Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

All Departments have been allocated fixed expenditure ceilings for the period 2012 to 2014 under medium-term expenditure framework which was introduced by the Government in the comprehensive expenditure report. The report outlines the Government's plan for a return to sustainable growth in the economy and sets out in some detail the measures that will be taken to put the national finances in order including annual public expenditure and revenue targets for the period. The expenditure ceilings in the report are given effect through the annual Votes for different Departments, including mine.

The expenditure ceilings which have been set for my Department represent annual gross expenditure. The cost of all administration, service delivery and scheme implementation must be accommodated within the ceiling. In addition to the gross expenditure corresponding to the expenditure ceiling, the Vote for the Department provides for net expenditure which takes account of appropriations-in-aid, including EU receipts. In accordance with long-established practice under Government accounting procedures, all receipts, including the drawdown of EU funding are accounted for separately in that manner. There has been no change in the situation under the arrangements introduced under the comprehensive expenditure report.

EU transfers take the form of the funding for those schemes which are 100% funded by the EU, such as the single payment scheme, and the co-funding of schemes under the Rural Development Programme 2007-13 and the Operational Programme for Fisheries 2007-13. The Department has been maximising the levels of EU drawdown under both programmes to date. My intention is to continue to manage the funding available to my Department in the Vote to ensure that as far as possible all available funds are drawn down. This is an ongoing process which will be carefully managed within the constraints of the annual Vote for the Department.

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