Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

There are now about 96,000 staff employed in providing health services, compared to 66,000 in 1997. During this time an additional 6,000 nurses have been recruited, which amounts to 22% of the total increase. A further 8,500 people – over 30% of the increase – have been recruited to the medical, dental or health and social care professional grades. These employees are providing an increased level of front-line health care.

The gross allocation for education and science is €6.5 billion, an increase of €674 million, or 11%, on the forecast outturn for 2003. The cumulative increase in gross expenditure on education over the period 1997 to 2004 will amount to €3.3 billion, a doubling of expenditure over the period. This has funded significant improvements in the pupil-teacher ratio. At primary level the ratio has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 18:1 in the 2002-03 school year, while at second level the ratio has fallen from 16:1 to 13.6:1 in the same period. As in the case of the health sector, the 2004 Estimates will continue to support the employment of significant numbers of front-line staff. There will be nearly 79,000 employees in the delivery of educational services, including approximately 2,500 resource teachers and 1,530 learning support teachers in the primary system and more than 5,500 special needs assistants employed in first and second level schools to ensure that children with special educational needs in mainstream classes receive the educational supports necessary.

Before allowing for any budget day social welfare rate increases, the allocation for social welfare, at €10.6 billion, is the single biggest expenditure provision in the Estimates. On that basis, spending in 2004 on social welfare will have almost doubled since 1997, notwithstanding that unemployment has fallen from 10.3% to 4.4%. There has therefore been a very significant increase in real terms in the level of social welfare provision since 1997 and real increases in benefits for social welfare recipients. There will be changes in eligibility conditions for some social welfare payments in 2004 arising from ongoing reviews of relevant schemes to ensure they continue to meet their objectives. However, the economies arising will amount to an estimated €56 million, which represents just over 0.5% of the total gross pre-budget provision of €10.6 billion for social welfare.