Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy. If I may, I will read out the response to the amendment and Members might then debate this further. The new section 5(5) proposed by Deputy Fleming would require the Minister to furnish a written explanation within 20 days of the passing of the law of key responsibilities and dates under the new budgetary and Estimates procedures. I understand the Deputy may be anxious to have further clarification as to the implications of the new legislative arrangements for the traditional budget and Estimates timetabling and the assessment of responsibility as between the Minister with responsibility for public expenditure and reform and the Minister for Finance. While I am of the view it would be inappropriate to impose a legislative framework on matters which could best be dealt with at administrative level, I assure the Deputy that the new legislation will, in itself, involve a minimal degree of disturbance to the long-established budgetary and Estimates processes and to their timetabling.

What is changing is that the Estimates related processes, including the bringing forward of the annual Book of Estimates, will now be a matter for the Minister with responsibility for public expenditure and reform. I anticipate there will be more wide-ranging reforms to the annual budgetary procedures and I certainly will reflect further on Deputy Fleming's proposals in that regard. These reforms will be a matter for the fiscal responsibility Bill, which I anticipate will be brought before the Dáil later this year. I do not propose to accept this amendment at this stage.

As the Deputy has rightly raised this issue, it is worth noting there must be much greater parliamentary scrutiny of budgets right across public administration. If we are to have a functioning Parliament which teases out and assesses expenditure items, this requires a fundamental change to the budgetary process. The Minister has already set out his views in the comprehensive spending review, of which the Deputy will be aware and which involves a much earlier anticipation of bilateral arrangements between Departments and also puts much greater focus and responsibility on line Ministers to bring forward proposals for expenditure items. What is crucial in this regard is the role given to parliamentary scrutiny. I understand a much clearer process will be put in place in the September to October period when we will consider options. Given the extraordinary deficit position we face and the importance of resolving this deficit position, ideas emanating from parliamentary committees or from plenary session can be considered well in advance of the budget. The old-fashioned view of the budget, the idea that the Minister, in the manner of Moses, would come out with a tablet of stone and declare everything on budget day, is utterly antiquated and is of no use in the current predicament. If it is not clear as a result of this legislation, it certainly will be clear in the fiscal responsibility Bill which will be brought to the House later this year. This will provide a clear, ongoing framework where not only Government expenditure is assessed but also ideas from all sides of the House in line with other proposals from Government. This is the only way we will make progress and ensure better value for money and greater efficiencies.

No change is envisaged to the presentation of the unified budget material. This is part of a move towards improving the quality of budgetary and Estimates information. Other improvements on the Estimates side include a move to a more output and outcome-focused presentation of the information which will continue to be developed and strengthened. This is the point to which the Deputy refers. We need a much sharper focus in committees throughout the year on the question of outputs and outcomes to ensure we are hitting our targets and there is buy-in to the level of support on spending programmes.

In addition, the normal monthly and quarterly presentation of the Exchequer returns will continue to be available showing both the revenue and expenditure data in the normal manner. There is an acceptance across Government about the need to take radically different action on the comprehensive spending review. It has been correctly assessed that Parliament must be involved to a greater degree than was the case previously. Instead of believing the budgetary process is a four week period in December, we need to alter this perception radically to ensure Parliament has a role in the process.

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