Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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This committee has four weeks to do its work. It is not a permanent committee and its purpose is to deal with arrangements for budgetary scrutiny. I am anxious to hear what proposals the Ministers feel could be included in our report. Some of the questions I hoped to pose have already been answered. It is vital that we understand our function, which is solely, after four weeks, to produce a report on how budgetary scrutiny should be pursued through a committee.

I was hoping to hear from both Ministers about the sort of restrictions on them in terms of giving information by certain dates or certain times and about what is practical and what is not. We have already had legal advisors before us this morning and have discovered that in some instances, things that we thought were being refused on a constitutional basis were in fact really a matter for Standing Orders. It is appears that refusals to deal with some amendments or proposed amendments that were ruled out of order - including by me when I was Ceann Comhairle, based on advice given to me - on constitutional grounds could be incorrect and that, in fact, it is just Standing Orders, as interpreted, which are preventing various questions from being replied to.

It is also debatable whether Deputies could or should propose amendments at certain points during the process of dealing with financial legislation. I am interested in any points the Ministers wish to make that would be of assistance to this committee in producing our report.