Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion

2:00 pm

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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As Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, does Mr. Watt believe the budget scrutiny committee should scrutinise where the money for the additional commitment is coming from or should we just accept that the Minister will find it? I agree with everything Mr. Watt has said. There needs to be flexibility and one needs to respond to things, but I am sure our role - Mr. Watt can correct me if he has a different opinion - is that when Government needs to respond fiscally to an issue or a demand, we should scrutinise it. As I have said, for every euro one spends in one area, one must take it from another area. We may support that idea or we may not. I have no idea and this committee has no idea of where the €120 million will come from at this point in time. We hope it will come from efficiencies or something similar, which will not impact on people or front-line services. However, we have no clue. We have not been given an indication of where it is coming from. Does Mr. Watt have an idea of where this money will come from at this point in time?