Where is all your tax cash going?
New report shows how the Government is spending every cent of your money
ONE of the biggest gripes with handing over your hard-earned cash to the taxman is wondering just where all that money goes.
The Government has been regularly bashed for wasting taxpayers money, as the country still struggles with housing and health crises.
But now a new report from the UCD Geary Institute has, for the first time, shown how Ireland is spending its public purse.
This year almost €114.4 billion will be spent through government departments and state agencies, and UCD’S ‘Ireland’s Public Spending Explained 2024’ report accounts for each and every cent.
An example of where public money is going is that out of every €100 of public spending, €9.34 goes into the state pension, €7.02 on acute hospital services and €4.89 goes on welfare payments for illness, disability, or carers.
At €21.25 these three spending programmes account for more than a fifth out of every €100 allocated to public spending.
The breakdown of every €100 of tax money also shows how €3.76 goes to the Investment In Future Ireland Fund, €3.67 to civil and public service pensions, €3.51 towards housing, €3.59 to Working Age income supports,
€2.59 to speciality disability services, €2.49 to child related income supports, €1.59 for water services and €1.99 for school infrastructure.
In relation to public service salaries, €1.51 goes to secondary school teachers, €1.66 to An Garda Siochana, while €1.68 goes towards International Protection applicants.
“The purpose of this report is to make it easier for people to understand public spending,” said Dr Nat O’connor, the report’s author.
“Public access to high quality information is an essential part of democracy, not least clear information about where public money is allocated.
“The last time Ireland intensively scrutinised public spending was when the economy had collapsed in 2008. That was not the best environment in which to consider where the state spends money and what we get in return.
“The 2008 crisis led to a rush to cut the spending that was easiest to cut, rather than any kind of strategic decision on what areas of public spending foster wellbeing, economic development or the kind of society we want to live in.
“There is a need to examine public spending outside of crises and hopefully this report will enable more people to be part of that conversation,” Dr O’connor added.
The ‘Ireland’s Public Spending Explained 2024’ report highlights that the national budget of Ireland is often voted through without a clear detail on just where the public’s money will be spent.
In October 2023, the Budget allocated €96.3 billion for public services but a further €13.8 billion was required for national debt repayments,
Ireland’s contribution to the EU, and other ‘nonvoted’ areas of public spending.
Local government also raise funds for local spending that are not accounted for in the Budget, and the HSE does not provide detailed accounts of its spending until several months after the national budget is voted on.
As part of its analysis of this public spending the new report breaks down the State’s finances into 105 ‘spending programmes’.
This not only shows where money has been allocated, but also summarises the types of services it is providing for the public.
The report highlights the 30 top programmes, which each receive 1 per cent or more of public spending, 44 major programmes, that account for 0.1 per cent to 0.99 per cent of what’s spent, and 31 ‘smaller’ spending programmes that make up less than 0.1 per cent each.
Despite only accounting for 1 per cent of total spending, these smaller programmes include whole government departments and many strategically important agencies such as the Central Statistics Office, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Public Appointments Service.
The top 30 spending programmes, meanwhile, account for more than 80 per cent of all public spending across areas such as the state pension, primary schools, and acute hospital services.
Also described within the report are the tools that are available to analyse value for money and the impact of public spending programmes.
The report also shows the detailed method showing how the numbers were produced.