Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of programme reviews completed under the Expenditure Review Initiative in 2005; the value of the programmes reviewed; and if there is a procedure in place for implementing the recommendations. [24893/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Some 14 reviews, with an indicative estimated coverage of €2,156 million, were completed under the Expenditure Review initiative (ERI) in 2005.

Responsibility for the conduct of the reviews and for addressing their recommendations rests with individual Departments and Offices. Any questions regarding individual expenditure reviews should therefore be directed to the relevant Departments or Offices.

Under the arrangements in operation for ERI, Departments/Offices were required to: Publish all ERI reviews on their website and submit them to the appropriate Oireachtas Committees; Put systems into place to ensure that the responses to ERI recommendations are tracked and reported regularly to their MAC; Use their Annual Reports to detail progress on ERI reviews including implementing recommendations and the impacts achieved as a result.

In June 2006, the Government decided to recast ERI as a Value for Money and Policy Review process with a broader VFM focus, to include other policy reviews that impact on VFM. The VFM Reviews will focus on significant areas of expenditure and major policy issues and will, as a general rule, have a minimum coverage in the 2006-2008 period of 10-15% of each Department's and Office's Budget.

Some ninety VFM Reviews will be carried out for the period 2006-2008. Details of these reviews have been placed in the Library of the House. These reviews when completed will be published and submitted to the relevant Oireachtas Committee. Other policy reviews which impact on VFM may also, at the discretion of individual Ministers, be published and submitted to the relevant Committee. A list of all reviews, whether published or not, will be published in the Annual Report of each Department on its Statement of Strategy.

Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Finance his expectations for the capacity of the economy to sustain increases in public spending over the coming three years; and the way in which same should relate to the growth of income and the growth of tax revenue in those years. [24929/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's budgetary strategy is based on the objective of continued budgetary sustainability both in the medium-term and the long-run, in line with the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact.

This Government considers that prudent fiscal policies underpin competitiveness, support growth and create flexibility to respond effectively to economic shocks. Of particular importance is the need to ensure that public expenditure growth is sustainable and broadly in line with available resources and, within this, to increase the level of investment needed to tackle the economy's infrastructure deficit.

Consistent with this, we will continue to maintain the firm and disciplined approach to national budgetary policy that has been a keystone in our recent economic prosperity to date.