Latest news with #underspending
Irish Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
More than €110 million earmarked for pensions and allowances returned to exchequer, PAC told
The Department of Public Expenditure gave the exchequer back more than €110 million which had been earmarked for spending on pensions and allowances for retired Civil Service personnel. Department secretary general David Moloney is expected to tell the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that the surplus in 2023 arose primarily due to underspending. This related to lump sums for retiring staff and greater-than-anticipated contributions being received under the Single Public Service Pension scheme, which was introduced for new staff employed after 2013. The committee is expected to question Mr Moloney on Thursday about recent revelations that an error in pension calculations could lead to Ministers and civil servants owing thousands of euro to the State. READ MORE Issues at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) may also lead to some Ministers being owed thousands. Sums that will need to be recouped by the State range from hundreds of euro to more than €30,000. The issues were first disclosed publicly by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers last month. Aside from the implications for ministerial pensions, a pool of up to 13,000 civil servants may be affected by the matter and are having their pension deductions checked. Mr Chambers told the Oireachtas finance committee last month that the issue stemmed originally from a pension appeal decision issued in 2017 when an individual questioned their own pension entitlement. Mr Moloney told the committee in an opening statement, submitted in advance of Thursday's hearing, that during the course of the Comptroller and Auditor General's 2023 audit on superannuation and retired allowances – the appropriation account of what is known as Vote 12 – 'weaknesses were identified in the internal control environment within the NSSO and within Vote 12's oversight processes'. 'The issue related to the payment of chargeable excess taxes (CET) to the Revenue Commissioners by the NSSO on behalf of Vote 12. A review of the Department's internal controls was concluded and changes were made to oversight arrangements.' Mr Moloney will tell the committee that in respect superannuation and retired allowances, the net out-turn for 2023 was €195.9 million, compared to an estimate of €306.7 million, giving a surplus to surrender of €110.8 million.
The Herald
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald
UAT outraged as Gauteng returns unspent R1bn to National Treasury
The United Africans Transformation (UAT) party expressed its disappointment at the Gauteng government after it was revealed that more than R1bn earmarked for critical services had been returned to the National Treasury due to underspending in the 2024/25 financial year. Provincial Treasury department head, Ncumisa Mnyani said on Monday that the department of health did not spend R724.6m of its R66bn allocated budget, while the department of education also failed to use R317.35m of its R66.1bn budget, Sowetan reported. The political party said people of Gauteng cannot continue to suffer because government officials are too slow, too disorganised, or too complacent to do their jobs. 'How does a government with a R66bn health budget fail to spend R724m, when clinics remain understaffed and healthcare infrastructure is crumbling? 'How does a department with a R66.1bn education budget fail to spend R317m, while township schools face overcrowding, poor sanitation and infrastructure backlogs?' the party said. It said Gauteng's infrastructure and services were in dire need of attention. This included roads with unaddressed potholes and maintenance needs, continuous power outages affecting daily life and economic productivity and underfunded schools requiring renovations for a conducive learning environment. 'The returned funds could have fixed our roads, schools and many more. Instead, we're stuck with potholes and darkness, crime, unemployment, lack of housing etc.' TimesLIVE
