Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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165. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has conducted an analysis of the amount of the €120bn in spending which is attributable to once-off versus recurring commitments; and if he will publish the breakdown. [54422/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department published the Medium Term Expenditure Framework in September 2025. This included an analysis of temporary expenditure. This expenditure provided flexibility to respond to external shocks while protecting day-to-day investment in public services. Non-core expenditure reduced from €15.4 billion in 2020, following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, to €4.3 billion in 2024. Over the period 2022 to 2024 expenditure of approx. €3 billion was spent annually on Cost of Living supports.

All expenditure lines were reviewed as part of Estimates 2026. Temporary and one-off spending items were removed from the starting point of each Vote Group’s budget. This is detailed in the reconciliation table for each Vote Group published in Part II of the Budget 2026 Expenditure Report. Funding for 2026 was then allocated to Departments based on ongoing requirements. A total of €2.1 billion was allocated for Ukraine related expenditure across all Departments for 2026 as set out in Table 2 of the Expenditure Report.