Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 October 2025
904. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the amount allocated in total from the Budget 2026 for existing levels of service in his Department. [56939/25]
View answerThe Parliamentary Budget Office defines Existing Levels of Service (“ELS”) funding as, how much money is required by Departments to continue providing services at the same level if there were no new policy decisions and includes:
• Carryover costs from previous year’s budget decisions;
• Demographic pressures, including increased costs of providing existing services to a growing and changing population; and
• Existing central public service pay deals.
Budget 2026 allocated a further €221 million for existing levels of service to my Department. This builds upon the overall core current ELS allocation of €3.83 billion from 2025.
