Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are moving to a much clearer budgetary structure than existed heretofore. I will deal first with multi-annual frameworks. It is not a case of handing out the money for the next three years. These are the horizons of expenditure that we expect. Obviously we must generate sufficient money each year. We do not give them an advance payment for next year; we are hard set to find the money for 2013, without giving them an advance payment for 2014 and 2015. However, we give the ceilings. The Deputy will remember the situation previously with capital expenditure and what happened if a Department had capital at the end of the year which it could not expend because of planning delays or something else. I remember the Department of Education and Skills bought computers or the like one year because it could not spend it on schools and it had to use the money.

That is bad and crazy. The previous Government did away with that by having multi-annual frameworks whereby expenditure, if it was not spent, carried over. It does the same on the current side because not everything can be expended in that way. In the agriculture sector, payments and planning can flow into the next year or we can reprioritise matters at the end of the year. It gives flexibility to line Ministers, within agreed frameworks, to spend money in as prudent and as wise a way in accordance with Government policy.

With regard to monitoring, I bring a monthly report to Government. I brought the October report to the Government this week. We monitor every line Department's expenditure profile month on month and it is discussed at Cabinet on a monthly basis.

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