Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is fair. A Finance Bill is not the appropriate place for these types of measures. What I am seeking from the Minister is a commitment that as in the case of the local property tax report, this report will not be published on budget day and an announcement made that this tax is to be retained. This is too important a measure to be dealt with in that way. I can understand that it is hard to know if the working group will produce proposals in six or eight months' time but publishing a report at the start of October and announcing measures thereafter would be the wrong thing to do.

If we are going to pay any respect to the new budgetary process, the budgetary committee should be looking at these options. That means they have to be published before the budget in order to give the committee an opportunity to express its opinions and issue feedback. Rather than publishing something and announcing it within a window of a week or two, the Minister should give the committee the respect it deserves.