Minister Donohoe welcomes publication of Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform’s Annual Report 2023

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, has announced the publication of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform’s Annual Report for 2023.

Minister Donohoe welcomed the report, saying:

The report outlines a number of key contributions made by the department in 2023, including:

• managing public finances in line with government objectives and agreed fiscal strategy
• supporting the implementation of Project Ireland 2040 including strengthening the guidance for public investment and external assurance for major projects
• driving the digital transformation agenda across the Civil and Public Service
• designing and delivering innovative and sustainable HR policies and frameworks; and
• shaping the future of public procurement to ensure transparency and sustainability

Minister of State Smyth, who has responsibility for eGovernment and Public Procurement, also welcomed the report, noting:

Access the full annual report.

In 2023, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform published its Statement of Strategy 2023-2025. The strategy sets out three distinct goals designed to help the department to achieve its mission to drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland:

• Enhancing Governance
• Building Capacity; and
• Delivering Effectively.

Some key areas of work included the below.

Enhancing governance

Developing and monitoring expenditure policy:

• managing key stages in the budgetary cycle; the Stability Programme Update, The National Economic Dialogue, the Summer Economic Statement, the Mid-Year Expenditure Report, the Budgetary Expenditure Report, and the Revised Estimates Volume for 2024
• throughout 2023 in year developments required a responsive approach to fiscal policy. The department provided additional funding (€6 billion) for these developments through 31 Supplementary Estimates. The majority of Supplementary Estimates were non-core expenditure and were used to respond to external shocks including Cost of Living Packages and supports for those arriving on our shores from Ukraine. The remaining amount related to core expenditure pressures with additional demand in certain sectors including our health service and schools
• in 2023, total gross expenditure amounted to €94.7 billion, an increase of €5.9 million

Managing Public Service pay costs

• the department worked extensively over 2023 to continue to manage the public service agreement ‘Building Momentum’, which ended on 31 December 2023. The department worked over the course of 2023 to manage industrial relations issues that arose at both a sectoral and national level, contributing to creative and sustainable solutions that were in line with the provisions of Building Momentum
• negotiations on the successor agreement began at the end of 2023 at the Workplace Relations Commission, culminating in the Public Service Agreement 2024 to 2026, which was proposed in January 2024, and was ratified by all parties in May 2024. The Agreement runs for two and a half years and in addition to increases in pay it provides for a new local bargaining process which will enable employers and grades, groups and categories of public servants to address issues involving changes in structures, work practices or other conditions of service

Building capacity

Leverage our public expenditure, NDP delivery and reform mandate to further build the resilience of our economy and society:

• in addition to the €165 billion that backs the National Development Plan 2021-2030, an additional €2.25 billion from the windfall corporation tax receipts was made available to capital expenditure over the period 2024-26 in the Summer Economic Statement (SES) 2023. This additional funding builds on the existing funding already available under the NDP out to 2026 and it will mean more schools, housing, transport and healthcare projects can be progressed and delivered
• as a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2023, over €12 billion funded vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action and provide good outcomes for all citizens. Achieving value for money and reducing cost and schedule overruns through robust oversight and governance arrangements is also a vital part of delivering the NDP

Serving the public with digital and innovative tools:

• the digitalisation of Public services is addressed in a number of key national strategies including the National Digital Strategy, (Ireland’s response to the EU Digital Decade) Better Public Services, (in particular Pillar 1) and, Connecting Government 2030
• further progress was made on the implementation of ICT HR Professionalisation, which aims to ensure that the Civil Service has the right blend of skills, knowledge and expertise available internally to deliver effective digital government services
• reflecting the high level of demand, OGCIO continued to work with the Public Appointments Service (PAS) during 2023 to design and implement a range of common digital/ICT recruitment campaigns to meet the needs of the Civil Service at all levels, from entry-level ICT Specialists to PO-ICT

Delivering effectively

Leading transformation across the Public Service:

• Better Public Services, the Public Service Transformation Strategy to 2030 was launched in May 2023. The vision of the strategy is for ‘Inclusive, high quality and integrated Public Service provision that meets the needs and improves the lives of the people of Ireland’
• the vision of the strategy is framed around three core themes: Digital and Innovation at Scale; Workforce and Organisation of the Future and Evidence-informed policy and services designed for and with our public
• the strategy is aimed at delivering tangible outcomes for the public and building trust in public institutions in particular by placing users at the centre of service design and delivery. The strategy itself has been informed by a comprehensive evidence base including drawing on the lessons learned from the Public Service response to the COVID-19 pandemic; various stakeholder consultations; a review of the implementation of Our Public Service 2020; Excellence in Customer Service Case Studies; findings from Ireland’s 2021 survey on the drivers of trust and the OECD policy brief Towards a Strategic Foresight System in Ireland

Driving user-focussed large scale transformation:

• the Life Events initiative is a collaboration between the Public Service Transformation Delivery Unit and OGCIO divisions of the department to partner with Public Service bodies to deliver joined up Public services through a government services portal. Life events are situations which result in a series of transactions between an individual and various Public sector organisations in Ireland, for example having a baby, or getting married
• in 2023, the first iteration of the Government Digital Wallet pilot commenced. The Government Digital Wallet is a secure online platform provided by Government to host digital credentials including the Driving Licence, the Birth Certificate and the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)