Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

As the Minister for Finance stated when introducing the 2010 budget, in the past year we have been running to stand still in terms of spending on public services. Accordingly, in the 2010 budget the Government decided, as part of its strategy to manage its way through the current severe economic crisis and to return the country to prosperity, to reduce spending on public services by almost €1 billion in 2010 compared with the pre-budget estimates. To the greatest extent possible, the savings have been sought through efficiencies rather than through reductions in services.

In the case of my Department, gross funding at €415.426 million in 2010 is a reduction of 13% relative to the 2009 allocation of €475.701 million. Current funding is reduced by 9%, a decrease of €32.1 million, and capital funding is reduced by 21%, a decrease of €28.175 million.

In a joint statement with the Minister of State at my Department, Deputy John Curran, on budget day, we stressed that our primary concern is to make every effort to ensure the daily front-line services provided with funding from my Department are protected, especially those focused on the needs of the most socially deprived communities. Every saving that can be made from cutting down on overheads will be pursued so that the entire range of rural and Gaeltacht communities we serve, as well as urban and island communities, retain, to the greatest extent possible, the services that have been developed in partnership with them over the years.

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