Despite dramatic increases in allocations to certain pet projects of this Government, the bulk of the increase in current spending goes on the rise in the public service pay bill. Of the £426 million increase in day to day spending, almost £300 million will go on pay.
The Department of Health is to overtake the Department of Social Welfare as the biggest spender in 1998, because of an allocation of £85 million to pay compensation to hepatitis C sufferers. By far the Department's single largest item of expenditure, however, is the £1.45 billion it will pay to health boards to meet their net expenditure, a rise of 6 per cent on last year. Total health expenditure is to rise by 10 per cent.
That Department's total estimated spend of £2.767 billion for 1998 pips the estimate of £2.72 billion for Social Welfare, now renamed the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. Within this Department's 5 per cent increase for 1998 are several signs of the changed economic times.
The total spent on unemployment assistance, for example, is estimated to fall by 1 per cent, although this is before Budget day increases. The estimate for social assistance and other allowances is down by 8 per cent. A substantial rise of 16 per cent is allowed for in payments of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance, the payment made to immigrants awaiting decisions on their applications to remain in the State, reflecting an expectation that more people will be claiming the payment next year.
Mirroring the changes at the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is to spend 7 per cent more on job creation and training. Total spending in this area will be some £750 million, with the main increases going towards the Local Employment Scheme, IDA Ireland, the Jobstart programme and FAS apprenticeship schemes.
The third biggest spender is the Department of Education, with an estimate of £2.36 billion, an increase of almost 5 per cent on this year. The increase in capital spending is particularly pronounced, with 15 per cent more being spent on the building, equipment and furnishing of national schools and a 25 per cent rise in the amount going to building and capital grants for secondary schools.
The allocation to another big spending Department, Environment, of £1 billion shows a modest 2 per cent rise. However, this masks a 16 per cent rise in funding for infrastructural development, which includes social housing, national and non-national roads as well as water and sewerage services.
This includes £20 million to begin the demolition of Ballymun, the 1960s high-rise complex in north Dublin. The environment estimate also contains £1 million for the costs of the planning tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Fergus Flood, which has begun its investigatory work and is expected to hold oral hearings early next year.
Meanwhile, a hope that some work on the LUAS light rail project may begin next year is reflected in the allocation of £20 million to the project in the estimate for the Department of Public Enterprise.
Spending on tourism promotion and marketing appears to fall in 1998, but this is an artificial drop due to the boosting of this year's figure by a supplementary estimate last week. Bord Failte's current budget in fact increases by some 20 per cent, a development welcomed by both the board and the Minister yesterday.
Much of the increase will be used to boost marketing in the UK in the wake of the ceasefire in Northern Ireland, and to increase the promotion of Ireland in Germany, France and Scandinavia. The money will also fund initiatives designed "to ensure a fair and balanced regional distribution of tourism economic benefits".
In agencies operating under the aegis of the Department of Justice there are very substantial increases under the "office machinery and supplies" heading. This represents a major programme of computerisation in the Garda, the courts and the prison service. The increase in Garda spending under this heading is 72 per cent, in the prison service it is 128 per cent and in the courts service, the most dramatic, at 219 per cent.
Funding has been provided for a major programme of refurbishing courthouses around the State, with spending on courthouses rising by 51 per cent to £12.8 million.
Some £51.9 million is to be spent on the provision of 1000 additional prison spaces next year. This represents an increase of 57 per cent in spending on prisons and their equipment, covering the building of prisons at Wheatfield, Portlaoise, Castlerea and a new women's prison at Mountjoy.
The Department of Defence shows an increase of 14 per cent in its estimate of £473 million. This is artificially high, however, due to an allocation of £85 million to cover the large number of settlements expected with defence forces members claiming to have suffered hearing loss as a result of firing range exercises.