Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 July 2026
69. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the work underway to ensure Departments are measured on outcomes delivered for citizens rather than expenditure incurred; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51519/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland’s performance budgeting initiative is very much focused on the measuring of outcomes delivered for citizens. It was commenced by my Department in 2012 and has been developed on an iterative basis over the years since then.
In addition to presenting information about the public expenditure incurred (inputs), this initiative seeks to inform discussion about resource allocations by providing information on the outputs delivered by that public expenditure and the impact or outcomes of those goods and services on people and their families, and society more generally.
Each year, the Revised Estimates for Public Services (REV) sets out in detail the Departmental expenditure allocations which were agreed in the Budget. It also provides detail on key performance information on outputs, outcomes, and equality as well as the expenditure allocations.
The annual Public Service Performance Report (PSPR) facilitates the review of this performance information for the previous year. At the end of June just gone, my Department published the PSPR for 2025. It provides an opportunity to examine the expenditure allocations and public service delivery commitments set out in REV 2025 alongside information on what was actually delivered based on provisional outturns and reporting of public service delivery.
The provision of this information by Departments through the REV and PSPR seeks to provide Oireachtas members and committees and other stakeholders with a centralised repository of output and outcome data. The information seeks to inform discussion about value for money. The selection of performance information is the responsibility of each individual Accounting Officer and their Departments. Each Department and Office chooses metrics to reflect the policy goals of programmes in their budget and does so as part of ensuring value for money and understanding the intended outcomes of public funding.
In order to enhance performance budgeting, officials in my Department are undertaking a piece of work that seeks to bring greater clarity to the policy goals associated with each subhead in Departments’ Budgets in the REV and ensure that each of these is associated with at least one output indicator and one outcome indicator.
In this context, it is important to note a number of other initiatives that have an outcomes focus.
Equality Budgeting seeks to embed consideration of distributional effects into the decision-making process. The ESRI’s SWITCH model is used by officials in my Department as well as the Department of Finance and Department of Social Protection to conduct distributional impact assessments of proposed budgetary and welfare packages.
Green Budgeting seeks to better embed climate and environmental goals within the budgetary process, with a view to improving outcomes. My Department reports on the level of climate-related expenditure capturing both potentially favourable and unfavourable expenditure.
Ireland’s Well-being Framework has been developed in a way that seeks to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how Irish society is faring and utilising this approach in a systematic way across government policy making. My Department operationalises this Framework as a multi-dimensional outcomes-focussed approach to public policy. It utilises it to provide whole-of-government perspectives of public expenditure allocations, in particular, the key budgetary measures announced in the Expenditure Report and the distribution of expenditure allocations set out in the Revised Estimates for Public Services (REV).
Better Public Services is the public service transformation strategy to deliver for the public and build trust. As part of the monitoring and evaluation approach to the strategy, high level outcomes are monitored. The six high level are; use of digital to do business with the Public Service; quality of public services; government effectiveness; customer satisfaction; employee engagement; and public trust. The Better Public Services Transformation Showcase 2025-2026 provides additional information and is available on gov.ie
Finally, it should also be noted that my Department has recently published both the Benefits Realisation Framework for Infrastructure circular and the Expenditure Control and Escalation Process circular which require Departments to clearly articulate the expected outcomes and benefits associated with related expenditure.
