Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Minister will agree that, constitutionally, the Dáil has a very important function in terms of the allocation of resources. It behoves the Executive to provide a more balanced approach to budget planning and to ensure not just that resources are made available to the Dáil in our consideration of budgets and financial matters, but that the political will is there to provide the House with the ability to do that and to work collectively in terms of targeting resources where they are needed most. That is a job that would greatly enhance our democracy. As I stated, I am glad the Minister has agreed that well-being indices should be a feature of the process going forward. He will be familiar with legislation developed by my colleague, Deputy Howlin, which was published and passed Second Stage in 2017. I will be bringing forward legislation in that space to constructively enhance the function of the Parliament in developing budgets going forward.

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