Vol. 573 No. 5
13 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Finance his estimate of the full cost of benchmarking including that falling to be paid by local authorities and under the craft settlement expressed as a cost per household; and his further views on whether householders will see a commensurate improvement in the quality of public services. [25843/03]
99 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance his estimate of the full cost of benchmarking, including that falling to be paid by local authorities and under the craft settlement, expressed as a cost per household; and his further views on whether householders will see a commensurate improvement in the quality of public services. [25997/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 99 together.
The parallel benchmarking process for the craft workers and the related non-nursing and the general operative grades is not yet complete. However, the full year annual Exchequer cost of benchmarking including the cost of the parallel process for craft workers and related grades as currently estimated would be about €1.2 billion by the time it is fully paid. The cost of benchmarking, including the craft workers and general operative processes, in the local authorities will be about €114 million in a full year. The local authorities will have to meet this cost from their own resources. The financing of local authorities is in the first instance a matter for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and his Department and allocations from the local government fund to local authorities is a matter for him.
It would be inappropriate to express the cost of benchmarking per household. Benchmarking, like other costs, will be met from the resource available to the Government which includes income tax and corporation tax as well as capital taxes and indirect taxes and any borrowing the Government may undertake.
