Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government decided on departmental allocations for 2014 in the budget which I announced on 15 October 2013. The full details of these allocations were set out in the Revised Estimates for public services published on 18 December 2013 and approved by the Dáil on Thursday, 30 January 2014. Ministers and their Departments are responsible for ensuring that their Vote-level allocations are adhered to while at the same time managing the delivery of services. All Departments are required to report to my Department on a monthly basis on their actual current and capital expenditure compared with their published expenditure profiles and to explain where variations arise. My Department is in regular contact with Departments and offices to ensure that expenditure is being controlled, and where necessary my Department meets regularly with line Departments to review financial management in order to minimise any risk of expenditure overruns. The Deputy is very critical if there are overruns every time I answer questions here.

The Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014 introduced a new model of multi-annual budgeting for current expenditure, as the Deputy is aware, called a medium-term expenditure framework, MTEF. The MTEF was initiated on an administrative basis and following enactment of the Ministers and Secretaries Amendment Act 2013, the arrangements for fixed spending ceilings for each ministerial Vote group for a rolling three year period have a statutory basis. The details of the operation of the ministerial expenditure ceilings are set out in an administrative circular issued by my Department last Autumn.

As the Deputy is aware, we have been going through very challenging economic and fiscal conditions which have necessitated significant adjustments to voted expenditure. The efforts made by Ministers and Departments to ensure adherence to allocations, along with the regular monitoring by my Department and regular reporting to Government, have ensured that the required fiscal targets have been consistently been made each year since the Government was elected.

See this speech in context