Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Appropriation Bill 2016 is an essential element of financial housekeeping that, as Members of the House are aware, must be concluded by both Houses of the Oireachtas this year.

The Bill serves two primary purposes. First, it is necessary to authorise in law all the expenditure that has been undertaken in 2016 on the basis of the Estimates voted on by the Dáil during the year. The amounts included in section 1 and Schedule 1, to be appropriated for supply services, all relate to amounts included in the Revised Estimates for 2016 of €44.2 billion in aggregate, voted on by the Dáil in April and July this year, as well as the Supplementary Estimates worth €0.4 billion, agreed by the Dáil last week.

The second key purpose of the Bill is to provide a legal basis for spending to continue into 2017. The passage of the Bill allows continued funding, in the period before the 2017 Estimates are approved, of social welfare payments from the social protection Vote, Exchequer pay and pensions, and other voted expenditure.

Under the rolling multi-annual capital envelopes introduced in budget 2004, Departments may carry over unspent capital from the current year to the following year, up to a maximum of 10% of voted capital. The multi-annual systems is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the management by Departments and agencies of capital programmes and projects. It recognises the difficulties inherent in the planning and profiling of capital expenditure and acknowledges that capital projects may be subject to delays. The carryover facility allows for a portion of unspent moneys, which would have been lost to the capital programmes and projects concerned under the annual system of allocating capital, to be made available for spending on programme priorities in the subsequent year.

The Appropriation Act determines definitively the capital amounts that may be carried over to the following year. The aggregate amount of proposed capital carryover is just under €76.5 million, which represents less than 2% of the total Exchequer capital programme of €4.2 billion for 2016. In 2015, there was an amount of just under €112 million in capital expenditure savings carried over into 2016.

The proposed amounts to be carried over by Vote are set out in Schedule 2 to the Bill. The 2017 Revised Estimates volume, published today, sets out detailed financial and key performance information for Departments and offices. In Part II of the Estimates, for each Vote availing of a capital carryover facility a table is included listing the amounts to be deferred by subhead.

Certain Exchequer pay and pensions and social welfare payments, particularly child benefit, are due for payment by electronic fund transfer on 3 January 2017. With the banking system closed on 2 January 2017, funding will need to be in place in departmental bank accounts by 30 December 2016 to meet those liabilities on a timely basis. In addition, An Post needs to be pre-funded before the end of 2016 in respect of child benefit payments due in the first week of January 2017 in order to convert electronic funds transfer payments from the Department of Social Protection into real cash and physically transfer it to its network of post offices throughout the country.

These Exchequer pay, pension and social welfare payments will form part of the supply services for 2017, and consequently the funds to cover these costs will be included in amounts disbursed from the Central Fund to the Paymaster General's supply account as part of the 2017 supply issues. These costs will come under moneys voted in 2017 in respect of which the usual processes and mechanisms for voted moneys in 2017 will apply. However, as the funds need to be available in the Paymaster General's supply account before the end of the year, in order to facilitate timely payment, section 3 of the Appropriation Bill includes a specific provision to allow for an advance from the Central Fund to the Paymaster General's supply account. Any amounts advanced to the supply account would then be repaid to the Central Fund in January. The Bill provides that the amounts so advanced shall not exceed €200 million.

The signed Act is required by the Comptroller and Auditor General for clearance of the end-year issues from the Exchequer. Under Article 25.2.1° of the Constitution, the President may not sign a Bill earlier than the fifth day after the date on which the Bill is presented to him. However, there is provision in Article 25.2.2° whereby, at the request of the Government, with the prior concurrence of Seanad Éireann, the President may sign a Bill on an earlier date than the fifth day mentioned. In view of the urgency of this Bill, the provision in Article 25.2.2° is sought, and a motion to this effect is placed before the Seanad. Such an early signature motion has also been sought in regard to the Appropriation Bill in previous years.

I remarked at the outset that the Appropriation Bill is an essential element of housekeeping that those of us in both Houses of the Oireachtas are required to undertake. The passing of the Bill will authorise in law all of the expenditure that has been undertaken in 2016 on the basis of the Estimates voted on by the Dáil during the year. Of fundamental importance to those who depend on our essential public services, the passage of the Appropriation Bill will allow the payments required for these public services to continue in 2017 in the period before the 2017 Estimates are voted. I commend the Bill to the House.