Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

9. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the gross voted expenditure for 2006; the estimated gross voted expenditure for 2014; the major increases and decreases in the Votes across Departments for those years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9300/14]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This question relates to gross voted expenditure - this includes expenditure relating to all Government Departments but excludes anything that is not directly voted for services - for the years 2006 and 2014. I will be interested in discovering how the two years compared, particularly as the level of expenditure in 2006 was supposed to be significant. I will be especially interested in hearing about the areas in which expenditure has increased and those where it has decreased.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Overall gross voted expenditure for 2006 - I am surprised the Deputy picked that year - amounted to just over €50 billion compared to a gross expenditure figure of €53 billion for 2014.  This represents an increase, in nominal terms, of €3 billion or 6% over the nine-year period the Deputy has specified.  The 2014 Estimate for gross current expenditure is €49.7 billion, a nominal increase of €6.3 billion or 15% over the period while capital expenditure has decreased in nominal terms by €3.3 billion or 50% since 2006. While overall expenditure levels show an increase between 2006 and 2014, it is important to note the rapid and unsustainable escalation of expenditure which occurred between 2006 and 2009.  I am sure this was in no way connected to the general election which took place during that period. Overall gross spending increased by over €13 billion or 26% during the period in question and stood at over €63 billion in 2009.

As the Deputy is aware, we have been undergoing very challenging economic and fiscal corrections which have necessitated significant expenditure consolidation.  The consolidation measures this Government has introduced have ensured Ireland's successful exit from the EU-IMF programme of financial support. To fully appreciate the scale of the consolidation, it must be noted that it has been achieved against the backdrop of being obliged to respond to increased needs for public services and supports. The numbers on the live register increased from 160,000 in January 2006 to just under 400,000 in January 2014. Pressure on primary social protection payments, such as pensions, working-age income supports, working-age employment supports and illness-related supports, also increased during the period. This pressure is reflected in the allocation of €19.6 billion to the Department of Social Protection this year. That is €6.1 billion above the amount allocated in 2006.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Consolidation of health expenditure has taken place within a context of significant demands for services. The numbers of medical and GP cards increased from approximately 1.2 million in 2006 to approximately 2 million at the end of 2013, a significant increase of over 800,000. While funding for the education and skills Vote has increased by €900 million between 2006 and 2014, this was primarily due to the national training fund and FÁS transferring to the Vote in 2011. During the period in question there have been increased demographic pressures on services with the number of students at primary and secondary school increasing from about 814,000 in 2007 to almost 890,000 in 2013.

While the provision and costs of public services remain the responsibility of the relevant Ministers and their Departments, my Department has introduced measures to help ensure that expenditure targets continue to be met and that public expenditure remains sustainable. The medium-term expenditure framework - with three-year ceilings for ministerial Vote groups - was placed on a statutory footing with the enactment of the Minister and Secretaries Amendment Act 2013. This provides greater clarity and certainty about expenditure allocations and allows for structural, medium-term planning and prioritisation within each area. On 14 January, my Department published a new public service reform plan which covers the period 2014 to 2016.  The new plan includes more than 200 actions, with clear timelines for delivery.  The implementation of the new plan, alongside the measures introduced to enhance expenditure management, will enable the Government build a new public service that is focused on protecting and improving public services within the constraints set by the overall national and EU level fiscal frameworks.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is it accurate to state that the amount spent on education between 2006 and 2014 increased by approximately €1 billion. Interestingly enough, and despite the absolute chaos in the health service, the provision for health this year is exactly the same as that which was made in 2006. The allocations for social protection and education and skills have increased by somewhere in the region of €8 billion between them. Is this explained by the fact that there is a Labour Minister for Social Protection, a Labour Minister for Education and Skills and a Fine Gael Minister for Health?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No, it is not. The very significant increase in the social protection budget would not have happened had Fianna Fáil remained in government. That party had planned to cut social protection by a further €1.5 billion by now.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Hear, hear.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil would have impoverished people. We did not do that and this Government took a consolidated and uniform view on the matter.

The Deputy referred to education and skills, the increase in respect of which over the period was €900 million. This was primarily due to the national training fund and FÁS transferring to the Vote in 2011. He will be aware that €500 million of the reduction in the health Vote for this year relates to the fact that we created the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and a new Child and Family Agency. The money in question has been transferred to the aforementioned Department.

Regardless of whatever Machiavellian construction the Deputy, for his own base reasons, wants to put on the figures, there is no doubt that we have taken the broken economy bequeathed to us after his party's sojourn in government and sought to fix it. By the time the 2011 general election took place, the then Government was barely constitutional because it contained only six or seven extant members. We have rebuilt public confidence in our capacity to turn our own affairs, exited the bailout into which Fianna Fáil placed us and maintained social spending at a decent rate.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Hear, hear.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government has done so by following the four-year plan we laid out for it.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Which Fianna Fáil was obliged to put in place.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Dowds should not be rude.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No one could accuse Deputy Dowds of being rude.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Before they went into government, those opposite derided that plan and stated that it was not necessary.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We renegotiated it.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Nothing of significance was changed. It was always going to be renegotiable because minor changes can always be made.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil did not renegotiate it.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There was no significant renegotiation of the plan. The biggest renegotiation was done for the Government by the Greeks, who managed to have the interest rate reduced.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

So it was the Greeks what done it.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Shame on those in Fianna Fáil. They wrecked the country.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We benefited from that. Will the Minister detail the renegotiation achieved in respect of the four-year plan?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If I had more than 25 seconds available, I would be very happy to do so.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will give the Minister a minute.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Lead-Cheann Comhairle. Within our first 100 days in office we reallocated €500 million in respect of job creation in the tourism sector, with obvious effect. We tore up the promissory note which would have required us to make bullet payments of €3 billion every year for an extended period. Those in Fianna Fáil stated that this note was not renegotiable and could not be altered. Fianna Fáil also entered into a ridiculous agreement whereby we were charged interest on borrowings at 7%. We renegotiated this agreement so that the payments relating to it will be made over a 40-year period at an interest rate of 1%. We also renegotiated a reduction of 2.5% in respect of the interest rates relating to other loans. The Deputy stated that the Greeks were responsible for this and that it was nothing to do with us at all. When the Portuguese obtained a reduction of 1%, those in Fianna Fáil stated that we should seek similar. They indicated that we were a disgrace because we did not achieve a 1% reduction when in fact we obtained a reduction of 2.5%. That shows the level of our determination.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We were going to-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We have not finished yet. We will put right the wrongs the Deputy's party have done to this country. Regardless of whatever way he and his colleagues might want to try to reconstruct history, they should remember that the people of Ireland are not fools.