Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which those in the public and the private sectors can now benefit from the sacrifices they made in terms of income reduction and longer working hours; the extent to which each section of the economy can expect to be fairly treated in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11020/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to increasing public expenditure in a sustainable way and the Programme for a Partnership Government committed to the introduction of budgets that will involve at least a 2:1 split between investment in public spending and tax reductions. In actuality, Budget 2017 introduced a package of €1.3 billion which favours expenditure increases over revenue reductions by over 3:1. This reflects the Government's commitment to rebuilding and investing in public services and will allow expenditure to be increased to meet the additional costs arising from an ageing and growing population and to provide for targeted improvements in public services.

Budget 2017 represents the third consecutive year in which the Government was in a position to allocate significant additional resources to public spending with a €1.9bn increase in Gross Voted Expenditure compared to 2016. This level of investment allowed for the recruitment of additional nurses, doctors, teachers, garda and special needs assistants which will improve public service delivery to citizens, it also funded the Action Plan for Housing, the new single Affordable Childcare Scheme; and a number of increases to Social Welfare rates. This is the third consecutive Budget to increase expenditure in a sustainable fashion.

For public servants, the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA), which provides a negotiated pathway for public service pay increases through a phased partial unwinding of the FEMPI measures at a full year cost of €844m in 2018, represents a considerable investment in public service remuneration. A comprehensive Collective Agreement of this kind allows for strong fiscal planning, with budget allocations ring-fenced within multi-annual expenditure ceilings and pay increases taking an appropriate share of available fiscal space.  This phased and sustainable programme of pay increases underpins the fiscal targets in Budget 2017 and our international commitments to a prudent fiscal policy under the Stability and Growth Pact.  In addition, the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) is being significantly reversed in three stages under FEMPI 2015, via substantial restoration of the PSPR cuts on 1 January 2016, 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018.  The cost of these PSPR changes is estimated at about €90 million on a full-year basis from 2018.