Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Apologies have been received from Senators Róisín Garvey and Mark Wall.

Members participating in the meeting remotely are required to do so from within the precincts of Leinster House only. I remind those in attendance to make sure their mobile phones are switched off or on silent mode.

I welcome the witnesses. They are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the presentations they make to the committee. This means they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything they say at this meeting. However, they are expected not to abuse this privilege and it is my duty as Cathaoirleach to ensure this privilege is not abused. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in respect of an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative they comply with any such direction. Witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against any person or entity outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

The committee will now consider the targets to be included in this year's public service performance report with officials from the Department of Social Protection. The 2016 OECD review of budgetary oversight by Parliament in Ireland highlighted the requirement to provide enhanced performance information to support the Oireachtas in assessing the outputs and outcomes from public expenditure. A challenge identified by the OECD in supporting the realisation of this goal relates to the timing of the publication of the Revised Estimates Volume. As the Revised Estimates Volume is published prior to the end of the year, outturn information is not available for the current year and only targets can be published. Oireachtas committees do not, therefore, have relevant outturn information related to performance available to them in a timely fashion to enable them to scrutinise performance in the preceding year.

The performance report addresses this shortfall and provides timely information about what was delivered by public funds in the preceding year.

Performance-based budgeting aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public expenditure by linking the funding of public sector organisations to the results they deliver, making systematic use of performance information. The committee welcomes the opportunity for the first time to work with the Department in outlining the key targets that will be measured by the public service performance report. The key output of the public service performance report project is a framework to tag and track all areas of public expenditure against dimensions of equality, well-being, sustainable development goals and green budgeting. The committee looks forward to working with the Department in framing its input to the public service performance report.

I welcome from the Department of Social Protection, Mr. Niall Egan, assistant secretary, corporate affairs; Ms Saidhbhín Hardiman, assistant principal, budget and means; and Ms Sinéad Goodwin, assistant principal, CWS management support team. I note that we are here before the committee where we have the officials working hand in glove with members in trying to refine and update the public service performance report targets, which is in stark contrast to what is happening in our adjoining committee today, where we are looking again at significant cost overruns and a failure to achieve targets in the HSE and Department of Health. I thank the witnesses for the supplementary information they provided since they last appeared before the committee. We look forward to a productive engagement today to benefit all of us in exercising our responsibilities - the Department in meeting its overall targets and Members of the Oireachtas in our statutory and constitutional responsibility to monitor spending by Departments. I invite Mr. Egan to make his opening statement.