Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary)

2:00 pm

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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We should deal with this point before we move on to the bigger issues. The Supplementary Estimate was published two weeks ago and, to my knowledge, it has not changed. The figures published by the Government in the Supplementary Estimate are the same figures we are discussing today. Somebody in the Department gave this committee the definitive figures in respect of the extra moneys, which the committee would consider and the Dáil would approve. Somebody in the Department was able to tell us definitively what the savings were, heading by heading and subhead by subhead. That matter has been put to bed for the past two weeks. In regard to the actual Supplementary Estimate, nothing has changed in the meantime. A new Supplementary Estimate would have to be referred to this committee by the Dáil and it would then have to go back to the Dáil tomorrow, if the figures we are considering here were to change. Therefore, the Minister's explanation does not stand up in terms of why or where he needs the extra sums and how the savings found occurred. That has not changed since the Supplementary Estimate was published. The figures cannot change because they have been fixed since the Government published them.