Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 8, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:“(a) provide an assessment of whether the fiscal and budgetary policy of the Government is contributing to economic growth, job creation, the delivery of high quality public services, greater income equality, social inclusion and poverty reduction,”.

I have no intention of delaying the Bill at this stage. We thrashed out many of the issues involved on Committee Stage. We also debated some of the points raised in this amendment on Report Stage last week.

The amendment would require the fiscal advisory council to "provide an assessment of whether the fiscal and budgetary policy of the Government is contributing to economic growth, job creation, the delivery of high quality public services, greater income equality, social inclusion and poverty reduction". I previously stressed the importance of ensuring that economic analysis and proposals are not produced in a vacuum. There is a responsibility on politicians and others to weigh up the outcomes of the proposals they make. The fiscal advisory council has provided the Oireachtas and the public with a huge amount of detailed analysis and data. Even if I did not support its recommendations, I would say it fulfils a valuable function. It would be strengthened if it had a responsibility to outline the impact of policies on the aforementioned areas. It is important that any proposal to impose additional cuts is measured against a basket of indicators. That is why I propose the amendment.

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