Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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The Department can play a key role here in bringing simplicity to the situation to make it more transparent and to be able to measure. If we are looking at housing, for instance, one could say we have delivered, through a local authority, "X" amount of housing, but that does not tell us if we are making progress with regard to how many are on the housing waiting list and what the unmet need is there. In the same way, one could go across other Departments, rather than just stabbing the dark with a figure. It is what is often not measured that poses the difficulty, rather than the measurements that are provided.

How does performance-based budgeting impact on resource allocation to Departments? I will give an example. Despite the current level of Department of Social Protection expenditure, figures released last week show an alarming rise in the increase of retired people at risk of poverty in 2022. It is useful to have that measurement, albeit it is a stark one. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, one in ten people was at risk of poverty, and in 2022, that spiked to one in every five people. This means that many elderly people now live in a very precarious situation, with all the stress and anxiety that brings. We have seen a similar increase in the number of retired people living in consistent poverty, which is now close to one in 20. That is also a substantial increase on pre-pandemic levels, which is deeply concerning. How does that feed into the budget process and the evaluation within the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform? This is a case, in my opinion, of a lack of sufficient resources. In other instances, that might not be the case but in this one, it is a matter of resources. How does the Department address that in its resource allocation and what it signs off on?