Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, over €28 billion has been provided for additional expenditure to respond to Covid-19, with €12 billion of this amount included in the overall Government Expenditure ceiling of €87.8 billion for 2021.  This is, by any measure, a substantial additional allocation in addition to core public spending, and allows for measures to support our people and businesses and to sustain key public services during the pandemic. The expenditure report for 2021 outlines the expenditure amounts in respect of both core expenditure programmes and Covid-19 expenditure. In setting out the technical expenditure position for the period to 2025, the stability programme update published last week maintains this approach of separately identifying core expenditure and Covid-19 related expenditure, with the aggregate amounts by year outlined in table 7 on page 37 of that document.

In setting out the technical expenditure position for the period to 2025, the key assumptions are that the exceptional Covid-19 related expenditure unwinds as the public health situation improves and as the economy and society recover from the pandemic, and core expenditure will increase over the period 2022 to 2025 by an annual average of approximately 3.5%. With Covid-19 related expenditure of almost €12 billion this year, amounting to over 5.5% of GNI*, this unwinding of exceptional Covid-19 expenditure is a key driver of the reduction in expenditure as a percentage of GNI*. Given the technical basis, which the Deputy has acknowledged, on which the expenditure projections in the stability programme update are prepared, the position in respect of the exceptional Covid-19 supports reflects current policy decisions.

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