Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 June 2021
114. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the lessons he has learned in the course of the pandemic with regard to maintaining staffing levels in key areas of the public sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31412/21]
View answerIn the period 2014 to 2019 there was increased expenditure on public services and infrastructure, with steady increases in current expenditure underpinned by sustainable increases in revenue, and significant growth in capital investment reflecting the reductions over the period 2008 to 2014 and the importance of capital investment in delivering on social and economic objectives. This sustainable level of overall expenditure growth has provided investment in our public services, particularly in the key frontline areas of Health, Education, Housing and Childcare, while at the same time bringing the General Government Balance from a deficit of 3.6% of GDP in 2014 to a surplus of 0.5% of GDP in 2019. This left the public finances in a stronger position as we faced into the crisis caused by Covid-19.
Over this period, this increased expenditure has allowed for increased staffing in key frontline areas, with staffing in the Health sector increasing by 18% and in the Education sector by 17% when comparing Quarter 4 2014 with Quarter 4 2019.
In 2020, numbers in the Health sector increased to 124,816, a 4% increase over end-2019 and in the Education sectors, overall numbers increased by 3% to 113,336 in the same period. This demonstrates the ongoing commitment to allocate funding for recruitment of staff in order to provide vital frontline service provision to respond to Covid-19.
In addition to making available €12 billion in funding for Covid and Brexit related measures, Budget 2021 also provided an increase of 6.2% for core current expenditure programmes. The pandemic has demonstrated how much we rely upon our health service. In addition to providing for Covid-19 related funding, core current expenditure in the Department of Health was increased by 10.7% in Budget 2021. As outlined in Expenditure Report 2021, this Health allocation will fund an increase of approximately 16,000 posts in the health sector above the pre-Covid funded levels for 2020.
The approach being adopted in relation to overall expenditure is to ensure that the growth in expenditure on public services is sustainable over the medium term. This will allow for additional staffing resources to be allocated to meet the demands for public services over the coming years.
