The Where Your Money Goes website is a graphical, easy-to-use tool for examining gross (Voted and Non-Voted) Government expenditure over a period of ten years. The data is presented in a variety of interactive charts, the elements of which may be clicked on to show a greater level of detail. The figures shown on this site represent the gross voted and non-voted expenditure from 2013 to 2024. Note that the 2022 to 2024 figures represent estimated expenditure rather than actual expenditure. Note that non-core allocations and transfers of functions across Departments may impact figures and comparison of expenditure across time. The data on this website was last updated in December 2023.
All tax payments and other revenues received by the State are paid into a central fund, called "the Exchequer".
Government expenditure is funded from the Exchequer.
Government receives money from a number of sources:
Money raised by the Government is spent on delivering public goods and services. It is divided into current and capital expenditure.
Current expenditure covers day-to-day spending by Government Departments, Agencies and Non-Commercial State Bodies and includes the wages and pensions of public servants.
Capital expenditure includes spending on long-term physical assets (such as roads, bridges, hospital buildings and schools) and on non-physical assets (such as computer software).
During the annual Budget process an allocation of spend for the coming year is agreed between each Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This amount is then voted on (approved) by the Dáil and is called Voted Expenditure.
Non-Voted expenditure is not subject to annual Dáil approval but is allowed for under existing laws. It includes spending such as interest on the National Debt and Ireland’s contribution to the EU Budget. It also includes costs such as the Houses of the Oireachtas and the salaries of judges.
The gross voted expenditure data reflected in the website detail all the gross spending by government departments and agencies, along with expenditure from the Social Insurance Fund and the National Training Fund. It includes funding that has been allocated at Departmental level only, funding held centrally is not reflected. The underlying data is available on the PER Databank.
Non-voted expenditure comes directly from the central fund and includes items such as debt-servicing costs, EU Budget contributions, costs of the Houses of the Oirceachtas and the salaries of the judiciary etc.
Features of the website are: