Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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342. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the allocation for his Department in 2016 which covers the Lansdowne Road agreement; and the demographic or other inflationary pressures. [37283/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government's voted expenditure allocations and measures for 2016 were presented to Dáil Éireann in the Expenditure Report for Budget 2016. This document also provided the expenditure ceilings for 2017 and 2018. 

The Department of Public Expenditure & Reform (DPER), like the Civil Service and public service as a whole, has benefited from the productivity and reform measures provided for under the Haddington Road Agreement and previous agreements.  These measures will continue to apply under the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA). 

Cost reductions and the substantial productivity increases, including additional working hours, have allowed scope to invest by recruiting additional expert staff where necessary and to commence the process of the restoration of pay for serving staff.The cost implications of these measures for DPER are reflected in the Gross Pay Bill Estimates for 2016 which total €62.686 million across three Votes as shown in the table following.

The allocations for DPER take account of all expenditure pressures facing the Department in 2016 and will ensure that appropriate resources are in place to enable the Department to continue to deliver on the priorities identified in the Statement of Strategy 2015-2017.

Full details on the allocation of the Department's 2016 resources across spending areas will be set out, as usual, in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV).