Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which public expenditure remains on target and in line with the criteria laid down in the memorandum of understanding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33892/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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88. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he remains satisfied with the extent of the economic progress made in the area of public expenditure and reform and the degree to which he expects the general public to benefit from the sacrifices of the past seven years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33893/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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90. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will consider the specific measures which might alleviate the pressing needs in the areas of housing and health, while at the same time remaining within the terms of the memorandum of understanding which he inherited from his predecessors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33895/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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92. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he remains satisfied that the prudent relaxation of some areas of expenditure might be beneficial to economic progress and continued recovery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33897/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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93. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which prudent public expenditure and reform will continue to be a part of economic progress and continued recovery in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33898/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he continues to remain satisfied with his ability to maintain prudent spending policies in the context of the 2016 Budget, while at the same time meeting the most urgently required expenditure requests likely to come from his and other Departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33900/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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96. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the degree to which, in the context of Budget 2016, he will be in a position to acknowledge or reward the sacrifices made by the particular sectors which have contributed heavily to economic recovery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33901/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95 and 96 together.

Ireland met or exceeded its key fiscal targets in each year of the EU/IMF programme of financial support. This resulted in a successful exit from the programme in December 2013.

As a result of the fiscal policies of this Government and the efforts of the Irish people, Budget 2015 marked a turning point where expenditure reductions were no longer required to meet our fiscal targets and the Government could look to making targeted increases in expenditure for key sectors.  

As outlined in the Spring Economic Statement (SES), Ireland is on track to exit the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) at the end of 2015 with a General Government Deficit of 2.3%. With Ireland moving to the preventive arm of the SGP, the SES outlined that fiscal space of the order of €1.2 to €1.5 billion would be available for Budget 2016 split evenly between expenditure increases and tax reductions. This will allow the Government to target prudent increases in expenditure of up to €750 million in 2016 relative to the 2015 spend.  The specific measures will be announced on Budget day.

Public service reform remains at the heart of this Government's agenda and focuses on ensuring efficiency and improving outcomes for service users - that is, every citizen in the country. Investment in public services will continue to be targeted at priority areas and will be linked closely with reform. Importantly, the cost savings delivered through the reform programme are available for priority front-line services. Furthermore, the wide-ranging reforms to the budgetary architecture introduced by this Government support the efficient use of public funds to deliver effective services for citizens. The implementation of a medium term budgetary framework and the introduction of wide-scale reviews of public expenditure with the Comprehensive Reviews of Expenditure allow for greater consideration and debate about key challenges facing public expenditure. In this regard, the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) is an integrated cross-Government service which enhances the role of economics and value for money analysis in public policy making.  IGEES staff operate in designated economic evaluation units and are engaged with almost all Government Departments.

Specific measures for Housing and Health are contained in the recently published Capital Investment Framework. Social Housing was identified as a critical area for investment, and over the period 2016 to 2021 capital funding of almost €3 billion will be provided in support of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which aims to increase the supply of social housing by up to 35,000 units.  Furthermore, over €3 billion is being invested in Health.  This will deliver major infrastructural projects such as the new National Children's Hospital, which will be the largest health infrastructure project ever undertaken in Ireland. 

Building on this Government's track record, Budget 2016 will set out a responsible, affordable and sustainable way forward for expenditure.