Government departments will need more than €2 billion in additional funding this year to cover costs that exceeded their initial budgets.
The Department of Education alone will require a supplementary estimate of €567 million while the Department of Health will need an additional €302 million.
The Department of Social Protection, the Department of Children and the Department of Transport will each require more than €200 million in additional funding to be approved by the Dáil.
Figures for the Department of Education indicate that €180 million more in funding will be needed over its initial estimate to cover the salaries of primary schoolteachers and €135 million more to pay the wages of special needs assistants. An additional €96 million will be needed for the school transport service.
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The Department of Health said that under a funding deal agreed with the Department of Public Expenditure last year, €250 million was to be generated through savings in the health service.
“This has been challenging to achieve in 2025, in addition to the substantial €633 million cumulative savings target already incorporated into the 2025 budget allocation”, it said.
The Department of Health also said it would provide €40 million in funding to ensure that the accumulated accounting deficits of voluntary hospitals do not increase during 2025. However, the money is conditional on the hospitals agreeing reforms and introducing new financial information systems about which some institutions are not happy.
“It is a requirement that the voluntary hospitals implement improved governance arrangements and stricter adherence to expenditure and workforce limits,” the department said. “This includes reforms in areas such as financial governance measures, recruitment controls, implementation of new rostering arrangements, improvements in utilisation of diagnostic equipment, agreement on implementation of national IT systems.”
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan told the Oireachtas Committee on Justice on Tuesday that more than €20 million in additional funding for An Garda Síochána would be required this year to support overtime requirements for policing recent public order incidents and operational costs for increased immigration-related activity and deportations.
He said the supplementary €20.4 million on top of the €2.3 billion allocation to An Garda Síochána for 2025 reflected the Government’s commitment “to keep communities safe” and to ensure frontline gardaí had the requisite resources to operate effectively.
The Minister said that supplementary estimates of more than €94 million for 2025 has been approved for An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Courts Service and the Department of Justice.
The €94.28 million included €20.4 million for An Garda Síochána; €27.86 million for the Irish Prison Service; €46 million for the Department of Justice and €1,000 for the Courts Service.
The Department of Social Protection will require an additional €261 million in funding for this year. That includes an additional €109 million over the original spending estimate for the working family payment and €90 more for disability allowance payments.
