Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way in which the expenditure ceilings outlined in the Stability Programme Update 2021 will deliver commitments made in the Programme for Government and under the Climate Action Plan 2019; if he will disaggregate the cost of those commitments under the expenditure ceilings in the Stability Programme Update 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20534/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s Stability Programme Update (SPU), published last week, is to be submitted to the European Commission before the end of April. The SPU sets out macroeconomic and fiscal projections for the period to 2025. Given the high degree of uncertainty with the virus, the draft SPU has been prepared on a technical basis.

In light of this, from an expenditure perspective, the amount of €87.8 billion included in the SPU for 2021 is on a technical no-policy change basis reflecting decisions by Government to date in relation to Covid-19 supports.

Looking beyond this year, the expenditure amounts in the draft SPU are prepared based on certain technical assumptions. Budget 2021 separately identified expenditure on core budgetary programmes and expenditure on Covid-19 related measures. On a technical basis, core expenditure in the SPU grows by c. 3½% per annum over the period 2022 to 2025. Furthermore, it is assumed that the additional expenditure in respect of Covid-19 provided for in Budget 2021 is fully unwound by 2023, apart from certain additional expenditure related to the operation of the automatic economic stabilisers. The phasing of the unwinding of this Covid-19 related expenditure will ultimately depend on the public health situation, taking into account the Government's commitment to support the recovery of society and the economy from Covid-19.

As we develop our fiscal strategy, there will be detailed consideration of the measures that will be required over the coming years to support this recovery in society and the economy. In this regard, recognising the important role improvements in our State’s infrastructure can play in enhancing economic capacity and promoting balanced regional development, the Programme for Government committed to bringing forward the planned review of the National Development Plan (NDP) from 2022 and to using it to set out an updated NDP for the period out to 2030. My Department recently published the Phase 1 Report - Review of the NDPfollowing a detailed process of engagement. This report, which outlines the various strands of the review process, provides an evidence base to inform capital investment decisions to support economic, social, environmental and cultural development all across the country.

Given the technical assumptions used in preparing the draft SPU, all expenditure amounts will fall to be reassessed, with the level of resources to be allocated each year, and in particular in 2022, to be decided taking into account the situation with the virus, the medium term fiscal strategy, the NDP Review, Programme for Government priorities and with regard to progressing the Government's Climate Action goals.