Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil will be supporting the Bill. It is a technical Bill that needs to be passed, as it has been every three years, to meet expenditure incurred by the House of the Oireachtas Commission. Without it, the wages of staff would not be paid in 2019. The Bill permits money to be provided from the Central Fund. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission is an independent body, but it needs a budget, as we recognise. The Bill will give the commission a budget of €422,270,000 from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2021. It is also used to pay members of staff for working for the Oireachtas.

There are a number of technical provisions included in the Bill, most notably the amendments included in sections 5 and 6 which will place the Parliamentary Budget Office and the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers on a statutory footing. The offices will be independent within the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The detail of the Bill is as laid out by the Minister of State. I reaffirm Fianna Fáil's commitment to support the contents of the Bill. We will support the Bill through all Stages and hope the rest of the Members of the Dáil will see fit to do likewise.

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