Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 October 2022
137. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the reason for the reduction in the allocation of expenditure from the National Training Fund given that it is €682.5 million in 2023 expenditure report and was €716.4 million in 2022; the areas in which the reductions will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50537/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraBudget 2023 allocated €682.5 million to the NTF for 2023. The 2022 Revised Estimates Volume, finalised the NTF allocation for 2022 as €765m, increased from the provisional allocation in Budget 2022 of €752m.
The reduction is due to the temporary funding provided in 2022 for Covid, the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). These temporary funds amounted to €131.431m. Temporary funding of €48.5m has been allocated in 2023 for Covid and BAR measures and an increase of €0.4m has been allocated to the NTF baseline for Access to Apprenticeship initiatives. The final allocation for the National Training Fund in 2023 has yet to be agreed and will be set out in the Revised Estimates.
The amount of €716.40 million quoted in the question refers to a graph in the Budget 2022 Expenditure Report (page 100), which was incorrectly labelled. The figure of €752m can be seen on page 242 in the Estimates for Public Services part of the report, and the figure of €765m can be found on page 257 of the Revised Estimates for Public Services for 2022 report.
