Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin with the question put to me by Deputy Donnelly in respect of his appreciation of the no policy change information. That is what we seek to do in the mid-year report. My objective is to be able to produce for each sectoral committee the best estimate as to what we believe are the no policy change figures in order that Members will know the truest starting point for the framing of the 2017 budget.

The effect of having that information earlier in the year than normal should be positive for the deliberations. The Chairman acknowledged how helpful they were in the past.

Deputy Burton raised questions to which I can respond. The Deputy asked about the sharing of information made available to me regarding the expenditure profiles of individual Departments. I will look to see if we can do that. It is a fair point. I appreciate the recognition of the committee that the information can be lumpy - it can change. The best example of all this is with regard to the profiling of capital expenditure. Deputy Burton and other colleagues will be aware that the profile of capital expenditure changes across the year. For example, the roads budget in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, with which I would have been familiar, was discharged to a significant extent in particular months of the year. As long as the committee is aware that information that we are sharing may change for real, objective reasons beyond our control, we will look to see how we can respond in that regard. The best way we might be able to do so is by having a think about the format in which we would share the information with the committee, which will indicate that the position could change from month to month. We will respond to the Chairman regarding how we will do it.

In relation to the bids that individual Ministers might make to my Department at different points of the year, the best way of handling that would be through engagement with the sectoral committees. I am sure Ministers will use the opportunity to go in front of their sectoral committees to articulate the additional projects they would like to do during the year, which they are talking to me about as well. I hope that the mid-year expenditure report that we will publish in a few weeks' time will go some way towards giving the entire House an awareness of what individual Ministers are trying to do across the year.

In relation to the Estimates, I respectfully would not describe it as a mess, but I wish we had been in a different place to do it. I wish we could have done it earlier on in the year, but that was for reasons beyond our control.