Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 May 2019
97. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 54 of 9 May 2019, if he will provide the same tables for each ministerial Vote; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21135/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe attached spreadsheet (Attachment 1) sets out gross voted current, capital and total expenditure ceilings for each Vote group, as published in each Expenditure Report for Budgets 2014 to 2019.
The expenditure ceilings are presented here exactly as they were published in each Expenditure Report from 2014 to 2019. As such, they do not reflect any transfers of functions or technical adjustments which have occurred within the period. As a result, ceilings may not be directly comparable for all Vote groups across the period. Attachment 2 sets out all of the transfers of functions that have taken place between 2014 and 2019.
A number of technical adjustments also impact on analysis of the 2014 to 2019 period. Significant among these are changes made in 2017 to funding for Irish Water. Following the enactment of the Water Services Act 2017, all Motor Tax receipts are paid into the Exchequer, rather than the Local Government Fund, and all State funding for domestic water services is provided through the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. This resulted in an increase in gross voted expenditure in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) 2018 for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government of €792 million. This increase had no impact on overall General Government expenditure. Conversely, REV 2015 reflected the disestablishment of the HSE Vote with expenditure of the HSE now met by way of a grant from the Department of Health Vote. As a consequence, certain income previously recognised as appropriations-in-aid on the HSE Vote is now retained by the HSE and is no longer reflected in gross expenditure ceilings or outturns from 2015 on. On the Defence Vote, from 2015 onwards, the purchase of military equipment was reclassified as capital expenditure rather than current expenditure. This accounts for the apparent rise in Defence capital expenditure that occurs between Budget 2015 and Budget 2016.
