Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked a good question, which goes to the heart of the creation of my Department. In advance of entering government, the Deputy's party and my party had both reached the conclusion that to make the economic changes required, we needed to have a proactive reform agenda. This could only be driven by a Cabinet Minister who controlled the money, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was established to that end. The Government set out a radical reform agenda, which has been embraced by the public sector. As I set out in the report I made to the Oireachtas in January, we have achieved more progress on reforming the public service in the past three years than had been made in the previous 30 years.

Reform is not a process that is required by a crisis. It should be a permanent feature of government. We should constantly re-examine how we deliver services and whether we can do so in a more proactive manner. One of the most important reforms is reform of the budget. I hope that in calmer times, when we are in an expansion rather than a retrenchment phase, Oireachtas committees will examine options, line by line and in advance of budgets, make recommendations to the Government and be truly part of the budgetary process.

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