Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I still have a few points to raise on Vote 12.

I smile wryly when I look at one or two of Mr. Watt’s opening comments. I am addressing only one or two comments from his long statement. He talks about better budgeting and refers to it on page 3. He states he has enhanced the amount of output information provided in the annual Estimates for the Dáil. One page 14, he states each Vote stayed within the allocation appropriate to the Department for 2011. On the issue of Estimates and the budgeting, I do not accept any of what Mr. Watt said. I will ask him to give me the date for when the Estimates for 2013, not to mind 2011, were approved by the Oireachtas. He knows it was in June, at least. Half way through the year, we discussed the Estimates for the current year in the Oireachtas, at which point half the money had already been spent. The overwhelming majority of the balance had been irrevocably committed. All the Departments come in with their Estimates half way through the year so I do not accept Mr. Watt’s point that there was good budgeting.

Mr. Watt will recall that in December of last year, the Department’s first full year in operation, there were Supplementary Estimates of over €1 billion. We witnessed the most considerable Supplementary Estimates in the history of the State, yet Mr. Watt states his Department’s budgeting was good.

The Department claims its budgeting is good, but I do not accept that. It claimed, “Each Vote stayed within the allocation appropriated by Dáil Éireann for the year”. While that may be correct, much of it had to be done by way of Supplementary Estimate because budgets had been overblown. The Department’s claim gives the impression Departments and agencies had lived within their budgets. They did live within their budgets, with the €1 billion they had to receive three weeks before year end because they were outside their budgets. I do not accept, therefore, that there was good budgeting last year. Based on the size of the Supplementary Estimates last year, it was the worst in the history of the State.

Neither do I accept that there has been a good flow of information to the Dáil, given that we were finally presented with the Estimates for this year in June, some six months into the year. I do not accept that good information has been given to any committee of the Dáil. The Estimates will be published in ten days time with the Budget Statement. Last year the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance gave this committee the projections for expenditure for the coming year on which the Estimates would be based. This would exclude budget decisions which had yet to be made in order that we would know the opening position. So far this year, the Department has not provided this information for the committee and the Estimates will be published in ten days time. The idea that it is providing information for the Oireachtas in an improved manner has zero standing.