Paschal Donohoe

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., has welcomed the publication of his Department’s Annual Report for 2022.

The Minister stated that the report sets out “a significant range of activities and achievements by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform during 2022 across a broad range of areas of public expenditure management and public service transformation”.  The Minister added that “following the challenges posed by Brexit and Covid-19 in recent years, the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine last year presented further challenges in driving higher levels of inflation and cost of living pressures. My Department once again played a key role in the whole of government response to these issues”. 

The Minister drew attention to a number of key contributions by the Department:  

• managing the impact on the public finances of measures introduced to support our people and businesses in the face of cost of living pressures;
• 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
• delivering the programme of Public Procurement Reform. 

Minister Donohoe thanked the staff of the Department for their work throughout 2022. Turning to the future, the Minister stated that “I look forward to continuing to work closely with Ministers of State Ossian Smyth and Patrick O’Donovan and all of the staff of the Department to deliver on our new Statement of Strategy 2023-25, which sets out a  programme of work critical to the future of our country.” 

Minister of State Smyth, who has responsibility for eGovernment and Public Procurement at the Department, stated that “the report sets out further progress on the digital delivery of public services and ongoing reform of public procurement, both of which contribute to the greater efficiency and effectiveness of our Public Service in delivering for the people of Ireland”.

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

The Executive Summary of the report sets out at a high level some of the main developments in 2022.  Further detail is then included throughout the report.

Some key areas of work included:  

• Managing Public Expenditure better by:
  1. managing the impact on the public finances of measures introduced to support people and businesses in the context of cost of living challenges, an elevated inflation rate, and humanitarian supports for Ukrainians fleeing war; 
  2. driving the final year of the 2020-2022 spending review cycle that saw the publication of 28. This brings the total output for the 2020-2022 cycle to 90 papers; 
  3. overseeing gross current expenditure by Departments of just over €77.8 billion and capital expenditure of €10.9 billion; and
  4. supporting the implementation of Project Ireland 2040.
• Managing the post- Brexit transition period, including management of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, of which Ireland will be the largest beneficiary with an allocation of over €1 billion, equivalent to just over 20% of the entire Reserve;
• Overseeing the management of the 2021-2027 EU Cohesion Policy programmes, €1.28 billion of Cohesion Policy funds have been allocated to Ireland for the period 2021-2022;  
• Managing an extension to  “Building Momentum”, the public service pay agreement, in response to rising inflation and increases to the cost of living, to ensure that the Public Service pay and pensions bill was managed in a sustainable way;  
• Driving transformation across the Public Service, including:
  1. Designing and delivering innovative and sustainable HR policies and frameworks that provide guidance to Civil and Public service organisations on a range of employment issues; these include learning and development supports and health and wellbeing initiatives;
• Driving the digital agenda, across the Civil and Public Service, leading on ICT/ digital /data-related strategy development and implement; this includes the further expansion of the Build to Share (BTS) suite of services and the publication of Connecting Government 2030, a digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service; and
• Delivering the Public Procurement Reform Programme and supporting the national response to inflation and the Ukraine War, including:

1. establishing or renewing 11 new national commercial arrangements, covering an estimated spend of €723 million over their term  and four Dynamic Purchasing Agreements with an estimated value of €290 million.  
2. Promoting green and social considerations through its commercial arrangements, in line with commitments under the Programme for Government. 

ENDS