Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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39. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will make the funds available in Budget 2022 to bring funding for education up to the OECD average of 4.9% of GDP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45646/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As outlined in Figure 2.1 on page 13 of the 2021 Mid-Year Expenditure Report, growth in the economy as measured by modified gross national income (GNI*) is broadly in line with growth in tax revenue and voted expenditure over the period 1999 to 2019, with growth in GDP diverging significantly in recent years, with in particular nominal growth in GDP of 35% between 2014 and 2015. These large increases in GDP have seen General Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP decreasing from 37.5% in 2014 to 24.5% in 2019, at a time when we have seen steady increases in expenditure.

Consequently, GNI* is a more appropriate measure when looking at overall expenditure as a percentage of national income both in aggregate terms and for specific sectors. In this context, when cross country comparisons of expenditure as a percentage of national income are made, with GDP used as the national income base, such as in the OECD Report on Education, Ireland's level of expenditure appears low.

The Report published by the OECD last week, looks at indicators for inputs as well as outputs and outcomes relating to Education across OECD countries. In relation to inputs into education the report showed Ireland as having the lowest level of expenditure as a share of GDP compared to all other OECD counties. However, when expenditure on education is calculated over GNI*, which as outlined above is more appropriate in the Irish context, expenditure on primary, secondary, further and higher education in Ireland as a share of GNI* in 2018 was 5 percent. This is above the OECD average cited in the report.

Allocating and managing expenditure is not just concerned with inputs but also with the outputs and outcomes being delivered. Across a range of indicators looking at the outputs and outcomes of education, Ireland performs well in comparison to other OECD countries. For example, Irish students score amongst the highest in standardized reading tests (PISA) compared to other OECD countries, and Ireland has one of the highest shares of adults with tertiary education in the OECD.

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.