Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I hope I am in order in asking to do the sort of thing I presume the Minister is serious about intending when he introduces budget reform. The first thing I would like to have is a costing of the different elements in the Government's own programme for Government. When I asked the Minister for such a costing, he refused to provide it. In the run-up to an election, every political party is obliged to provide costings, yet the Government is asking us to prepare proposals for a budget while the Tánaiste will not provide those costings.

Will we see a Supplementary Estimate to deal with the cost of the higher remuneration settlement? This is costing €16 million. I do not know whether the Tánaiste has €16 million in loose change hanging around, but we deserve to see where the money is coming from and what services will be cut back in order to make room for the pay increases of the Minister and his colleagues. We also deserve to see what decisions have already been taken by the Government, which have not been provided in the ELS, so that we can look at the pending decisions already taken and make a mature decision on what should be in the budget.

None of this is being offered. The Minister wants to talk about reform but not provide the substance to deliver it.

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