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.
Sentiment score: 0.28
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.
Sentiment score: 0.17
It is efficiencies and reforms in the context of the allocation for 2027.
Sentiment score: 0.38
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.
Sentiment score: 0.50
The Government’s approach to public service pay over many years has been to engage through an established framework of collective bargaining with public service unions and associations. This is a tried and tested approach that has supported sustainable improvements in pay for public servants and orderly management of the public finances, while also facilitating public service reform and changes to work practices. Before expiring at the end of June 2026, the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026 delivered headline pay increases of 9.25% and provided for up to 1% of basic pay costs for local bargaining. Importantly, like previous agreements, the public service agreement was weighted towards the lowest paid, who received increases of 17.3% inclusive of local bargaining. The final increase under the agreement was on 1 June 2026. The Government is committed to continuing to be a good employer and to providing competitive terms and conditions for public servants. This commitment is reflected in the significant investment made in public services in recent years. Since 2020, the public service pay bill has increased by €12 billion, reaching €34 billion in 2026, an increase of 55%. As well as providing for increases in pay rates, this investment has supported substantial growth in the public service workforce, with employment now exceeding 420,000, an increase of more than 70,000 employees since 2020. Against this backdrop, and in advance of the agreement's expiry, my officials met with public service unions and staff representative associations to initiate exploratory discussions on a successor agreement. Officials remain available to continue engagement, with Government seeking to progress talks as quickly as possible through constructive dialogue. As the Deputy will appreciate, it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail of discussions, which should remain confidential to the parties. They take place against an increasingly uncertain environment. Suffice it to say, therefore, that in an increasingly uncertain economic environment, a new public service pay agreement can play an important role in providing certainty and stability for public servants while supporting the effective delivery of public services. That is why I believe every effort should be made over the period ahead to engage and try to reach agreement. As is always the case, any agreement will have to be balanced, affordable and capable of being accommodated in the context of other expenditure priorities within the fiscal framework.
Sentiment score: 0.57
I fully share the Deputy's reflection on public servants and the huge role they play in our hospitals, schools and members of An Garda Síochána keeping people safe. That is why we want to a new agreement. As with previous agreements, we want to make sure that it is fair, equitable and ensures a fair deal for workers and rewards them for the work that they do every day on behalf of all of us. There have been exploratory discussions. We want further engagement. My officials remain open to progressing those discussions. We want to ensure that can happen without preconditions. We also want to ensure that any talks can progress and that we can try to reach an agreement that we can accommodate in the context of budget 2027. Having stability, certainty and a planned approach to public service delivery and public service pay has been important in terms of our wider management of the economy. I want to make it clear to any public servant who is watching this that we want to see a new deal and we want to progress those discussions.
Sentiment score: 0.51
As with previous agreements, our intention is to ensure that we arrive at one that is affordable and planned and delivers fair pay for public servants. I am absolutely clear about that. I want to see discussions recommence. Exploratory discussions have taken place on two occasions. My officials remain open to engaging. On the issue of the wider workforce and the economy, we want to ensure that we bring forward a tax package in the budget that will support workers and that will reward work in the context of competitiveness and income tax. That is something that we advance, as well other critical priorities around housing and infrastructure delivery and everything else to which the Deputy referred in the context of the cost of living. The trade unions are balloting their members, which is an unnecessary escalation. We need to see engagement happen. Officials on the Government side are ready and willing to engage.
Sentiment score: 0.34