Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

By public acknowledgment, the volume of information published on budget day is unprecedented. The comprehensive review of expenditure process is an innovation introduced by the Government. We publish the horizons for expenditure up to the end of this year. Accordingly, it is up to committees to invigilate these but they have not for the past three years. We will be publishing another three-year horizon next week which committees can invigilate for the next three years.

My experience is that in times of difficulty, Deputies opposite are not prone to evaluating priorities, never saying spend on that but not on this. They are always willing to give the recommendation to spend on everything.

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