Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

22. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his Department's priorities for the next spending review in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47230/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The spending review conducted this year was the first in a series of rolling, selective reviews, which it is intended will cover the totality of Government spending over a three year period from 2017 to 2019. This approach allows for systematic examination of existing spending programmes to assess their effectiveness in meeting policy objectives and also to identify scope for re-allocating funding to meet expenditure priorities.

This year, over 20 analytical papers were produced by officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and some other Departments on significant programmes of current expenditure. In addition, an analysis of expenditure trends in key sectors was also published. These papers are available on my Department's website at www.per.gov.ie/en/spending-review.

Work is ongoing to prepare for the next round of the spending review process which will commence in early 2018. The priority for this round of the spending review is to continue the process of examining existing spending by reference to the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact.

The aim is to ensure that the spending review will produce robust evidence based analysis, the output of which, in each work area, will feed into the consideration of expenditure policy. As was the case this year, the intention is that the spending review analysis will provide a crucial evidence base on key expenditure issues to inform ongoing discussions on Estimates proposals.