Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) releases briefing paper on the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2018

The Revised Estimates 2018 are coming before Dáil Select Committees for scrutiny over the next number of weeks, prior to being returned to Dáil Éireann for approval.

Ms Annette Connolly, Director of the Parliamentary Budget Office, noted that the Revised Estimates 2018 is a crucial document which must be easily accessible in order to provide clarity and transparency to the Dáil and its committees when scrutinising public expenditure and the public services being provided by it.

The importance of Voted Expenditure as a percentage of overall public expenditure (on a General Government basis) has significantly increased in 2018. Total public expenditure in 2018 is expected to be €79.3 Billion, of which €61.8 Billion (78%) is set out in the Revised Estimates 2018.

The PBO briefing paper, produced primarily for Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, provides a high-level overview of the Revised Estimates 2018 and its importance, highlights some issues around lack of clarity and transparency, and analyses the six Votes with the largest allocations. Those Votes are:

•Transport, Tourism and Sport;
•Employment Affairs and Social Protection;
•Housing, Planning and Local Government;
•Health;
•Garda Síochána; and
•Education and Skills.

Ms Connolly noted that the Revised Estimates 2018 no longer includes 'Qualitative Statements of Outputs and Activities' and welcomed this move as one which places greater emphasis on streamlined quantitative metrics in relation to performance budgeting and should facilitate greater monitoring and tracking of performance over time. Further improvements to the quality of the quantitative metrics would also be welcome. However, the PBO’s briefing paper also lists a number of concerns in relation to undue complexity which continue to reduce the opportunity for effective parliamentary engagement with this part of the budgetary process.

The Revised Estimates 2018 incorporates (for the first time) a pilot on Gender Budgeting and is also complemented by the Public Service Performance Report (due to be published in April) which provides more information in relation to the public services provided. The PBO intends to assess both the Gender Budgeting pilot and the forthcoming Public Service Performance Report in separate publications. PBO Briefing Papers in relation to the HSE National Service Plan 2018 and the Social Insurance Fund will also be published.

Also of note are two significant technical adjustments from the original figures published for Budget 2018. These are (1) the great bulk of funding for domestic water services will now be approved by the Dáil through the Housing, Planning and Local Government Vote - up to now funding had been provided in different ways; and (2) Motor Tax receipts will be paid directly to the Exchequer rather than to the Local Government Fund (LGF). The Revised Estimates 2018 therefore record an increase in gross Voted Expenditure of €792 million and in net Voted Expenditure of €1,137 million as a result of these adjustments. While this change has a neutral impact on overall General Government Expenditure, it highlights the importance of scrutiny of Voted Expenditure.

Ms Connolly noted that funding of domestic water services through the Revised Estimates process will bring more transparency to this important area of expenditure but will also mean that it will be competing with other expenditure priorities going forward. In this context, the capital allocation for water services provided in 2018 is €500 million but Irish Water has projected that capital expenditure averaging €770 million per annum will be required during the period 2019-2021.


The publication can be accessed here