Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has issued new policy directives since taking up his post as Minister for Finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22278/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Since taking up office, I have been acquainting myself with the economic, budgetary and other policy issues which are the responsibility of the Minister for Finance. As the Deputy is aware, new policy directives are normally made primarily in the context of the annual Budget Statement and the Estimates cycle. I have not found it necessary as yet to issue something that might be characterised by the Deputy as a new policy directive. However, I am evaluating the current changing economic position and I will shortly be bringing my budget strategy memorandum to Government as is normal at this time of the year. Of course I have made decisions on many matters that have been brought to my attention since my appointment and I have made those decisions in accordance with what I deem to be in the prudent and best interests of the country.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am somewhat disappointed that the Minister has not found that he has some ideas that he would like to implement on taking up office. I had understood he had been considerably interested in the post for some time. Will he, for example, consider a directive to provide that all appointments to State boards by the Minister would be presented to an Oireachtas committee so that it could have some input into them? May I suggest that he consider that it would be timely to have a medium-term strategy over the next four years bearing in mind that the existing programme for Government is based on tax revenue which will be cumulatively €30 billion off the target expected at the time it was made? Will he consider a policy directive to extend the Freedom of Information Act as requested by the Information Commissioner or to extend the powers of the Standards in Public Office Commission as it has requested? Has he considered that the request by the National Competitiveness Council that the Government should prepare a competitiveness action plan is one deemed worthy of support by the Minister for Finance and that we will have a direction that that will be done.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In substance the Deputy has asked five supplementary questions, which in a sense are very remote from the original question he raised. On his first question, of course I bring new ideas into this Department. However, I am content at this stage to explore those new ideas with my officials so that we can formulate them as concrete proposals in the Estimates cycle and in the presentation of the annual budget.

The Deputy proposed the four specific ideas. First, appointments to State boards are dealt with through Acts of the Oireachtas. In general the Acts prescribe the form for the appointment of particular members. The form and procedure for the appointment of members of various boards varies. Some appointments are made by the Government and in those cases a proposal must be brought by the relevant Minister to the Government for a Government decision on the appointment. In other cases appointments are left to Ministers. Some legislation prescribes exactly the qualifications and background, including vocational background or being a member of the public service or designated member of the public service. Statutes often lay out these matters regarding appointments to State boards. There is no uniform formula for appointing people to State boards and in the course of our debates on individual items of legislation questions are raised as to how appointments should be made. It is for line Ministers to appoint persons of suitable qualifications to boards who can discharge their duties in the public interest. It is not the responsibility of the Minister for Finance to second guess the wisdom of Ministers' selections. In my Department I must fill certain positions on boards and I fill them in accordance with their statutory purposes. I am not clear what new policy directive is open to me in this area.

I commented on freedom of information legislation during a recent conference on the Freedom of Information Act, hosted by the Ombudsman. I made the point that the introduction of a very small charge in 2003 was a desirable decision in value for money terms in that there was a disproportion between the cost of processing certain requests and the amount of information elicited from them. As a result, a small charge was introduced in 2003. It has not yet been increased and I have no proposals to increase it. It is a valuable deterrent to abuse of the system in putting the public service under a huge burden to furnish information in a disproportionate manner. I do not propose to change that.

Another aspect of freedom of information that is often canvassed is the disclosure of Government records. As Deputy Burton is aware, the original legislation envisaged that disclosure would be made after five years, and it is now made after ten years. We will now begin to see documents of the Governments that sat in 1997 and 1998. That is a reasonable period of time and I cannot take issue with it. On the Garda Síochána, again I am guided by the view of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which is that there are important security considerations involved although I see no harm in an exchange of opinion between senior Garda officers and their correspondents in other forces where freedom of information experimentation has taken place.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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May I ask a brief supplementary question?

Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The time is up.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Acting Chair did not limit the Minister, who went well over time.

Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Time is not allocated specifically. The time is six minutes in total. The Deputy could have used more time at the beginning,

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister could put Sir Humphrey of "Yes, Minister" to shame in his capacity to defend the status quo in long, rambling replies without seeking to reform anything that might make his Department more transparent or accountable to this House.

Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We may get to another priority question of Deputy Bruton's if we can move on.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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We are fully accountable under freedom of information legislation.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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If the Minister had not used all the time we might have had a reasonable debate.