Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

He will probably be the first. The Taoiseach's office must appear before the committee regarding the finance Vote. It will certainly be well into May before the House gets to approve the Estimates of expenditure for 2012, which Estimates include a figure of €114 million. The Minister of State claims the inclusion of the allocation is a technical matter but it has not yet been debated. By May, when the majority of the money for 2012 will have been spent and the remainder almost fully committed, there will be very little money available for discretionary spending. One must ask the purpose of having an Estimates debate to consider expenditure for the year after the horse has bolted. It will have been too late.

The Estimates for 2012 should have been discussed in October or November 2011. The Minister of State stated there is a new Estimates process for this year. The process for this year is not a bit new. There may be an extra bit of fluffy information attached but the process of the national Parliament discussing the Estimates for the current year has not changed, nor has the timetable. Nobody can attach any serious weight to the process. In a way, I do not blame the drafters of the script for calling this a technical issue. As far as they see it, the process is a mere rubber stamp and it does not matter what happens at committee or what is said. They believe the matter has already been decided.

Let me give a few examples of what I am talking about. The revised Estimate of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for 2012 - Vote 29 - is €193 million. Reference is made to €15.8 million, programmes under which the subheads for this Vote will be accounted for by the Office of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and which have "come by way of the application for capital supply services of unspent appropriations, the surrender of which may be deferred under Section 91 of the Finance Act 2004". This is specifically accounted for.

Vote 13 pertains to the Department of the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. The 2012 revised Estimates for public services, which have not yet been brought before any committee, state the Estimate for the OPW for its services for the current year is being made by way of a provision of €358,69. By way of the application for capital supply services of unspent appropriations, the surrender of which may be deferred under section 91 of the Finance Act 2004, a sum of €8 million is listed. It was referred to by the Minister of State in his statement. The figure will not have been approved by the House until these Estimates are approved. Perhaps stage 1 has been approved.

I see the Minister of State smiling because he is getting approval to carry the sum forward, but it is part of the Estimates. He wants to carry it into the Estimates of expenditure to be allowed to spend it this year.

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