Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised)

3:05 pm

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I receive a monthly report from the finance staff in my Department on whether we are ahead or behind the Estimate. In some areas, we will be slightly ahead, but in most, we will be slightly behind. As we move to the end of the year, we must review constantly how we are spending money. Sometimes, we move money between Estimates or headings to ensure that we have full spend, which requires in the case of substantial sums the approval of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is up to our people to produce accurate Estimates each year. Accountants will be conservative. The last thing they want is to have to say to a Minister that we do not have enough money to meet our obligations. There is always a slight overestimation of spending, in particular on disease control given that one never knows when one will have an outbreak. Last year, we were particularly accurate in matching our Estimate to our expenditure. The year before, there was a very significant difference between what was estimated and what was spent. I wanted to ensure that would never happen again. I have become somewhat obsessed about ensuring that the Department spends everything it is sanctioned to spend. For that reason, we have provided for monthly updates on expenditure. If we are underspending on scrapie, I assure the committee that we will be spending the money on something else.

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