I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, back to the House. The debate will follow the normal pattern. The Minister will have six minutes, and all Senators will have six minutes. The Minister will be given no less than five minutes to reply.
Appropriation Bill 2023: Second Stage
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I am here in the Seanad to present the Appropriation Bill 2023. It is a key component of the overall budgetary process. Although it is technical, it is fundamentally important and has to be concluded by both Houses of the Oireachtas before the end of this year.
The Bill has two crucial objectives. The first is to authorise in law the spending, which has taken place throughout the year. The Bill provides this lawful basis in line with the Estimates that have been voted on by the Dáil. These amounts are appropriated for supply services as set out in section 1 and Schedule 1 of the Bill. The amounts included reflect the Revised Estimates and any further Revised Estimates for 2023, voted by the Dáil earlier this year, and all Supplementary Estimates voted by the Dáil over the course of 2023. Overall, this amounts to €79.9 billion in current and in capital spending. The second objective of Bill is to provide a legal basis for public spending to continue into 2024. The enactment of this Bill before the end of December provides the authority for spending in January 2024 until approval of the 2024 Estimates by the Dáil. This authority for the year, as contained in the Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act 1965, is based on the amounts provided for in the Appropriation Bill 2023. This is particularly important with regard to the payment of social welfare services and public pay.
Another important element of the Bill relates to capital carryover. Under the rolling year-on-year capital envelopes introduced in budget 2004, Departments may carry unspent capital funding over from the current year to the following year, up to a maximum of 10%. The Bill also provides for this capital carryover from 2023 to 2024. This is designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of capital programmes and projects by Departments and agencies. Section 2 of the Bill provides for the proposed capital carryover into 2024 of more than €530 million, which is 4.2% of total Exchequer capital spending of more than €12.5 billion for this year. Section 2 in the Bill outlines the proposed amounts to be carried over by Vote. The 2024 Revised Estimates volume published this week will include a table listing the amounts to be deferred by subhead for each Vote availing of the capital carryover facility.
In line with usual practice, the Bill also includes a provision to advance funds from the Central Fund to the Paymaster General's supply account to facilitate payments due in the initial days of January. This provision ensures that the funds are in place for salary, pension and social welfare payments at the start of 2024 without creating an overdraft on the supply account. Section 3 of the Bill provides for up to €440 million to be advanced, with this then being repaid to the Central Fund in January. This arises as certain Exchequer liabilities and social welfare payments are due for payment by electronic funds transferred between 1 and 2 January. With the banking system closed on 1 January, funding will need to be in place in departmental bank accounts before the end of the year to meet these liabilities in a timely way. In addition, An Post needs to be pre-funded before the end of the year so it can distribute funds to its network of post offices throughout the country in respect of social welfare payments it makes on an agency basis. These Exchequer decisions form part of the supply services for 2024 and these costs will come under moneys voted in 2024, in respect of which the normal processes will then apply.
Finally, an early signature request for the Appropriation Bill 2023 is being sought. The signed Act is required by the Comptroller and Auditor General for clearance of the end year issues from the Exchequer. Under subsection 1° of section 2 of Article 25 of the Constitution, the President may not sign a Bill earlier than the fifth day after the date on which the Bill is presented to him. However, there is provision in subsection 2° of section 2 of Article 25 whereby, at the request of the Government, with the prior concurrence of Seanad Eireann, the President may sign a Bill on an earlier date than the fifth day mentioned. In view of the urgency of this Bill, I am now seeking the provision in subsection 2° of section 2 of Article 25, and a motion to this effect is in front of Senators. Such an early signature motion has also been sought for the Appropriation Bill in previous years.
While this is a technical piece of legislation and a significant housekeeping arrangement at the end of the year, it is of fundamental importance to the end of the budgetary process. It also ensures we are in a position to meet the commitments in early 2024 to those who depend upon the State or who are paid by the State. For all of those reasons I commend the Bill to the House.
As the Minister has said, while it is a routine procedure, it is important that An Post has sufficient moneys to pay in a timely fashion at the start of next year the State pensions, children's allowance and other benefits it pays out. It was a comprehensive opening statement, and I am sure none of our Senators is going to repeat everything the Minister said, but will welcome the Bill in their own way. Senator Davitt has six minutes, but as I often say on this one, that is a maximum rather than a target.
I am delighted to see the Minister here. As he knows we discussed a few details of this before the Seanad met this morning. He certainly has our full support. This is an important piece of legislation under his remit as Minister. We welcome it and he has our full support.
I welcome the Minister. I regret I cannot follow the brevity of my colleague-----
You can try.
I will always try. I thank the Minister for bringing this important piece of legislation. It is hugely important for the running of all Departments for the year. If this was not passed, we can agree there would be consequences for the people we serve. Every citizen would suddenly realise the importance of government at large.
I refer to Vote 29, which is the salaries and expenses for the Office of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, including certain payments administered by that office and for payments of certain grants. I refer in particular to one of the State agencies under the remit of that Department. That is Inland Fisheries Ireland, which I referred to on numerous occasions. I refer to the Committee of Public Accounts debate on Thursday 6 July this year, at which the Comptroller and Auditor General. Mr. Seamus McCarthy, was a witness. He stated:
I certified the 2021 financial statements on 29 March 2023 and issued a clear audit opinion. However, I drew attention to a number of items in my audit report. First, I drew attention to certain governance concerns ... A number of disclosures were made in 2022 to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and to IFI. These disclosures resulted in the commissioning of a succession of reviews and reports [which are ongoing and of which we await publication]. The statement on internal control outlines the status of these reviews at the date of signing of the financial statements. ... Finally, I drew attention to a change in the chief executive’s normal place of work from IFI’s headquarters in Donegal to the regional office in Ballyshannon in November 2021. This has implications for the claiming of expenses by the chief executive. We found no contemporaneous written record of the proposal for the work location change, or of its financial implications or of a decision in that regard by the board, which is responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the chief executive. The number and complexity of the issues that have arisen in IFI contributed to a delay in the completion of the audit of the 2021 annual financial statements. The audit of the 2022 annual financial statements is currently in progress and I expect earlier completion of that work. Separately, my office is further examining a number of control and value-for-money issues in IFI and I may present a report on any significant findings from that work, if that is warranted.
As Senators will know, I have raised matters pertaining to IFI on a number of occasions in my parliamentary party, but that statement on the goings-on in IFI was from the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding. The former chairman has written to question some of the comments and statements made by the CEO at the Committee of Public Accounts of the same date. He has written and I understand that correspondence has been put on the record by the Chairman of the committee. The IFI is subject to a rule that any capital expenditure of over €50,000 has to be approved by the board. This is not the overall package of capital expenditure but expenditure on each project. However, the CEO expended €219,000 of taxpayers' money on the project, which some would say was a dubious one, in Aasleagh in County Mayo without reference to the board, as required.
I have a briefing note on when references are made to persons outside the House-----
Yes, I am talking about the expenditure of public money.
I ask the Senator to be aware of people who are not in the position to defend themselves.
The individual gave an explanation at the public accounts committee. It is on record. I am querying that on behalf of the former chairperson. There is no record of this project going before the board for approval. The CEO states it came before the board in May as part of the overall capital expenditure package but there are no individualised projects listed and there was no approval for expenditure of €219,000 on this project in Aasleagh. Will the Minister seek verification of whether this project was approved by the board? It is one of a number of projects and issues within Inland Fisheries Ireland, which calls into question the governance and management of that organisation.
I am raising the issue and I ask that the Minister engage with the chief executive officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland on the expenditure of that money on Aasleagh, and also engage with the former chairman of the board, up to April 2022, and the acting chairperson who resigned in January 2023, to seek approval or to get verification of the minutes of meetings which refer to capital projects in that year. Two different opinions have been given and it is quite clear to me, based on what I have seen, that there was no board approval for that individual project worth €219,000. That is against proper governance and procedure, and it is a waste of taxpayers' money and an abuse of the positions held, without reference to the board members, whose duty it is to sign off on capital expenditure. I do not expect the Minister to comment on the case now but I ask that he engage with the CEO and the former chairpersons of Inland Fisheries Ireland regarding this project.
I gave Senator Kyne considerable latitude given what we are dealing with. I hope Senator Dolan will not engage in similar activity.
I welcome the Minister for public expenditure to the Chamber. This Bill will ensure payments, particularly social welfare payments and I want to comment on the social welfare side. The budget this year provided the largest ever package for social projection. I do not want to underestimate that. People will be able to access increased pension payments and carers will be able to claim back stamps in order to apply for pensions. We have seen a lot of positive changes by the Government. The Bill, in its own way over Christmas, will ensure there are enough funds in the Paymaster General's account. It is crucial that we see these payments continue. It is because of stable Government policies that we are able to deliver this for people across the country.
The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, through the carer's allowance and carer's respite, has done a lot of work and fought for the cause. However, the benefit to the State from a financial perspective of the role that carers play in the family home cannot be overestimated. There is a very strong case for supporting that in the future. We are seeing that challenge when it comes to nursing home places in rural areas. Smaller nursing homes are perhaps not able to be as competitive as larger nursing homes, which are taking precedence. The Government is championing the role of family carers in maintaining independent living and allowing people to live as long as possible in their own homes. I welcome these changes and I would like to see this progress continue.
I thank Senator Davitt for recognising the importance of the Bill and supporting its swift passage. His support is much appreciated.
Regarding the points made by Senator Kyne, I recognise that the Senator has been raising concerns and issues related to the operation of Inland Fisheries Ireland for some time. I have heard him contribute strongly on this topic at a number of parliamentary party meetings. I will have to consider the particular issue he has raised regarding capital expenditure. As the Senator said, the way in which those projects are sanctioned is at board level, not at Department level by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, not to mention my Department. The Senator raises an issue about which he is clearly concerned. I will contact the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and follow up on the issues he has raised. As he is sufficiently concerned about them to raise them on the floor of the Seanad, he is due a response, which I will provide.
I thank Senator Dolan very much for her recognition of the value of the social welfare payments, particularly how we support our carers in their roles and the challenge with nursing homes and the availability of places. The Senator will be aware of the information showing the availability of nursing home beds across the country. Sometimes it is better than we might think based on the commentary we hear about it. At the same time, I well appreciate the difficulty and worry that families face when they are trying to get a loved one into a nursing home. They are concerned about whether a bed will be available or where it will be.
I thank the Senators again for raising those matters and I appreciate greatly the support of the House for this Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?
Now.
Is that agreed? Agreed.