Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 32, 41 and 42 together.

As the Deputy is aware, as part of its strategy to manage its way through the current severe economic crisis and to return the country to prosperity, the Government decided, in budget 2010, to reduce spending on public services by almost €1 billion in 2010 compared to the pre-budget Estimates. To the greatest extent possible, savings have been sought through efficiencies rather than through reductions in services. The individual breakdown of these reductions for my Department at a subhead level is provided in the Revised Estimates Volume for 2010, which, I understand, was published in the past hour or so.

While the allocations in most expenditure programmes are reduced for 2010, my primary concern is to make every effort to ensure that the daily front line services provided with funding from my Department, particularly those focused on the needs of the most socially deprived communities, are protected. Every saving that can be made from reducing overheads is being pursued in order that the entire range of urban, rural, Gaeltacht and island communities we serve will retain, to the greatest extent possible, the services that have been developed in partnership with them over the years.

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