Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform

Photo of Declan BreathnachDeclan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials. He stated towards the end of his contribution that we were potentially heading into choppier economic waters. He spoke about uncertain times and the hopes for an orderly Brexit. He also flagged the issue of overheating.

The Supplementary Estimate for health will be limited to €335 million. The fiscal monitor continues to show health expenditure below profile, which we know is not reflective of the true picture. Are there plans to make the fiscal monitor more reflective of the actual in-year health position? Will the Minister update the committee on the status of the health budget oversight group to which he referred? The committee has previously called for the minutes of the group meetings to be published. Are there plans to do this? Aside from health, are there other areas of expenditure about which the Minister is concerned? What is being done to manage overruns in other areas? What is the updated position on Brexit? The Minister has mentioned the various deal and no deal possibilities. If there is a Brexit deal and the UK remains in the EU until the end of 2020 will additional resources be available for allocation next year? Will an additional transfer be made to the rainy day fund should a Brexit agreement be finalised? I will come back to ask further questions later.

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