Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the controls in place to prevent Departments from breaching their expenditure ceilings in a given year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43918/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Managing expenditure within the overall fiscal parameters has been a key factor in ensuring that our fiscal targets have been achieved. A key responsibility of each Minister and Department is delivering public services efficiently and effectively within their budgetary allocations. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is in regular contact with all other Departments and Offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed in line with not only Departmental allocations but also within the overall fiscal parameters. Each month, the drawdown of funds from the Exchequer is reported on against published expenditure profiles in the Fiscal Monitor, published by the Department of Finance.

However, given the scale of Government expenditure, €61.8 billion in aggregate for gross voted expenditure in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) 2018, and the cash basis of Government accounting, the need for Supplementary Estimates can arise for a number of reasons, including policy decisions, timing issues, and overspends.

As outlined in Expenditure Report 2019, as a result of policy decisions, including in relation to the provision of a 100 per cent Christmas Bonus to social welfare recipients and additional capital for the Department of Housing, and expenditure pressures in particular in the Health sector, the gross voted expenditure outturn for the year is now estimated at €62.8 billion, an increase of €1 billion relative to the gross voted expenditure amount in REV 2018.

Looking at the overall fiscal parameters, the Summer Economic Statement (SES) 2018, set out a General Government deficit of 0.2 per cent of GDP, or €780 million, for 2018. As outlined in Budget 2019, this General Government deficit target is now projected to be over-achieved, with the forecast General Government deficit for this year being 0.1 per cent of GDP, or €315 million, after taking account of the additional voted expenditure of €1 billion.

Given this overall fiscal context, the Government has agreed an increase in the expenditure ceiling for the year, and Supplementary Estimates will be presented to Dáil Éireann in this regard.

A key element of the increase in gross voted expenditure is an expenditure overrun in Health of €645 million, with an additional €55 million being required for a shortfall in receipts. As I outlined in my statement to the Dáil on Budget day, I continue to look at choices that we have to make in healthcare regarding how we can accompany all time high levels of investment with improved governance, accountability, effectiveness and value for money.