Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Ceisteanna (1345)

Tom Barry

Ceist:

1345. Deputy Tom Barry asked the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine in view of the fact that the net expenditure in the agricultural budget for 2012 is set at €774 million current and €168 million capital, reductions, respectively, of 7.5% and 16.8% on 2011 figures, the proportion of this expenditure that comprises EU finding; further in view of the fact that it is central to any consideration of expenditure caps that agriculture expenditure in this country involves a large contribution from Europe, if the cap on expenditure in agriculture will reflect this in view of the need for a credible environmental scheme for farming here and the need to be able to fund this given that 1,000 farmers are coming off the rural-environmental protection scheme in County Cork this year and approximately 3,000 will leave the scheme in 2013 while the agri-environmental option scheme is not attracting farmers, and those who are participating are still awaiting payments. [36967/12]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The 2012 gross Vote for my Department is €1,338.8m. Of this, €847.5m relates to expenditure on schemes and services that are fully funded by the Exchequer and €491.3m relates to expenditure which is eligible for EU co-funding. In addition to the Voted funds, my Department will undertake further expenditure this year amounting to about €1,284m in payments which are 100% funded by the EU. These payments relate mostly to the Single Payment Scheme.

Under Government Financial Procedures, receipts, including EU drawdowns, are shown as Appropriations-in-Aid on the Department’s Vote and are accounted for separately from expenditure. Total receipts of €323.7m are provided for in the Department’s Vote in 2012, €323.7m of which relate to the drawdown of EU co-funding. While the net Vote in 2012 is €969.2m, the level of expenditure on schemes and services is determined by the gross Vote.

The budget allocations for 2013 will be considered in the context of the gross expenditure ceilings that were allocated to all Departments for the period 2012 -2014 under the Government’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework. The Government’s decision on the expenditure ceilings was taken in order to strike a balance between needs and priorities on a multi-annual basis, to meet the requirements of the overall fiscal commitments which are firmly focused on returning the public finances to a sustainable path and to reduce the General Government Deficit by end 2015.

The preparations for the 2013 Estimate are currently underway and all budget lines on my Department’s Vote, including funding for the agri-environmental schemes, will be examined carefully as part of that process having regard to the expenditure ceilings. My intention is to ensure that the resources available to my Department are managed to provide the optimum benefit to economic activity in the agricultural, food, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to realising the potential which exists for the sectors to contribute to the economic recovery.