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

Managing the delivery of public services within budgetary allocations is the responsibility of every Department and Minister. My Department is in regular contact with all Departments and offices to ensure expenditure is being managed within the overall budgetary parameters. The draw-down of funds from the Exchequer is reported every month in the Fiscal Monitor published by the Department of Finance.

As set out in the most recent publication, total gross voted expenditure at end of April was €19.216 billion. This was €74 million, or 0.4%, below profile. Gross voted current expenditure, at €18 billion, was 1.1% ahead of profile. Timing issues related to child benefit and Garda pension payments, profiled for payment at the start of May but brought forward to April, accounted for a significant portion of the variance. As outlined in the April report, it arose as the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer, TARGET, system was closed on 1 May due to it being a European public holiday. The timing issues will reverse in May. Health expenditure, at €5.15 billion, was 1.4% above profile. Gross voted capital expenditure, at €1.1 billion, was 19% below profile but up €190 million, or 20%, versus April 2017. The key driver was that capital expenditure in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government was running at €158 million behind profile. This was largely due to a delay in drawing down payments for Irish Water. It is anticipated that the draw-downs will be completed in the coming months, bringing expenditure back into line with profile

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

As the Deputy will be aware, sound public finances are necessary to underpin sustainable economic growth. This requires that overall expenditure be managed effectively. To support this goal, my Department has been engaging with a range of Departments on year two of the spending review process, with a view to reinforcing a systematic analysis of existing spending programmes, focusing on an assessment of efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability.

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