Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is something we have discussed before and it is entirely relevant to the changes being provided for in the section. The Minister's example of disability spending is a very good one. It speaks to an issue I have raised before. Hopefully, the sub-committee and the broader finance committee have a reasonable interest and experience of expenditure. We only look at the expenditure within the Minister's Department, however. I accept fully that the committee should not second guess the Minister for Health and the committee dealing with health issues. However, there are two areas in which the sub-committee could usefully debate issues. One is the spread of spending, which is not necessarily about what is contained within the health budget. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has a remit across all Departments which means the sub-committee to which he answers should usefully do the same exercise. We would not look at what is spent, for example, on acute medicine versus community-based care, but it would be useful for the sub-committee to ask what the total quantum of spending is and to determine if it is rising or falling. We have discussed this before and the Minister was not hugely amenable to the idea. However, there is nowhere else that the Dáíl looks at these things. If that is the Minister's remit, it is properly the remit of the sub-committee remit. The second area involves the example the Minister just gave of the disabilities sector. The Minister has just listed four or five huge pots of money. There is nowhere that they are all tied together. Arguably, this is the only committee which could do so. It is an issue for the chairman also.