Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion

Mr. Robert Watt:

The Department is often criticised for not being sufficiently involved in the detail. In effect, the system we have is one of delegated sanction for budgets. In response to an earlier question from the Chairman, the budget is negotiated. There is a process of negotiation for the budget. We engage with Departments about their spending priorities and demands and we come up with a budget which is announced by the Minister.