I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 to 68, inclusive, and 70 together.
Table 10 of the Stability Programme Update — December 2009, published on Budget day, sets out the projections for the 2009-2014 period which underpin the budgetary arithmetic. The underlying economic forecasts that are consistent with these fiscal projections are set out in Table 4 of the Stability Programme Update.
In terms of the key items that make up non-voted (Central Fund) current expenditure, non-voted capital expenditure, non-tax revenue and capital resources, the White Paper on Receipts and Expenditure for the year ending 31 December 2010, gives a detailed breakdown for 2009 and 2010 on a pre-Budget basis of these items. With the exception of non-voted (Central Fund) current expenditure, the estimates included in the White Paper for 2009 and 2010 for non-tax revenue, non-voted capital expenditure and capital resources were unchanged in the Budget. The White Paper is available on www.budget.gov.ie and was published on 5 December last.
Non Voted (Central Fund) Current Expenditure
The main item under non-voted (Central Fund) current Expenditure is debt servicing costs. It is estimated that over the forecast period, interest costs on the national debt will amount to approximately 70% on average of the overall Central Fund expenditure as set out in Table 10 of the Stability Programme Update for the years 2010-2014. As already outlined, the White Paper on Receipts and Expenditure for the year ending 31 December 2010 sets out the detailed pre-Budget breakdown of items under this heading for the period 2009 and 2010. With the exception of debt servicing there was no change to these estimates in the Budget. As the post-budget Exchequer Borrowing Requirement was lower than that set out on a pre-budget basis in the White Paper, savings of the order of €200 million on debt interest costs were factored into the budgetary arithmetic.
Non-Voted Capital Expenditure
The main item under Non-Voted Capital Expenditure is FEOGA payments. FEOGA payments are short term payments to finance Agriculture CAP expenditure in the final quarter of the year, in particular the Single farm payment. The CAP expenditure is fully funded by the European Union but recoupment is paid in arrears. Therefore FEOGA payments in the final quarter of the year are financed by the Exchequer and recouped from the EU in the following year and recorded as a Capital Resource. Therefore FEOGA is neutral on the Exchequer over time.
Capital Resources
The main item under Capital Resources are, as outlined above, FEOGA receipts. The other main components under this heading are other EU receipts, such as Cohesion Fund and ERDF receipts.
Non-Tax Revenue
The main components of Non-Tax Revenue are the surplus incomes from the Central Bank and the National Lottery and dividends on shares held by the Minister for Finance in State and other companies. In relation to the 2010 forecast for non-tax revenue, this figure also includes the one-off receipt of €140 million in respect of the winding up of Ulysses securitisation and the transfer to the Exchequer of €1 billion in respect of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008.
Aggregate forecasts for each of the headings above, for the years 2011-2014, are set out in Table 10 on page C.20 of Budget 2010. Details of the end-2009 outturn for each of these headings will be published by the Department of Finance on 5 January 2010.