asked the Minister for the Environment if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each area.
Written Answers. - Departmental Estimates.
591.
The Estimates for my Department, as approved in early 1981 by the then Government, under-provided to the extent of some £23 million for commitments then known to be arising during the year. There was no shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay for my Department.
592.
asked the Miniter for Defence if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfall occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
The provision made in the original Estimate for the pay of the Permanent Defence Forces was inadequate to the tune of £10 million. This represented the equivalent of seven weeks' pay for NCOs and privates.
593.
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he will state in respect of his Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates underprovided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if he will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
Cavan-Monaghan): In the case of the Fisheries Estimate for 1981 a reduction of £400,000 was made in the amount sought by An Bord Iascaigh Mhara to meet the cost of interest subsidy on fishing boat loans. The result of this reduction would have been an increase in interest rates payable by fishermen in respect of loans from the board. However, after the budget, the previous administration decided not to apply the increased interest rates and agreed to restore the cut of £400,000 but did not ask the House to vote the necessary finance. The present Government had to make these funds available by way of Supplementary Estimate. The reduction did not affect basic pay.
In the case of the Forestry Estimate the reply to the question is nil.
594.
asked the Minister for Health if she will state in respect of her Department the amount by which the January 1981 Estimates under-provided for charges known to have existed at the time of the approval of the Estimates by the then Government; and in the case of the shortfall in provisions in relation to basic pay if she will state the areas in which such shortfalls occurred and the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted for each such area.
The major financing difficulty which arose in the health sector in 1981 was due to the approving of higher levels of expenditure for the main health agencies than was justified by the provision for Exchequer grant made in the Book of Estimates. On that basis the under-provision by way of grant amounted to £43.8 millions. The agencies mainly involved were health boards, public voluntary hospitals, homes for the mentally handicapped and the General Medical Services (Payments) Board.
On the basis of the pay and non-pay breakdown of the subhead provisions in Part III of the Estimate the overall amount of £43.8 could notionally be regarded as representing £28.8 million in respect of pay and £15 million in respect of non-pay. As the pay costs of the main health agencies cover a wide range of grades (in excess of 300), with varying pay rates, as well as fees, overtime, locum cover, and so on, it will be appreciated that it would not be practicable to express the notional pay content of the under-provision in terms of the number of weeks' basic pay which the shortfall constituted in each area.