Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for tabling the amendment. Appropriations-in-aid are receipts that accrue directly to Departments or agencies and which may be retained by those bodies to offset the cost of delivering services rather than submitted to the Exchequer. The level of appropriations-in-aid is determined in the context of the annual Estimates process.

The proposed amendment would explicitly transfer to the Minister functions relating to the setting of certain revenues. It is essential that there should be no ambiguity in the Bill as to the functions of the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for Finance in regard to matters relating to revenue. The proposed amendment is somewhat ambiguous as it does not specify or clarify what certain revenues actually means, for which the Minister for public expenditure and reform might be responsible. It is intended that functions of the Minister for Finance in regard to appropriations-in-aid will transfer to the Minister for public expenditure and reform.

This is reflected in two ways. First, in section 15(5) of the Bill the annual approved expenditure amount is the gross amount including appropriations-in-aid and second, the transfer of the functions of the Minister for Finance to other legislation in regard to fees, charges etc. to the Minister. These functions will mainly be transferred through the transfer of functions order.

It is intended that the appropriations-in-aid to which the Deputy referred will be transferred to the Minister for public expenditure and reform, which would allow him to be clear about the amount to which the Deputy referred. I understand this will be done by way of transfer of function orders rather than legislation. The Deputy's amendment proposes to set up certain revenues.

The difficulty is that there is no precise definition of what the term "certain revenues" means. The Deputy can be assured, however, that under the transfer of functions order, it is the intention to transfer them across. The appropriate way to do this in legislation is by way of a transfer of functions order, rather than by primary legislation.

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