Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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403. To ask the Minister for Finance the last occasion on which a Department-wide review of all funding within his Department took place; the frequency of such reviews; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40635/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that the Annual Estimate for the Supply Services for each Department sets out the cost of each Departmental function – for which the Dáil is asked to appropriate money by way of a separate Vote – and outlines the set of outputs to be delivered within those functions.

The Budget Estimate Volume (October) sets out a formal description of the services to be financed from the Vote and the detailed allocations of all the expenditure on programmes and services within the ambit.

The Revised Estimates Volume (December) gives more detail on each Strategic Programme in gross expenditure terms for each subhead within the programme along with Key Outputs and Public Service Activities.

All spending proposals for Government must be submitted to DPER for appraisal in light of overall fiscal and economic policy and in light of availability of resources. Formal sanction by the Minister for PER in respect of voted expenditure is an essential element in the management and control of public expenditure

At the end of each financial year, my Department is required – under Section 22 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866, (as amended by the C&AG Amendment Act, 1993) – to prepare an Appropriation Account, in respect of each Supply Grant for submission to the C&AG before the 1st April of the following year.

The statutory requirement is for the Appropriation Account to provide details of the outturn for the year against the amount provided by Dáil Éireann based on the cash amounts of payments and receipts. The 2020 Appropriation Account for the Department of Finance was submitted to the C&AG on the 30^thof March 2021.