Written answers
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation
Departmental Expenditure
2:30 pm
John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the amount of unspent money returned by his Department to the Department of Finance each year since 2007; the departmental budget for each year since 2007; the projects for which this money was originally earmarked in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21780/10]
Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Under Public Financial Procedures, at the end of each financial year unspent Voted monies must normally be surrendered to the Department of Finance. However, under the Multi-Annual Capital Envelope Framework, up to 10% of unspent Capital allocations in any year may be carried over to the following year. Table 1 below sets out the Exchequer provision for my Department for each of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, along with the unspent surplus, the amount of un-used Capital allocations carried over to the subsequent year, and the net amount surrendered to the Department of Finance. Table 2 sets out the main areas where savings were realised in each of the years in question.
Table 1 – Details of Departmental budget and surpluses, 2007-2009
| 2007€,000 | 2008€,000 | 2009€,000 | |
| (a) | Departmental Budget 1 | 1,407,633 | 1,516,3451,495,714 |
| (b) | Surplus for year | 67,396 | 59,03718,909 |
| (c) | of which, unspent Capital allocations carried over to the subsequent year | 23,428 | 18,3266,440 |
| (d) | Surplus surrendered to the Dept. of Finance (b-c) | 43,968 | 40,71112,469 |
1 In addition, the Department had an allocation from the National Training Fund (NTF) of €395.666 million for 2007, €409.907 million for 2008 and €381.483 million for 2009. Any surplus in NTF expenditure at the end of each year is retained by the Fund and is not returned to the Department of Finance. From 1 May 2010, responsibility for the NTF transferred to the Minister for Education and Skills.
Table 2 – Areas where main savings were realised
| Year | Explanation for main savings |
| 2007 | · Appropriations-in-Aid were almost €20 million higher than forecast, reducing the requirement to draw-down Exchequer funds.· IDA's Own Resource Income from grant refunds was higher than expected, resulting in a lower requirement for Exchequer funding.· The Department and its agencies carried a high number of vacancies throughout the year, with a consequent impact on the start-up of a number of new activities.· Planning and related issues led to delays in Enterprise Ireland infrastructural projects.· Reduction in applications under some demand-led grant schemes also contributed to the underspend. |
| 2008 | As a result of a Government decision in July 2008 to reduce public expenditure, savings were realised in a number of areas, including :· FAS· Science & Technology Programmes· National Consumer Agency· Administrative Budget expenditure· Forfas· Workplace Innovation Fund· Enterprise Ireland· IDA IrelandThe savings were due to a combination of administrative efficiencies and a lower-take up of grants in some demand-led schemes. |
| 2009 | · There was a lower take-up than expected on some FAS programmes which were introduced in 2009.· FAS also achieved administrative efficiencies.· Savings were made by the National Consumer Agency due to staff vacancies and related non-pay savings.· Smaller savings were made on other programmes. |
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