Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source
I think what we saw in Ukraine was suddenly a spike in energy prices because Ukraine was responsible for delivering a lot of energy, and also a spike in food prices. Energy prices then feed through to prices all the way across the economy. So we had a sudden change. Since then there has been a dramatic fall, certainly in the wholesale price of energy, which is then coming through into our inflation figures. The ECB still has a target of 2%. Inflation has come right down to where it was in the US. Globally, I think we are moving back towards a non-inflationary period. We are also seeing shorter supply lines so people are less inclined to have their businesses rely on long, fragile supply chains leading to countries that are unstable. A lot of things are being done onshore instead in Ireland. We are also becoming a country that produces our own energy. It is happening very quickly but, strategically, within about ten years or so we will be an electricity-exporting country rather than one that is reliant on imports.
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