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

I outlined earlier the way in which we conduct this work. It is a rolling review because it would not be possible to review all Government expenditure in the level of detail I want within a single year. The amount involved is over €58 billion. Second, we will identify a third of Government expenditure per year. That is why I refer to it as a rolling review. I anticipate that it will take three to three and a half years to complete this work. It differs very much from previous spending reviews in our recent economic history, which the Deputy has referred to, because the objective of those reviews was to reduce the amount of Government expenditure. That is not an explicit or implicit objective of this. Within agreed expenditure ceilings, I am looking to find out if there are better ways for policy objectives that Government Ministers are looking to deliver to be achieved. In that regard, it differs significantly from spending reviews that have been undertaken by the previous Governments.

See this speech in context