Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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113. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the measures it is expected will be funded by the contingency reserve fund in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55591/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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A series of successive external shocks are having an impact on our society, economy and fiscal position, challenges that will carry through into 2023. Budget 2023 set out the Government response to support investment in public services, facilitate continued responses to externally driven challenges; alongside substantial measures to alleviate the cost of living pressures being experienced by households and businesses.

Our fiscal policy has remained responsive by providing supports through non-core expenditure. This is temporary funding to respond to challenges facing our economy and society which are considered separately from core expenditure allocations.

Given the expected continued impact of Covid-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine into 2023, funding will be provided to respond to these challenges. Budget 2023 set out €4.5 billion in non-core expenditure in as per the table below.

Table 1: Non-Core Funding 2023

The €4.5 billion will support a number of measures including:

- Covid 19 pandemic funding for public health measures (€757M) including PPE, Test and Tracing, Vaccinations and Covid waiting list measures,

- National Recovery and Resilience allocations of €214M thus far across eight Government Departments to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery,

- A provision of €2 billion for key humanitarian supports for people arriving to Ireland from Ukraine, including accommodation, education and social protection supports,

- Over €272M allocated thus far from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to provide financial support for the adverse effects of Brexit on business. These have principally been in the area of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

€1.8 billion of this funding was allocated at Departmental level in Budget 2023, with €2.7 billion held in reserve. The estimates set out in the table are based on the latest data at the time of preparing the Budget in September 2022. A number of assumptions were required to estimates these figures particularly in relation to forecasting Ukraine-related expenditure.

This approach facilitates responsive fiscal policy, providing supports to deal with emerging issues while protecting core day-to-day expenditure and investment. Further allocations of non-core funding to specific Departments will be considered in finalising the Revised Estimates for 2023 and throughout 2023, as required, on the basis of the most up to date information.