Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, for sharing his time.

The motion we have heard from the Labour Party covers an extremely broad range of areas including Dáil reform, freedom of information, whistleblowers' information and contributions to political parties. The Government has already been and continues to be active in progressing these areas, many of which are outlined in the renewed programme for Government. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, has comprehensively addressed all of these issues in his statement. I wish to address a number of these issues now.

As the Minister of State outlined in his statement, as part of a commitment in the renewed programme for Government, the provisions of the code of conduct for civil servants in regard to the acceptance of outside appointments or consultancy engagement following resignation or retirement will be extended to all public servants in designated posts. This is a welcome development. It will ensure that public servants cannot accept an offer of appointment from an outside employer where it is deemed to create a conflict of interest or accept an engagement in a particular consultancy project, where the nature and terms of such appointment or engagement could lead to a conflict of interest, without first obtaining approval from the Outside Appointments Board.

The Labour Party motion as proposed by Deputy Howlin also makes reference to the issue of the roles and responsibilities of Ministers and Secretaries General. It states the responsibilities of Secretaries General be strengthened by assigning to them authority and accountability for ensuring that the Department and its officers perform their functions in a non-political and impartial manner, in accordance with law, the highest ethical standards of conduct and integrity and any prescribed code of conduct.

I agree with the Minister of State that it is critical that we maintain an appropriate balance between the two in respect of policy and administration. The issue has been addressed in the Public Service Management Act, which formed a key element of the drive under the strategic management initiative to improve performance and accountability.

As we all know, the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes was established by the Government to examine critically and assess all areas of Government expenditure. It was chaired by economist Colm McCarthy and became more commonly known as an bord snip nua. Its report was published by the Government in July 2009 and proposed a reduction of 17,300 in numbers and specific savings measures of €5.3 billion.

It is a thorough and detailed examination of all departmental spending, examining in particular what is intended to be achieved by each spending programme, whether it has been achieved and whether the level of spending is justified in current resource-limited conditions. As we all know, on the basis of its analysis, an bord snip nua presented some difficult policy options. These are the choices that we as a people, and not just as public representatives and Government, will have to face up to in order to get this nation back on track, create jobs, meet public needs and promote fairness, which we have proved we can do as a society over the past 20 years.

The Government has moved to implement many of the measures recommended in that report and continues to consult its proposals, especially when considering structural reforms within the public administration system.

A progressive reform of the cycle of Estimates has also been effected by the Government in recent years. The publication, in 2006, of a new autumn Pre-Budget Outlook document enables the provision of a full range of information on the public finances in advance of budget decisions. Since 2007, the Estimates of expenditure have been determined and presented alongside the annual tax decisions on budget day. This unified budget approach has facilitated the Government in making all of the necessary budget decisions in a coherent and integrated manner.

The rapidly emerging and evolving economic and budgetary issues have necessitated altering and adapting the established budgetary framework over the past two to three years. In common with all other member states, Ireland's budgetary timetable will have to be reviewed to take account of recent agreements among all EU leaders on the new European semester that will come into effect in 2011. All Governments are required, under this new arrangement, to publish a stability programme update by end-April. This update must reflect the overall macro-economic view set out early in the year by the EU Commission and be released well in advance of the subsequent budget. All member state's draft proposals for the following year's budget will be considered and the views of the Commission and the EU Council will be advanced. It is true, as the Minister stated, that the details of this arrangement will have to be considered carefully, but as a general principle we are in favour of a restructured approach to budget formation that allows greater space for the informed views of the Oireachtas and of our EU colleagues to be taken into account.

I agree with the Government's amendment and its recommendations.

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