Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome this short but important Bill which amends the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003. A key element is continuing funding for the commission until the end of 2021. I note that in the next three years funding is to be increased by 14% and capped at a sum of €422,270,000.

Another key function of the Bill is to place on a statutory basis the excellent Parliamentary Budget Office. I am a member of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and was a member of the preceding Select Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny which strongly recommended the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office. I asked the excellent Oireachtas Library and Research Service to produce a briefing paper on the parliamentary budget office in other countries. I noticed recently that the House of Commons was in touch with the Committee on Budgetary Oversight in looking at the possibility of establishing a budgetary oversight committee. The Parliamentary Budget Office was established in 2017 and is led by its director Ms Annette Connolly. The creation of the select committee and the Parliamentary Budget Office will be remembered as being among the best achievements of the Thirty-second Dáil.

The important responsibilities of the Parliamentary Budget Office which will be statutory based included in subsection (4) of the new section 14B include providing the Oireachtas and the Committee on Budgetary Oversight with key, up-to-date information on current macroeconomic conditions, the management and development of the public finances and the financial impacts of public policy proposals. Visitors to Dáil Éireann and the Oireachtas Library will have been struck by the number of important briefing papers produced by Ms Connolly and the Parliamentary Budget Office. We have recently been reading briefing paper No. 16 on the 2018 Supplementary Estimates which were included in the Appropriation Bill 2018 which the House has just examined. The Parliamentary Budget Office also prepares important notes for Deputies on aspects of State expenditure and fiscal management. One key piece of work which it undertook recently was on the health budget in which it looked at the differences between forecasted and actual expenditure.

One of my concerns has been the lack of transparency and accountability in tax expenditures. When I questioned the Taoiseach about the matter a month or so ago, I was able to rely greatly on the work done by the Parliamentary Budget Office. It is really helpful and good to see the office being placed on a statutory basis.

I equally welcome in section 6 the establishment on a statutory basis of the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers under the new section 14C. The office will have similar status to the Parliamentary Budget Office. The section lays out its role in providing advice for the commission, the Ceann Comhairle, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, the Members of the Dáil and the Seanad and Oireachtas committees. Its most important role will be to help us in drafting Bills. Like many other Deputies, I have used its services and recently received very important assistance in drafting a short Bill to amend Bunreacht na hÉireann to give everybody in Ireland the right to housing and a permanent home. Unfortunately, the Bill was ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle. It was deemed to be too similar to a Bill that had been on the clár since 2016. Perhaps we need a mechanism to facilitate the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers whereby Bills on which a lot of work has been done cannot subsequently be ruled out of order. Most Deputies and Senators will be celebrating and marking another 100th year anniversary just after Christmas. For most that time Members had to rely on their own or their party's legal advisers.

I want to mention the Oireachtas Library and Research Service which has been extremely helpful during the years. The placing on a statutory basis of the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers and the Parliamentary Budget Office adds a new and significant new resource in our work. The Minister of State and other Deputies referred to key provisions in the Bill that provide for the operational independence of the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers and the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is important. I note in section 5 that the new section 14B(8) states that, "subject to the Act, the director and members of staff assigned to the Parliamentary Budget Office shall be independent in functions designated by the Secretary General under subsection (4)". A similar provision is made for the chief parliamentary legal adviser and commission staff assigned to the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers.

I warmly welcome the Bill and the placing on a statutory basis of these two important offices in order that commission staff can help us to do the job we were elected to do.

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