Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The summer economic statement outlined €3.2 billion in what are known as the budget decisions. Essentially, money was set aside to meet ELS and other existing commitments. On budget day, that had been reduced by €500 million. We have been given no explanation as to how this was possible or what was done. This is no way to manage a budget process. The level of transparency is simply not good enough, especially when we see Departments, such as the Department of Health, not being given enough money to meet the standstill costs.

The Minister has an opportunity to bring more clarity to this issue. The money was clearly identified as being needed at that time, in July, to meet existing commitments. What allowed the Minister to reduce the budget decision allocation by €500 million from when the summer economic statement was published in July to the budget day in October and how can we take seriously the information present in the summer economic statements in the future if €500 million can be removed without explanation?

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