Ms Eilís Ní Chaithnía:

Data availability is one of the key issues and it is not just a key issue for Ireland. It has been a key issue across the world and that is why other jurisdictions have either introduced strategies to address that or they have amended legislation, which was mentioned in our opening statement. That will be a process as well.One of the issues is we have not seen theex ante analysis as to why particular objectives and indicators have been identified. We do not know how Departments are being guided in identifying what data they should use in the first instance and then what data gaps are evident to them and are causing obstacles for them in making their assessments. There is an issue around transparency in understanding how the process is being moved forward or facilitated by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I do not wish to overly criticise the Department because it has been committed to this process but I would like to see that detail. As part of our involvement on the steering group, I expect to see some of that documentation and assess it.

With regard to participation, Spanish regions, for example Andalucia, have introduced public participation processes that have been effective in developing budgets but I am not sure that Ireland is anywhere near that. The type of reform that has been undertaken as part of our budgetary reform process has led to more transparency and greater accountability, etc., but even the role of parliamentary committees, for example, and their ability to influence our budgetary process is not to the standard of Scotland. One of the reasons behind that is until recently Scotland only had the opportunity to focus on expenditure and did not have responsibilities in respect of revenue and, therefore, it might have been a more comfortable environment in which to allow parliamentary comment than previously. We are still at the point where even parliamentary oversight has not reached the stage we would like it to. We would very much like much greater public engagement and participation in the budgetary process but I am not sure we are there yet. In the first instance, engaging with established organisations rather than the public would be the best way to go about it. There are pillars, for example, the community and voluntary pillar, which comprises large organisations that have a social justice, equality perspective, that often focus on economic issues. They are being engaged on a range of issues related to the budget and they should be invited to participate more closely in the process.