The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., has welcomed the publication of the Annual Report 2017 of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
Minister Donohoe said that the report sets out ‘an impressive record of achievement across a broad range of areas of public expenditure management and reform of the Civil and Public Service’, as the Department continues to implement its Statement-of-Strategy.
The Annual Report focuses on the main developments during 2017 as the Department continues to pursue its two key strategic goals:
- To manage public expenditure at sustainable levels in a planned, rational and balanced manner; and
- To have public management and governance structures that are accountable, transparent and effective.
The Minister thanked the staff of the Department for their work throughout 2017.
Minister Donohoe stated that ‘I look forward to working closely with Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan and all of my Ministerial colleagues as we continue to progress the key work programmes undertaken by Government that are critical to the future of our country. Ensuring that the resources that are available to us are used in the most effective way is the best way we have of supporting our people, assisting them in realizing their potential and building a country we can all be proud of. Careful management of the public finances will allow us to better shape the future and to provide for a more resilient and sustainable economy for all of our citizens’.
The Annual Report is available in Irish here.
Notes for Editors:
The Executive Summary of the report sets out at a high level some of the main developments in 2017. Further detail is then included throughout the report.
Some key areas of work included:
- Managing Public Expenditure better by:
- overseeing gross current expenditure by Departments of almost €54 billion and managing voted expenditure in line with the Expenditure Report 2017;
- undertaking the Spending Review and continuing to embed performance budgeting;
- overseeing gross capital expenditure by Departments of €4.5 billion;
- conducting a major review of the 2015 Capital Plan and progressing the National Development Plan; and
- working with Government Departments to support and advance key sectoral expenditure policy issues;
- Proactively addressing issues that arose as a consequence of Brexit, including by supporting the development of EU-related policy across Government, as well as supporting the work of the North South Ministerial Council and North South Implementation Bodies;
- Continuing to oversee the management of the 2014-2020 EU Structural Fund Programmes and progressing the development of an eCohesion ICT System;
- Negotiating the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 and managing the cost of the public service pay and pensions bill on a sustainable basis;
- Driving reform in the Civil Service and the Wider Public Service, including:
- driving the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal Plan and putting in place a new framework for development and innovation in the Public Service (Our Public Service 2020);
- developing and publishing a new People Strategy for the Civil Service; and
- pursuing reforms to deliver open, accountable and ethical government;
- Leading the implementation of the Public Service ICT Strategy and developing the eGovernment Strategy 2017-2020;
- Implementation of the Public Procurement Reform Programme, which now involves 135 active framework agreements and 1,446 contracts/mini-competitions, representing an estimated framework /contract value of €13.8 billion and an estimated annual spend of €3.7 billion.
- Progressing the Shared Services Programme, which included completing the transitioning of public service bodies into the Payroll Shared Service Centre, bringing the total amount of customers served to just under 125,000.