Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 381: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of his Department's budgetary allocation for 2004; the amount of this allocation which was returned to the Department of Finance at year's end; the Vote head from which such returned allocations were derived; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23979/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's Estimate for 2004 was €5,999,368,000. The surplus to be surrendered to the Exchequer at year end was less than 0.7% at €40,168,236. Underspends on the following heads contributed to the amount to be surrendered: A, administration; E, unemployment assistance; F, farm assist scheme; G, employment support services; I, one-parent family payment; J, widow's/widower's and orphan's non-contributory pensions; L, family income supplement; N, supplementary welfare allowance; P, free schemes; Q, the money advice and budgeting service; R, the Family Support Agency; S.2, social exclusion programme and U, miscellaneous services.

The expenditure for each of the main schemes operated by my Department is demand led and the underspends therefore represent a lower than expected demand in 2004. The number of those claiming unemployment assistance last year, for example, reflected a better than expected overall labour market performance.