Day-to-day spending by the Government has risen sharply, according to the latest revised estimates for public services in 2001. At the same time, targets for the National Development Plan (NDP) appear to be under threat, with spending falling back on childcare, roads and housing.
Substantial increases in day-to-day spending across many Departments, but particularly in agriculture, mean day-to-day spending is running almost 21 per cent higher than last year. These figures do not include any allocation for dealing with foot-and-mouth or the teachers' pay dispute.
The news is likely to be greeted with dismay in Brussels and elsewhere following calls for spending to be held in check to avoid overheating the economy and for the surplus to be raised.
Yesterday's data do not include any revenue projection but most analysts agree the impact of foot-and-mouth and the US slowdown are likely to mean revenue forecasts will not be greatly exceeded.
As a result, the surplus may be lower than anticipated rather than the higher amount the European Commission has been demanding.
Since the abridged estimates were published in November, agriculture has seen a rise of £273 million (€347 million) - mostly to pay for EU measures to deal with the cost of BSE. Spending on social community and family affairs is also up, mostly due to Budget changes. The 16 per cent increase over 2000 was welcomed by the Minister, Mr Ahern, who said it was further evidence of the Government's commitment to those who rely on social welfare.
Perhaps more worrying is evidence that the Government is failing to deliver on the NDP. There must now be a question whether the Government can make substantial progress on tackling the infrastructure deficit, as it cannot even spend the money it has set aside.
However, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said in a statement last night that the increase in capital expenditure over last year would allow the Government to press ahead with the programme of investment set out in the NDP.
On capital spending, the Department of Justice has fared badly, with a voted capital expenditure in 2001 of £29 million down from an allocation of £39 million last November. Most of this is accounted for by cuts in the amount allocated to childcare provision.
School and hospital building also appears to be running behind schedule, with around £45 million less allocated to both their respective Departments.
The Department of the Environment has also lost about £40 million of the money allocated to it in November. Almost £20 million of this was for housing, with £15 million lost from water and sewerage provision, and £5 million from national roads.
The Department of Tourism Sport and Recreation has an increase of £42 million over 2000. In November, around £63 million was allocated for building Sports Campus Ireland. The Department of Public Enterprise appears to have lost about £12 million of capital monies.
The Department of Finance has blamed planning delays and other details for most of the revisions in allocations.
However, accurate figures are difficult to obtain as those released last night were not directly comparable with the figures provided in November 2000.
