Mr. Robert Watt:

It is because we have a new Government. The Deputy knows that we have a new Government, with a new Taoiseach and a new Minister. It is appropriate for the new Government to consider its budgetary strategy. In parallel to this, the Minister has appeared before several committees over the past week to discuss where he believes the economy and the budget are. Mr. Derek Moran and I have attended the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and spent several days at the NED discussing matters with people.

There is a more open and different approach to budgeting. When I was involved in the Department of Finance in the early 1990s, the budget was prepared and announced to the people on one day and there was no SES, NED, oversight committee, performance report or Maastricht returns. Our current approach to budgeting is different and more open, with Deputies having an opportunity based on parameters set out by the Department to discuss the budget and the options that the Government faces. It is a different situation. Obviously, it would have been better and more desirable had the SES been published in advance of the NED. Hopefully, we will revert to that sequence next year.