Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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43. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if in the context of economic progress over the next year, he expects to invoke any further reforms to address any likely issues that might arise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45599/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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78. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which it is expected to meet the challenges of the reopening of the economy while at the same time maintaining prudent spending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45598/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 78 together.

The prudent management of the public finances in recent years provided Government with the scope to provide substantial supports in order to respond to Covid-19 and to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Indeed, across 2020 and 2021, Government will have made available over €31 billion for direct expenditure measures to support our people, businesses and key public services deal with the impacts of Covid-19.

Looking forward, the pandemic has now entered a new phase and the reopening of our economy continues to take place. In light of this, we must adapt our budgetary policy. The Summer Economic Statement set out a pathway to meet core objectives of Government of continuing to invest in our economy and society, while also reducing the deficit in order to underpin the sustainability of the public finances.

It would not be appropriate to withdraw all pandemic related spending in the one year. Accordingly, up to €7 billion has been set aside for non-recurring Covid-19 related supports in 2022. In tandem with this, the fiscal strategy in the SES sets out sustainable annual increases in core public expenditure in the upcoming and subsequent budgets, thus ensuring prudent levels of core voted spending are maintained over the medium term.

Underpinning this strategy is the Programme for Government commitment to continue to reform and improve the Budgetary process in order to enhance Ireland’s budgetary framework. The budgetary reforms introduced in recent years, including Performance Budgeting and Equality Budgeting, are focussed on providing the evidence base to support the efficient and effective delivery of services that have a positive impact on people's lives. This work is being further enhanced with the development of the Wellbeing Framework for Ireland that can inform efforts to improve the impact of public policy. This focus on performance and impact of expenditure is an essential element of the expenditure framework as we plan for steady sustainable increases in expenditure over the coming years.