Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome members and also viewers who may be watching our proceedings on Oireachtas TV to the public session of the Oireachtas Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that members should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

I remind members of the constitutional requirements that the members must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely Leinster House, and-or the convention centre in order to participate in the meeting. I cannot permit a member to participate when not adhering to this constitutional requirement.

We are dealing with the Revised Estimates for public services 2024, Department of Finance group. The Dáil ordered that the Revised Estimates for public services in respect of the following Votes be referred to this select committee for consideration: Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance; Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General; Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners; and Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission.

On behalf of the select committee, I welcome the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, who is accompanied by Mr. Paul Cotter, principal officer in the finance unit; Ms Laurna Cunningham, assistant principal in the finance unit; and Mr. Finn Ryder, budget manager at the Revenue Commissioners. Members will have received the briefing document provided by the Department which was circulated in advance.

The purpose of today's meeting is to consider the Revised Estimates and the performance information regarding the outputs and the impacts of programmes for expenditure. The programme-based structure of the Estimates should allow the committee to focus on what the Department has committed to achieving in terms of actual outputs and outcomes, consider whether the performance targets included in the Estimates represent a sufficiently completed description of the services provided by the Department and whether those targets strike the right balance in terms of the needs of society, and consider whether the information required by the Department makes clear how the moneys available are allocated between services and whether these allocations are the most appropriate in the circumstances.

I now call on the Minister to make his opening statement.