Minister Chambers publishes the Medium Term Expenditure Framework

The Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers today published the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework – a multi-year public expenditure planning exercise for the period 2025 to 2030.

Public expenditure, through budgets, reflects the priorities of Government. This expenditure framework provides an opportunity to reflect on the policies progressed over the past few years and draws lessons to inform future options.

This framework is based on three pillars:

1. Fiscal Sustainability: to ensure that our spending is sustainable, credible and that it strengthens economic resilience.
2. Spending Adequacy: to provide the public services and the infrastructure necessary to enhance living standards for people and maintain Ireland’s competitiveness.
3. Spending Efficiency: to promote value for money and ensure that the government’s investment delivers tangible results.

It will complement the annual budgetary process and will be used to inform future budgetary requirements for existing services, alongside assessing the resource implications of future policy decisions over the period 2025-2030. It does this through:

• understanding the existing levels of expenditure and what it delivers
• quantifying cost drivers over the medium-term, and
• incorporating new government decisions into plans

This approach will be supported by effective budget oversight, strong governance, focus on value for money, and the use of evidence and data to support informed decision-making. In doing so, investment can be prioritised to unlock potential in our economy and society.

Speaking today, Minister Chambers said:

“Taking a wider multi-annual view will complement and guide the annual budget cycle, enabling us to anticipate and prioritise effectively for the challenges and opportunities ahead. These vital choices must focus on how government policy can best support a growing population, enhance our competitiveness and strengthen our enterprise sector.

“This framework provides a number of insights to guide future budgetary decisions. Among these is the importance of capital investment in economically strategic areas to support housing delivery and to facilitate future economic growth. The achievement of policy outcomes requires public expenditure to work in tandem with other policy levers including reform, regulation, taxation and models of delivery.

“Alongside the NDP review, this framework will lay the foundations for a Medium Term Fiscal Plan that will build on the positive successes of the past; encompass any insights to make improvements; and anticipate trends and opportunities to enable us to prepare for the future."