Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not expecting the officials to comment but it is worth noting, and is very important, that the SPU is being submitted to Brussels without any parliamentary oversight or input whatsoever. We were given an hour, I think I got about four and a half minutes to question the Minister on it. That is essentially the blueprint for the budget. Again there was zero parliamentary oversight. We saw the Minister's reaction to my suggestion that maybe next year we could have some input. Something very serious is going on and it is contrary to the spirit of what I heard in Brussels which was some very sensible views around parliamentary input to the European semester. In Ireland the Government is moving in exactly the opposite direction and ensuring virtually zero parliamentary input into the European semester. It is not for the officials, it is a political point but I wanted to put that on the record. It is something the committee should be pushing back on.

On the European semester, between the two pack, the six pack and the various other resolutions and directives, under how many metrics will the budget and the SPU be examined? As that is a rather unfair question, let me ask a slightly fairer question. Is it in and around ten macro-micro indicators or in the 40 to 50 range?