Mr. Michael Tutty:

I do not advocate trying to duplicate what the Departments or the Revenue Commissioners are doing. The PBO needs to be able to assess whether measures look reasonable or not and be able to go back if it does not think they are. It has to be able to go beyond just the static costings of a measure to see what further effects it has beyond the first round effects so it can simulate its effect on the economy as opposed to just the basic tax effect. We have to look at what more the budget office can do apart from the static costings that come from the Departments. The committee should look at whether it needs to do a cost-benefit analysis of things that goes well beyond what the Departments give. It seems from the proposals that the budget office would merely be passing on things they get from Departments rather than playing a real role in helping Deputies to understand what is going on or what more they can do.