948. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the amount of the €1billion 'contingency fund' announced in Budget 2026 that has been spent/allocated to date; the precise spending programmes to which specific amounts have been allocated; and the amounts involved under each area; the areas of planned expenditure to be drawn from the contingency fund for the remainder of 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62259/26]

Budget 2026 set out a gross total voted expenditure ceiling of €117.8 billion. This consisted of €19.1 billion in capital, €97.7 billion in current and a contingency reserve of €1 billion. Government has since made the decision to increase the 2026 Expenditure Ceiling by €0.7 billion to €118.5 billion.

Costs relating to Ireland’s hosting of the EU Presidency of c. €0.3 billion and an additional pay day of c. €0.5 billion in 2026 are being funded from this contingency reserve. These additional costs arise in 2026 only.

In April, the Government agreed to provide an additional €0.6 billion to the Department of Education and Youth of which €0.2 billion was provided from the contingency reserve, with the remainder of costs associated with this decision to be funded through the application of an expenditure levy applying to Votes allocations for 2027.