Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked how these figures are arrived at. The Department cannot guess exactly how many retirees there will be at the end of June. They cannot make that estimate. The fact it has bounced to three times the projected figure tells me there was a question of trying to ensure the Department worked within an overall figure. This is where they fit in. I have asked my officials to ensure that whatever the figure is when we arrive at it pre-budget that it is evidence-based. There is confidence amongst my officials that they will know exactly and will have narrowed it down in order that we do not come back here every year. I am not making excuses for the accounting practices within which the Department of Education and Skills must work because it is an annual thing. It is the same as other Departments. We are constitutionally bound and so on but we are looking at the budget from year to year for the school year from September to June, that is, in the middle of that cycle. The information and advice I have been given on this is we will not be back in this situation again next year.