the allocation of additional funding over and above the amount set aside in the Contingency Funds would be considered taking into account the overall spending and fiscal position at that time and the Government's commitment to support the recovery in employment.
