Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That is reasonable but we are operating in an environment where things change all the time and I do not think we can allow the logic of the Minister's argument to prevail if what he is saying is that things change all the time and therefore one should wait as long as one can to get as many of the changes in. Again, it is a question of balance. The Minister is correct. There was a significant change that made a massive difference to the fiscal space. My view is that providing the report in mid-April is not striking the right balance. Perhaps it could be the start of April or in mid-March or we could get it at the same time as IFAC and take it with the understanding that IFAC might change some things and that it is a draft report. I urge the Minister to consider that point if he would.

The next point is relevant to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. Deputy Pearse Doherty referred to the White Paper. The reason the White Paper was so important was because it was the only chance we got to look at the no policy change numbers, and if one is coming up with counter-proposals that is what one needs. To get that information at midnight on a Friday before a Tuesday budget was always too late. There is no policy change in this SPU, which is very useful, but it was done in the context of there being no Government in place. As a parliamentarian seeking to propose budgetary ideas, the most useful piece of information for me in the past five years was the no-change budget, both in terms of revenue and, critically, of expenditure. That information does not come through. In fact, it takes even longer than the White Paper because the White Paper does the revenue. We need some mechanism to ensure the no-change figures are in. If they are in the SPU, that is in plenty of time, and they were this year.

It would be useful if that could happen every year.

I ask the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on reading-----