Committee Reports::Interim Report - Appropriation Accounts 1980 - 1981::01 November, 1983::Report


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Dail Eireann

Committee of Public Accounts

Interim Report

(Appropriation Accounts 1980-1981)

December, 1983

INTERIM REPORT

The Committee has made progress in the matters referred to it and has agreed to the following Interim Report:-

The Committee reports that during the years ended 31st December 1980 and 31st December 1981 expenditure in excess of the amounts voted by the Oireachtas was incurred under the Votes hereinafter mentioned.

STATEMENT OF EXCESSES

A statement of the sums required to be voted in order to make good excesses on the votes indicated

Year	Page of Appropriation Account	Number of Vote	Title	Excess of Expenditure over gross Estimate	Surplus of Appropriations in Aid	Amount to be Voted
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
1980	52	20	Super-annuation and Retired allowances	£121,839	£65,484	£56,355
1981	176	48	Foreign Affairs	£339,543	£118,096	£221,44

The sanction of the Oireachtas will be required for the sums set out in column (6) and for the application as appropriations in aid in addition thereto of the sums set out in column 5. The excess expenditure on the Vote for Superannuation and Retired Allowances arose mainly under the pension schemes for widows and children of deceased civil servants and on pensions, allowances and gratuities in respect of unestablished officers etc. The overexpenditure occurred in le of a detailed assessment of the position made late in the year and contributory factors were the exceptionally high number of pay revision leading to payment of pension arrears and the practice of charging payable orders on encashment rather than on issue, both of which made accurate estimation difficult. In addition, estimation of payments to unestablished staff was complicated by the introduction in the previous year of contributory and ex-gratia schemes for widows, the practice of some Departments of seeking recoupment at irregular intervals in respect of superannuation payments made by them, and the disruptive effect of the 1979 postal strike on pension payments causing a backlog to be met in 1980,.

The excess expenditure on the Vote for Foreign Affairs arose due to falling exchange rates of the Irish pound against the dollar and the pound sterling leading to an increase in salary and wage costs of personnel serving abroad and also due to unanticipated extra costs on travelling, post office services and repatriation of Irish citizens. Normally it would have been possible to meet the excess expenditure involved by taking a supplementary estimate but unforeseen difficulties encountered in the introduction of a computerised accounting system meant that accurate information on expenditure trends was not available in time to make such a course possible.

The Committee sees no objection to these sums being provided by excess votes.

Signed Denis Foley

Chairman

November 1983