Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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180. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the expenditure savings earmarked for his Department for 2019 that are not accounted for in the mid-year expenditure report or are not included in the fiscal space calculations for 2019. [38484/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Mid-Year Expenditure Report (MYER) set out the starting baseline in relation to the gross voted expenditure for 2019. As outlined in the MYER, the technical pre-Budget position for current expenditure is the current expenditure allocation for this year set out in REV 2018 plus an additional allocation for certain demographic pressures and the Department's share of unallocated carryover costs relating to 2018 measures. This pre-Budget position will be adjusted to reflect the allocation to the Department of a central provision in relation to the Public Service Stability Agreement.

The capital ceiling set out in the MYER is consistent with the ceiling for 2019 published in the National Development Plan.

The figures set out in the MYER do not include expenditure savings targets specifically earmarked for my Department. However, as usual as part of the Estimates process, my Department will be examining the allocations across its programme areas, including taking into account expenditure trends in 2018, to identify how services can be delivered within the overall fiscal parameters for 2019.