900. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the status of the spending review papers; the reason this process has been set aside; if he will reinstitute the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60652/26]

Securing value for money is an ongoing priority for my Department. Policy analysis is a core component of the public expenditure management and value for money frameworks. A wide range of policy and expenditure analysis is undertaken and published by Government Departments annually.

Under the public expenditure framework, Departments operate on the basis of delegated sanction, whereby authority is granted to spend within agreed allocations, subject to conditions and oversight set out by my Department. This also places clear responsibilities on each Department to ensure adherence to value-for-money principles and to monitor and control spending.

In this context, individual Departments are responsible for conducting detailed policy analysis and expenditure evaluations within their own sectors, including assessing the efficiency and impact of programmes under their remit, and for contributing sector-specific insights and evidence to the policy making process.

The format and scope of their analysis have broadened in recent years, with a shift away from a focus on single-issue analysis papers to a wider variety of analytical output. This is reflected in the wide variety of publications including Staff Papers, Focused Policy Assessments, Spending Reviews, and Analytical Notes among others, all of which feed directly into key Government strategies and policies.

This evolution reflects the complexity and cross-cutting nature of many of the key areas driving growth in public expenditure. It has been enabled by the scaling up of analytical capacity across government, particularly through the establishment of the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES) network in 2012, reaching over 350 analysts in 2026.

Over past two years, approximately 70 papers have been published by IGEES staff across Government. This work addresses a broad range of topics, including disability services, social housing, migration and labour market trends, statutory sick leave, wellbeing, education, transport, and youth participation. This analytical research plays a key role in supporting evidence-based policymaking.

My Department plays a central role in this process by regularly analysing expenditure trends and policies. In addition, my Department continually seeks to ensure evidence and analysis is at the centre of policy making, including through the budgetary process. This is communicated through our range of publications including the annual Expenditure Report (alongside the Mid-Year Expenditure Report), the recently published Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, the Public Service Performance Report, as well our expenditure and policy evaluation papers across a range of topics.

My Department has undertaken extensive analytical work to assess the totality of public expenditure to inform critical strategic policy statements, including the Public Service Performance Report; the Review of the National Development Plan; and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.

These publications have underpinned resource allocation decisions for the period to 2030 to progress a range of current and capital investments. The analytical work broadly complements engagement with Departments in the Estimates process and the analysis underpinning these discussions.

Other recent publications published on my Department's website in 2026 include:

• Reviewing Homeless Services and Expenditure.

• Social Welfare vs Inflation Assessing Income Adequacy.

• Criminal Legal Aid Expenditure Trends, 2014-2024.

• Reviewing Homeless Services and Expenditure.

• Trends in International Protection Metrics 2025.

Each department’s published policy analysis and strategies are published on their individual websites and, where developed by IGEES, can also be accessed through the IGEES section of my Department's website.