Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the comments made earlier by the Sinn Féin Party. There is much talk about a new dawn, new politics and there being no more surprises in budgets. There is no reason this debate could not have been scheduled for later this evening or tomorrow. It has been stated the Commission must receive this document tomorrow. However, as far as I am aware, the ultimate deadline is the end of the month. This is the wrong way to do business. It is treating Members of the House with disdain, particularly those whose responsibility it is, on behalf of their parties or groups, to tease out the detail and compare it with other budget documents, stability programme updates, EU data and so on. It was wrong for this debate to be scheduled prior to Members having time to scrutinise the document. That said, I have read it, although I have not scrutinised it in as detailed a manner as I would like.

The document contains a wealth of information that needs to be parsed and examined in detail. This work would usually have been undertaken next week by a committee, but it may be a number of weeks before a committee is established. This debate, while welcome, will not get to the detail or nuts and bolts of all of the issues involved. We may need an interim measure such as the Minister making available his officials to spokespersons to go through the document in detail.

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