Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We could end up splitting hairs on this issue and that is not desirable. What is desirable is that the technical, non-policy information that is provided to the fiscal advisory council be made available to this committee at the same time. It is important it is provided at the same time. I know the motion does not say "at the same time", but it does say that it should be provided to the committee in time to give it adequate time to consider it in advance of the budget.

At this point, we should not need to have the Minister for Finance or his officials here to explain it. What we need is the technical information. After examining that information, the committee can then decide whether it wants the Minister to attend the committee. The information is technical information that is prepared by the Department of Finance and all it does is assist us and society in trying to respond with alternative budget proposals in advance of the budget. I think the motion is fine, but we should not split hairs over the issue. We are a couple of weeks out from the budget and we should have this information now rather than ask the Minister for Finance or his officials to come in before us. We know they are under pressure in terms of producing the budget at an earlier stage this year. We should ask for the information provided in the e-mails they have sent to the fiscal advisory council with the technical data on it for macroeconomic forecasts.

I want to add one further point. In 2008, a very good initiative was taken by the late Brian Lenihan, who was Minister for Finance at that time. Unfortunately, that initiative was only taken in 2008. He invited Opposition spokespersons to the Department of Finance and opened up the books to them. This was done on a confidential basis and that confidentiality was respected. That is the type of initiative we would appreciate. Some issues, such as the macroeconomic forecasts, need to be and should be presented publicly, but there may be other issues the Department does not want to publicise in advance of the budget. We need to come to a better system, where people are better informed in advance of the budget, in order that we can have a better and more informed debate that is more in tune.