Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I answered the Deputy's question about the timing of the review when I said it will be completed in the second half of 2017. Clearly, my objective is to get this work done as early as possible in the second half of 2017. That would facilitate the redeployment of existing expenditure in the hope of delivering new initiatives next year, or delivering existing objectives in a better way. Areas of expenditure were selected on the basis of policy relevance and discussions between officials in my Department and the Department that is responsible for the relevant subhead. The answer to the Deputy's question about whether other areas of expenditure will get away with it is "No". We have outlined a rolling process. The objective is that we will cover a third of Government expenditure every year. This means we are aiming to cover all Government expenditure over a period of approximately three years.

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