Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am new to this committee so I will start by asking a general question on fiscal advisory councils, which are relatively new in the process since 2011. To what degree do the Government or Opposition parties listen to the witnesses in terms of their advice? Second, on the issue of costing proposals, we hear Deputies making requests and suggesting proposals daily in the Dáil. They say they want to see improvements in areas and increases in various sectors and there is criticism about how much those will cost. Do the witnesses listen to those proposals and requests? Unlike Deputy Ryan and Deputy Burton, I was not at the centre of the economic crash but I was listening to what was happening at a political level coming into 2011. While my party was being blamed for the crash, many more promises were being made going into that election in terms of increasing spending. To what degree have fiscal advisory councils in other countries been successful in keeping governments and opposition parties on the straight and narrow and making sure we do not get some of the things to which Deputy Boyd Barrett referred? I know that as sure as there is an up in the economy it will be followed by a down but how do we ensure the success of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the ESRI or any of the other independent advice the Government or parties get?

I compliment the secretariat on the types of questions it has indicated, although I am sure we will not get to deal with half of them. Is it important that the questions are dealt with now or are they given to the IFAC for its response if they are not reached?

I will start with the last question indicated, which relates to commercial stamp duty. What are the witnesses views on the commercial stamp duty increases introduced in the 2018 budget? As part of that, on the issue of tax reliefs being provided for research and development, do they believe there are more effective ways of doing that?