Minister Donohoe publishes Mid-Year Expenditure Report 2024
From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Thursday 8 August) published the Mid-Year Expenditure Report (MYER) 2024 – an important document in the annual budget cycle. The MYER 2024 outlines the expenditure trends and gross voted expenditure of €47.1 billion for the first half of this year, provides context for planned expenditure in Budget 2025 and highlights a range of impacts and outcomes of the current expenditure policy.
The 2024 MYER illustrates the implementation of Budget 2024 from January to June. This
included measures such as:
Spending also included supports towards the external global challenges our society has faced, with measures to assist with cost of living pressures and our humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, as well as some legacy Covid-19 funding.
Publication of the MYER follows that of the Summer Economic Statement (SES) last month, which set out the economic and fiscal conditions for Budget 2025 preparations. The MYER provides detail on the expenditure strategy set out in the SES, which will see €105.4 billion in total voted spending, including €4.5 billion under the contingency reserve. It outlines the parameters that will support significant investment in our infrastructure through the National Development Plan, delivering a greener, more efficient and innovative economy, building homes and schools and providing better public services to support our growing and changing population. Taking into account demands for better quality health care, the complexity of providing health services – particularly in the acute sector – and the legacy impact of a post pandemic and heightened inflationary environment, Government is also providing an additional €1.5 billion in funding for the health service this year.
The expenditure ceiling for 2025 reflects an increase of €6.9 billion or 6.9%. This builds on the progress made in the Government’s previous budgets and highlights Government’s commitment to providing for high quality public services and better societal outcomes, in a manner consistent with a fiscally sustainable expenditure strategy. Given this level of spending, it is essential to ensure that the strategy is delivering better outcomes and providing value for money. In this context, the MYER provides an update on the ongoing work on Embedding Evaluation and Better Public Service Delivery and highlights some of the key areas where the increased investment in public services and infrastructure is delivering improved services, supporting productivity and economic growth, and future proofing towards future challenges:
Commenting on the publication of the MYER, Minister Donohoe said:
“Budget 2025 will see a total of €105.4 billion in expenditure being made available. Through this spend, Government will continue to build on and improve public services and key infrastructure requirements to support a growing population and growth in our economy, while also continuing to fund measures required to respond to external shocks through the Contingency Reserve.
“Budget 2025 will provide for an additional €6.9 billion in expenditure next year. Of this, €5.1 billion will cover the costs of meeting existing level of service requirements in 2025 (including €1.2 billion in pay deal costs) and decisions already taken around NDP funding. A key element of the overall expenditure amount for next year is agreement around the health allocation for 2025.
“As detailed in the SES 2024, the agreement reached with the Department of Health and the HSE will provide for an additional €1.5 billion for the health sector in 2024. In addition, I have also agreed that a further €1.2 billion will be allocated in 2025 for existing level of service costs. As part of this arrangement, the three parties have agreed that this additional funding will provide an opportunity to strengthen financial planning and governance within the HSE – recognising the importance of demonstrating a clear link between the significant level of public funding being made available and how this translates into the delivery of improved healthcare outputs and better health outcomes.
“In terms of capital expenditure, the NDP demonstrates the prioritisation of capital spend by this Government in recent years. An additional €2.25 billion (over 2024-2026) has been agreed and allocated through the NDP. For 2025, the overall capital ceiling will increase by €1.4 billion to €14.5 billion. Capital spending has grown at a higher rate than current spend over the last number of years as the increased investment under the National Development plan ramps up, providing housing, school buildings and transport infrastructure, building capacity for our future.
“Looking towards the future, as we invest in the long term needs of our population and deliver effective public services, it will be important that we continue to use the best evidence to inform decision making including through performance budgeting, green budgeting and wellbeing frameworks.
“Overall this report sets the context and the parameters on which I will be engaging with my colleagues in advance of the budget to continue to deliver on the core ambitions of this Government to provide better public services for our growing population, invest in our future and respond to our current challenges in a meaningful and sustainable way.”
ENDS