Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
71. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the increase or decrease in public expenditure in each of the past 20 years including the estimate for 2022; the steps being taken to ensure that public expenditure is sustainable over the medium-term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11301/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraEnsuring public expenditure is sustainable over the medium term is essential to allow us to continue to invest in our economy and society to deliver improvements in infrastructure and public services, while reducing the deficit in order to underpin the sustainability of the public finances as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
I have provided detailed information separately for the Deputy on the increase or decrease in public expenditure in each of the past 20 years in written form drawn from the Voted Public Expenditure Databank and from my Department’s internal monitoring system. In 2002, gross voted expenditure was just over €31.3 billion. This compares to total gross voted expenditure of up to €87.6 billion under Budget 2022.
Growth in gross voted expenditure over the 20 year timeframe to 2019, prior to the onset of Covid-19, was considered in conjunction with revenue and economic growth when setting the Medium Term Expenditure Strategy, published last July in the Summer Economic Statement, which lays out planned expenditure ceilings to 2025.
Gross voted expenditure grew at an annual average of 5.6% across this period, with the most recent five year interval of this time frame, the period from 2014 to 2019 showing annual average voted expenditure growth of c. 5%, broadly in line with growth in the economy as measured by GNI*. These increases supported incremental improvements in the provision of day-to-day services and social supports and significant uplifts in public investment and put the public finances in a position to support the significant fiscal response to Covid-19.
