Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if and when he instructed Department heads to consider substantial savings in subsidised publicly provided transport and social housing supports for inclusion in the comprehensive review of expenditure; if he also instructed them to provide a risk based analysis of the social impact of such cuts on citizens. [20339/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Under the Government's Comprehensive Review of Expenditure each Minister and Department is committed to a root and branch assessment of all Departmental spending. Over the course of the next few months Government will examine the findings and this will contribute to decisions being made in Budget 2012. All aspects of government expenditure are covered by this review, and I fully expect that Departments will consider the wider impact of any proposed reductions in departmental expenditure in their analysis.

With regard to the two areas mentioned by the Deputy, I did not issue any particular instruction about spending in these areas. However, these areas are included in a list of cross-cutting issues identified in an email issued by the Secretary General of my Department to Department Heads in May. The email invited suggestions on how savings might be generated in cross-cutting areas and as such is a normal expenditure management procedure employed in previous occasions.