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

The effective management of the delivery of public services within budgetary allocations is a key responsibility for each Minister and their Department on an ongoing basis. My Department is in regular contact during the year with all other Departments and offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed within the overall budgetary parameters. Information in regard to gross and net voted expenditure is published monthly in the Department of Finance’s Fiscal Monitor.

Given the scale of overall voted expenditure, the cash basis of Government accounting and the funding implications that unexpected events can have on expenditure requirements, variances from spending profiles can occur for a number of reasons. At the end of December last year, net voted expenditure was €46.29 billion in total. Net current expenditure amounted to €41.968 billion and net capital expenditure amounted to €4.3 billion. In overall terms, this level of spend is €352 million, or 0.8%, above profile based on the Revised Estimates Volume published in December 2016. The expenditure report of 2018, published on budget day, updated the estimated expenditure position for 2017. The expenditure outturn for the year is broadly in line with the updated estimate of €46.72 billion.

As the Deputy will be aware, Supplementary Estimates of €491 million were agreed by the Dáil in December. As we are operating under the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, Supplementary Estimates must be accommodated within the requirements of the fiscal rules. Where there are underspends across Departments, they can be used to offset additional expenditure in other areas. Thus, the underspends of €317 million for 2017 across 12 Departments, as noted by the Deputy, will offset the impact of the Supplementary Estimates and the balance will be surrendered to the Exchequer based on the appropriation account outturn.

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