Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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I was struck by Mr. Watt's comment that there is a huge difference between the issue of the printer and that of the children's hospital. There is one major point in common. Both involve taxpayers' money. Therefore, they have a lot in common. At this stage, no matter what Department we go to, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform comes up. With regard to every item of expenditure we are looking into, the Department in question has to defer to the big daddy of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Is it possible that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is minding the cents and not the euros? Is it the case that the Department is engaging in micro-management rather than macro-management, leaving Departments unable to manage in terms of their budget allocations? There are lines of expenditure in many Departments that are questionable in terms of value for money. There are also areas within Departments where there is major underspend and when we inquire about them we are told the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will not allow them to be spent, despite the fact that this would result in value for money for the taxpayer. I am interested in hearing about the process by which the budgetary allocations are made. Is the Department interfering too much at a micro level in the day-to-day operations of the Departments? How many accountants are employed in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform?

During my questioning of various Departments on items of expenditure, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was referred to an extraordinary number of times. From my perspective, the Department is the most powerful Department in the apparatus of Government by a mile in that it makes all of the decisions on expenditure. I ask Mr. Watt to outline the budgetary process in respect of the Department of Public and Expenditure's interaction with the other Departments. For example, do the other Departments request that interaction and, at that point, do they hold the same level of spend they had the previous year or do we have an imprest system? It frustrates me to hear the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will not allow spend of an allocation that has not been spent in another areas, even where value for money for the taxpayer is possible.