Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Functions vested in Departments cannot, under the Ministers and Secretaries Acts, be carried out under the direction of two different Ministers at the same time. With regard to two functions of Government, namely, the post office network and the national broadband service, what exactly is the Government's intention? Will statutory responsibility for those two programmes - post offices and broadband - be vested in the Department of communications, climate change and natural resources or the Department of rural development, rural affairs, arts and the Gaeltacht? If not, and if the Minister for communications, climate change and natural resources is to continue to be responsible for these matters, as I believe the Ministers and secretaries legislation requires him to be, what role then is envisaged for the Minister for rural development, rural affairs, arts and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Humphreys? Is she to exercise any authority under law or is she simply to have some sort of mock title with no resources, no staff, no Vote and no statutory responsibility for these issues?

I asked the Tánaiste last week about the second matter I want to raise, which is becoming more urgent. Will the Government produce a stability programme update, SPU? Will a SPU be submitted to the European Commission? This morning, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, commented on the April SPU, which the Taoiseach will recall was simply an "as you are" SPU devised by the outgoing Government, with no policy decisions because we could not make them. Increases in Estimates have been made to Departments, so if changes are to be made in the parameters of the budget, will an SPU be submitted, and when will we have sight of it? We do not know what the Estimates for this year are, although the SPU is devised to represent the parameters for next year's budget. If we are to have any input into the budgetary cycle for next year, we must have detailed debate on the budgetary proposals for this year. When will those Estimates and a Revised Book of Estimates be presented to the House?

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