Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he plans to provide greater level of detail to the public on the way in which public moneys are spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59828/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department regularly provides detailed information on how public money is allocated, spent and the associated outputs. Some examples of the publications where this information can be found are summarised below.

The Expenditure Report is published in October every year as part of the Budget day documentation. This report sets out the expenditure allocations for each vote. Further detail in respect of each of the Vote Groups is contained in the relevant chapter in Part II of the Expenditure Report.

The Revised Estimates for Public Services (REV) is published in December each year. This document sets out details of the annual expenditure allocation for each Vote at subhead level. It contains performance budgeting information linked to these subhead lines and describes how public resources will be utilised to provide public services and the impact of public policies on people’s lives.

Information on levels of spending across the year are published each month in the Fiscal Monitor, which compares spending for each Department against the previous year and the profiled spending plan set out for each month by Departments. This fiscal monitor can be found at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/collections/fiscal-monitors-2025/

In July this year I published the National Development Plan which set out the capital investment levels for each Vote Group for the next five years. Departments are now developing sectoral investment plans, which will outline the specific projects to be delivered out to 2030. These plans will provide visibility on the infrastructure pipeline and support the scaling of construction sector capacity. Publication of these sectoral plans is expected by the end of November 2025.The delivery of the National Development Plan will continue to be monitored through regular updates of the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and MyProjectIreland interactive map viewer. The capital investment tracker provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments with an estimated cost of greater than €20 million. Accompanying the tracker, the myProjectIreland interactive map details projects across the country and provides details on specific projects by county, and contains smaller investments such as schools, healthcare facilities and social housing projects. Search facilities allow users to view projects in their regional area, by city, by county or by eircode. In addition my Department also publishes the Project Ireland 2040 Annual Report and Regional Reports giving a detailed overview of the public investments that have been made throughout the country.

In August this year my Department published a Medium Term Expenditure Framework. This is a multi-year public expenditure planning exercise and supports assessment of the resource implications of future policy decisions over the period 2025-2030. The framework utilises three pillars: fiscal sustainability, spending adequacy and spending efficiency.

With regard to outputs and deliverables, the Public Service Performance Report (PSPR) is published every year during the summer months. It provides a retrospective annual review of the delivery of public services against commitments set by the various Departments and Offices in the REV. Each Department and Office chooses performance budgeting metrics to reflect the policy goals of their Strategic Programmes and do so as part of ensuring value for money and understanding the outcomes of public funding.

As part of Budget 2026, the Expenditure Report outlined my Department’s intention to further develop the collection of performance information over the coming period. In particular, it is planned to undertake a review of policy goals associated with each subhead in the REV. The purpose is to ensure that these goals clearly define intended outcomes, distinguish outputs from impacts, and, where relevant, include an equality rationale. The second phase will utilise these policy goals to implement an equality-tagging framework. This framework will identify the intended beneficiaries and the specific inequalities policy is seeking to address. This initiative will build on the existing well-being and green budgeting tagging initiatives. Finally, the intention is to utilise the policy goals to inform the selection of performance indicators.