Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform
Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - Shared Services (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
1:45 pm
Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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My next question relates to office machinery and supplies. As somebody who worked in the public sector, I know there was a great chestnut that came in the first week of September when my line manager would send me a note telling me €5,000 had to be spent before 31 December. In my case, it would often go to buying IT equipment which would be cheaper at any other time of the year. Christmas has always been the most expensive time to buy IT equipment and if I could wait until January, I could achieve a cheaper purchase.
Is reform envisaged in such operations that will allow purchases to go into January? What sort of flexibility in the budget would allow this? Local authorities, VECs and others buy equipment at the end of the year but it is the worst time of the year to do so. Conversely, the money may just be used because the same amount would not be allocated the following year if money remained in the budget.