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The Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, Mr Brendan Howlin T.D., today launched a public consultation process on the second Comprehensive Review of Expenditure (CRE) exercise. The first Comprehensive Review of Expenditure was carried out in 2011 and was published in December 2011 in conjunction with Budget 2012 as the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012 – 2014.

Minister Howlin said: “I announced my intention to conduct a second CRE in my Budget speech on 15 October, 2013. This review is underway and the results of the process will be published alongside the Budget Estimates in October, 2014.”

The CRE will form the basis for setting out Ministerial expenditure ceilings for the ensuing three year period, to 2017.

This will be a focused review, largely building on existing analysis carried out by Departments and the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform since 2011. As part of the CRE process, the public are once again invited to submit their proposals for further expenditure savings, for presenting reforms and efficiencies in spending programmes and for the design and delivery of public services.

In recent years a number of policy decisions have been introduced by the Government to control spending across all areas of expenditure. Substantial savings have been made across all areas of Government, with these savings being made in the face of increasing demands on public services in areas such as Social Protection, Health and Education. The Government has demonstrated its commitment to greater levels of openness, transparency and accountability which has also played a key role in contributing to a more sustainable economic performance. While the Government continues to plan for the future to ensure our economic recovery is maintained, we are aware that there are areas where challenges remain and further progress needs to be made.

Minister Howlin said “I would like to give an opportunity to all members of the public and interested parties to present constructive comments and suggestions in relation to public expenditure and reform so that they can be considered in the context of the review”.

The public are invited to make their submissions on the Review through the following link. More information is available on the Department’s website: