Seanad debates
Thursday, 21 November 2002
Book of Estimates, 2003: Statements.
I am sorry the Minister is not present, but I am sure his officials will pass this on. He said most spectacularly today and in the Dáil earlier this week that he still expects to come in with a 14% increase in current spending this year, notwithstanding the fact that at the end of October the figure stood at 20%. I tried to do a few sums this morning using the end of October Exchequer returns which showed that at that stage we had spent some €26.2 billion in terms of net supply of services. The overall annual budget is €29 billion, which suggests that somehow the Government will manage to get by on €2.8 billion, give or take, in the last two months of the year. Obviously, this is totally out of sync with the pattern of spending over the previous ten months, but it defies belief that he could manage to spend in a half sensible way in the last two months of the year. The Minister has been confidently saying in a number of different forums this week that he will manage it. I would like to know how, because it is not clear to me on reading the figures.
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