2026-07-07

1. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will publish the efficiency and reform proposals that he requested each Department to provide to him by 17 July 2026; if he will do so at the earliest opportunity possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51702/26]

Will the Minister commit to the publishing of the efficiency and reform proposals he has requested every Department provide to him by 17 July, in full and as soon as possible?

I thank the Deputy. The Government agreed a medium-term fiscal structural plan in December last year. This set out fixed expenditure ceilings for the period to 2030. It provides for significant uplifts in expenditure over the coming years, with gross voted spending to reach €147.3 billion in 2030. As set out, the ceiling for 2027 will increase to €125.5 billion. This is an uplift of €7 billion on the 2026 expenditure ceiling of €118.5 billion. Delivery of this requires enhanced expenditure control and robust oversight mechanisms. In April, Government agreed that additional funding of €646 million will be provided to the Department of Education and Youth. To accommodate this additional funding, the Government agreed to reprioritise funding from other Votes to deliver on the 2027 ceiling as planned. Other Departments have been asked to deliver a levy through the implementation of efficiencies and reforms, with a total of €446 million from 2027. This should be considered through the lens of an overall uplift of €7 billion for expenditure in 2027. It will not impact the 2026 allocations. The delivery of reforms and efficiencies supports adherence to the fixed expenditure ceilings set out in the plan. It reflects the need to moderate the rate of expenditure growth across Departments to facilitate the Government’s decision to reprioritise and provide additional investment to education within the agreed overall fiscal framework out to 2030. It is a matter for each Department to determine how the levy will be applied across Vote groups and to identify the efficiencies and reforms required to ensure this. My Department wrote to Secretaries General of other Departments following the Government decision, informing them of the need to identify efficiencies and reforms. These proposals have been requested by 17 July. The proposals will form a key part of engagement in the Estimates process for budget 2027. Budget 2026 placed a particular emphasis on achieving value for money. The budget strategy was developed using a whole-of-budget approach, which focussed on the totality of expenditure and linked expenditure and investment to improved outcomes. Part II of the expenditure report 2026 sets out details of reforms and efficiencies across Vote groups.

Just for clarity, did the Minister commit to publishing them? Maybe he can come back on that. I genuinely mean that I did not fully understand that. When the Minister drafted these measures, he was presumably aware the Department of education was not the only one in the red. It turns out the Departments of health, justice and social protection are also on track to overspend by millions of euro. In the case of social protection, the Minister has asked it to make €6 million of cuts - an impossible ask for a Department with a projected €89 million overspend. Similarly, he slashed the health budget by €175 million despite the HSE projecting a €400 million overspend. I do not understand his taking an axe to our public services because of the failure of the last budget, which became clear in the budgetary oversight committee, as well as because the sums did not add up on budget day. Will the Minister commit to publishing them? Will he tell us what he is cutting?

The Deputy is completely misrepresenting what we are doing. I have said efficiencies and reforms will be provided to my Department during the summer. They will inform the Estimates discussions with Departments in the context of a 2027 allocation of over €125 billion. The €7 billion uplift forms the basis of negotiation with Departments, how they identify efficiencies and reforms and how we moderate overall expenditure, with those efficiencies and reforms, across Departments. The Deputy referenced €6 million for the Department of Social Protection. That is in the context of a budget well in excess of €20 billion - I think it is €27 billion. It is a very minor change in the context of a budget that is likely to grow in 2027. The reason we have applied a levy for 2027 is to give Departments the space to identify efficiencies and reforms, prepare for them and utilise them through the Estimates process before we agree budget 2027. They will form part of their Estimates and allocations for 2027. That is what we have set out in the past and are setting out today. What will be submitted to me will form the basis of the wider discussion as part of budget 2027.

The reason we are in this mess in the first place is the Department of education clearly stated it required additional financing to make ends meet this year. The reality is the Minister's Department did not listen. As a result of that, we are in this mess. My question is will the Minister publish that which he has requested for 17 July. It is only through an FOI request that we discovered he is asking for this by 17 July. We know that is the week the Dáil goes into recess. It seems to me that he is trying to sneak it through during the summer recess, when he knows there is not Dáil scrutiny. Will he commit to listening to each Department when it comes to this budget? We have had an issue whereby in the previous budget the two Ministers did not.

It is efficiencies and reforms in the context of the allocation for 2027.

Yes, but tell us what it is.

We should have greater discussion in here around efficiencies and reforms across all expenditure lines. No Department is immune from driving greater efficiencies and improving productivity, outputs and impacts in the context of a significant increase in public expenditure in recent years. Notwithstanding the levy we have introduced to moderate overall expenditure, there should be greater focus on that in the wider discussions and demands we receive across expenditure allocations. The reason we are doing this is to fit the additionality we have provided to education within the wider fiscal framework. I believe we distributed it fairly. We protected health pay, protected social protection rates and the wider social protection budget, protected justice pay and protected key front-line areas in education itself. There is room for efficiencies across Departments that have grown significantly in recent years.