Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I welcome this opportunity to address the Seanad on the Appropriation Bill, 2002. As Members are aware, the core purpose of the annual Appropriation Bill is to give statutory effect to the departmental Estimates for supply services, both current and capital, including all Supplementary Estimates approved by the Dáil since the last Appropriation Act.

The Appropriation Bill, 2002 appropriates to the various services listed in the Schedule for the year ending 31 December 2002 the net sum of €29,341,108,000. The total amount comprises: the original net Estimates of €28,844,853,000 as approved by the Dáil prior to the summer recess and the net Supplementary Estimates totalling €496,255,000 which have been approved by the Dáil. The Bill also seeks approval for the use of departmental receipts amounting to €2,481,119,000 as appropriations-in-aid of the services listed in the Schedule. As I mentioned, the Estimates and Supplementary Estimates included in the Schedule to the Bill have been approved by the Dáil. The Bill seeks to give them formal legal effect.

The Supplementary Estimates do not convey the full story in relation to expenditure trends in 2002. It is anticipated that the additional pressures reflected in the Supplementary Estimates will be offset by savings elsewhere across the Votes. The recently published White Paper included a forecast outturn for 2002 which indicates that spending this year will be on or close to the target set. The provisional end-year outturn will be published as part of the end-year Exchequer statement on 2 January next.

The Bill also provides an opportunity to review the budgetary and economic position which I am happy to take today. The Government and the previous coalition has had an excellent track record overall in terms of ensuring public spending each year is managed within the approved allocation for the year. Between 1997 and 2001 the average variation between the level of spending planned in the revised Estimates volume and the end-year outturn was less than 1%.