Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion

2:00 pm

Mr. Robert Watt:

I do not wish to be argumentative, but what does the Deputy find puzzling? Does Deputy Doherty think the Government faces a changed budget position in respect of a budget line before it knows all the other things that will happen during the year and announces that it will fund that change from money in one place, when there are hundreds and thousands of moving parts in the budget? No government or company operates on that basis. If there is such a significant material change to the budget that requires corrective action in order to keep the budget on track, that is obviously an issue that the two Ministers and the Government would have to decide, because that is different.