Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 6

Written Answers. - Appropriations-in-Aid.

Derek McDowell

Ceist:

134 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for Finance if he will give a breakdown of the assumptions and projections for appropriations-in-aid as set out in Table 1 of Budget 2000 Statistics and Tables; if he will specify any assumptions or projections concerning the PRSI element of these appropriations-in-aid; and the implications of these projections for future flows into and out of the Social Welfare Fund. [14620/00]

Minister for Finance (Mr McCreevy)

A breakdown by ministerial vote group of the current and capital appropriations-in-aid figures as given in Table 1 of the budget 2000 statistics and tables booklet is given in the following tables.

The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs accounts for the largest part of the total current appropriations-in-aid. This is due to the fact that the appropriations-in-aid figures for that Department include receipts in respect of PRSI contributions. This is dealt with in more detail later.

The Department of Health and Children accounts for the next largest part of the total current appropriations-in-aid. The main element, approximately two thirds of that Department's appropriations-in-aid is receipts from health contributions. These take account of the full-year impact of the increase in the rate from 1.25% to 2% introduced in budget 1999 in the context of the elimination of the 1% employment and training levy. They also take account of the increase in the income threshold for the health levy announced in budget 2000. The other main elements in the Health appropriations-in-aid figures are payments from the UK authorities as recoupment in respect of Irish emigrants to the UK who have returned home and who had built-up health and welfare entitlements while working in the UK and estimated receipts, £132 million in 2000, in respect of the increase in the excise duty on tobacco announced in budget 2000 which will be paid by the Revenue Commissioners directly to the Department of Health and Children to help fund the increasing cost of health services provision.

After Health and Children, the Departments with the next largest share of current appropriations-in-aid are Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and Education and Science. The main elements of both of those Departments current appropriations-in-aid are accounted for by receipts from the EU in respect of programme expenditure co-funded respectively from the FEOGA, Guarantee, Fund and the European Social Fund. The projected EU receipts for both of these Departments take account of the provisions of the national development plan relevant to their areas.

The appropriations-in-aid for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment include estimated receipts in respect of the new national training levy announced in budget 2000. The receipts from the levy, £120 million in a full year, will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and will be paid to the National Training Fund under the control of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The receipts from the levy are paid by way of appropriations-in-aid to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The rest of the current appropriations-in-aid are spread across the other Government Departments and offices and cover a wide variety of sources. Most commonly appropriations-in-aid arise in respect of fees or charges raised for the provision of certain services, for example, TV licence fees and charges at national parks and national monuments under the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands Vote, revenue from sale of maps and royalty fees at the Ordnance Survey, etc. Full details of all appropriations-in-aid are provided in the 2000 revised estimates volume which was published on 22 March 2000.

The majority of the capital appropriations-in-aid relate to EU receipts, mainly under the Departments of the Marine and Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.

Appropriations-in-aid for the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. As outlined the largest portion of the figure for the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs arises from receipts of PRSI contributions. For the years in question, it is estimated that PRSI income will be in excess of that needed to meet expenditure from the Social Insurance Fund. Since 1997 the Social Insurance Fund has been self financing and additional income is added to the ongoing surplus on the fund. At budget time, the cumulative Social Insurance Fund surplus at end 2000 was estimated at £400 million; developments in the meantime, particularly ongoing PRSI buoyancy, indicate that the cumulative surplus at the end of this year will be £600 million.

Current Voted Expenditure

Appropriations-in-Aid 1999 – 2002

Breakdown by Ministerial Vote Group

(As Published in Table 1 of 2000 Budget Booklet)

	1999	2000	2001	2002
	Outturn	Estimate	Projection	Projection
Ministerial Vote Group	A-in-A	A-in-A	A-in-A	A-in-A
	£000	£000	£000	£000
1 Taoiseach	1,069	1,175	1,100	1,065
2 Finance	56,121	66,391	66,987	67,185
3 Public Enterprise	13,246	13,455	10,608	10,948
4 Justice, Equality & Law Reform	20,264	27,307	21,414	21,297
5 Environment & Local Government	17,127	18,043	15,541	15,815
6 Education & Science	185,301	236,019	151,954	137,874
7 Marine and Natural Resources	9,872	11,939	9,722	8,798
8 Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	292,315	273,091	300,378	281,620
9 Enterprise, Trade and Employment	14,226	161,564	135,000	135,100
10 Tourism, Sport and Recreation	6,523	23,791	46,281	28,200
11 Defence	18,690	20,060	19,650	15,770
12 Foreign Affairs	770	500	500	500
13 Social, Community and Family Affairs	2,282,716	2,470,576	2,628,836	2,724,336
14 Health and Children	519,633	798,136	801,100	833,600
15 Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands	77,989	80,858	80,312	81,801
Total	3,515,862	4,202,905	4,289,383	4,363,909

Capital Voted Expenditure

Appropriations-in-Aid 1999 – 2002

Breakdown by Department

(As Published in Table 1 of 2000 Budget Booklet)

Department	1999Outurn	2000Estimate	2001NPC	2002NPC
The Environment and Local Government	7,237	7,491	5,980	5,862
Marine and Natural Resources	47,829	58,847	51,125	49,182
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	22,347	14,361	22,068	8,372
Enterprise Trade and Employment		17,000	13,000	8,500
Defence	250	50	50	50
National Gallery			1,000	1,000
Totals	77,663	97,749	93,223	72,966