Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I entirely agree with Deputy Broughan. Parliament has never really been used in a way that meaningfully involves it in the drawing up of the Estimates. It was for that reason that the Government fundamentally changed things. However, it is not just a question of facilitating such involvement - the facilitation must be seized upon by Members of the House. We have published the comprehensive review of expenditure, devised by the Departments, which deals with all of the expenditure issues and options, although those options are not exhaustive and Deputies may think of others. We have also published the three-year envelope of expenditure, so Deputies will know what the envelope of expenditure in the Departments of Health, Education and Skills or Social Protection, for example, is for each of the next three years. Given that Deputies now know all of the issues involved and the envelope, I had hoped that each line committee would meet the Secretary General or Minister in each Department and go through the options. It should also be possible to involve members of the public and groups that have views on such options. The committees could test the options and make recommendations to Government. However, that process probably will not really take off until we are in an expansionary phase again and talking about additional expenditure. Just as it is difficult for the trade union movement to vote for a worsening of terms and conditions, it is difficult for Deputies in opposition, in particular, to come up with proposals to make reductions in public expenditure. It is difficult for them to say that one option is better than another, and so forth, and I understand that. It is, I suppose, base politics. However, if Deputies want to argue for the empowering of Parliament, they must take that on and not simply say, "none of the above", reject the basic premise of the budget line and refuse to engage. Maybe when we move into an expansion phase again, we will have a much more robust pre-debate of the Estimates, involving Parliament as the instrument of the people in the way that it should be.

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