Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 26: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will publish, in full and in a timely manner, the reports of the Commission on Taxation and the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes; if he will publish the working papers and supporting documentation relevant to the preparation of these reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28104/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Commission on Taxation, under the chairmanship of Mr. Frank Daly, is an independent group charged with providing an assessment of how our tax system can be reformed. It is expected to complete its work shortly. When I receive the report I will bring it to the Government in advance of publication. The publication of individual documents, reports and submissions made to the commission, or internal papers or records emanating from the work of the commission, are matters for the commission. However, I understand that certain submissions may be made available on the commission's website. I will speak to the chairman on this matter.

The special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes, under the chairmanship of Mr. Colm McCarthy, has completed its deliberations and I expect to receive its report imminently. I have not yet received the report. After I have considered the special group's report, I intend to bring it to Government and the groups analysis and recommendations will assist me and my Government colleagues to identify economies that can be made on the scale necessary to ensure the public finances are restored to a more sustainable path. The group's conclusions will be considered on an ongoing basis in the context of preparing the Estimates of expenditure for 2010 and later years. Publication of the report is a matter for the Government and I will discuss it with my colleagues in Government.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Three significant events for the economy will happen over the course of the summer as preparations are under way for the budget. These are NAMA, the report of an bord snip nua and the report of the Commission on Taxation. The Minister suggested he wants participation by parties in the House in this process. I do not know how the Minister envisages a genuine debate on the content of both reports unless the information is published.

As the Minister knows, the bord snip nua report is supposed to suggest a range of retrenchments; for example, I understand that some members of the board are not overly impressed with Seanad Éireann and have suggested that there might be retrenchment there and other members have suggested that in these straitened times certain Departments do not contribute as much as they otherwise might. Is there an intention to publish the information so that a genuine debate can take place?

As I understand it, the bord snip nua report involves senior public servants in each Department offering up areas of potential retrenchment and cutback; that is how it has been described by the Chairman. It copies the previous bord snip. What does that mean? Will the Minister confirm that this means, as has been suggested, that every item of expenditure in each Department, capital and current, has been broadly examined by the board which has made observations on where savings and efficiencies might be made. Will the Minister confirm that this could account for approximately 400 items of public expenditure throughout all Departments and agencies?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot confirm the opinions of particular members of the special group. It is not the opinions of members that matter, it is the conclusions upon which they have agreed in the report. I understand the report will be submitted to me this evening; I have not seen it so I cannot comment on suggestions made by Deputy Burton on particular recommendations in it. I can understand why there has been speculation about them as in the course of the finalisation of the report in recent weeks contact was made with various Departments to finalise details on the accuracy of figures, programmes and the like. This has led to a degree of speculation about some of the recommendations but to date I have not seen them.

A point I would like to make clear because it stems from the terms of reference of the special group is on the matter of capital expenditure. Capital expenditure was not within the terms of reference of the special expenditure group; the focus is on current expenditure. I understand some recommendations are made on capital expenditure but they arose incidentally from an examination of current expenditure. The report does not purport to be a detailed analysis of or a set of recommendations on our capital programmes.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. Does it mean the members of the committee have met the Secretaries General of Departments and chief executives of large spending organisations and have asked for their response on how savings might be made under various headings? Have those Secretaries General and chief executives communicated with the Minister's in charge of the various Departments? In other words, is an bord snip nua getting Secretaries General in various Departments to offer up the cuts they would find more palatable and have the line Ministers been consulted? I know they will be consulted at Government level but this is very important.

With regard to capital expenditure, will the Minister state what is incidental? Does it mean that if the HSE must offer up savings it has implications for building a children's hospital and if so what type of capital implications does it have?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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No, I do not think the capital expenditures reviewed involved major projects but I must await sight of the report to confirm that. Incidentally, with regard to publication I should have stated to the Deputy that I will bring her views to the attention of my Government colleagues when we discuss the report. I take it the view of Fine Gael is also that it would be desirable to have publication.

With regard to the interaction between Secretaries General and Ministers and the process, members of the group were assisted by staff at my Department and they had many meetings with senior public servants. I know that in some cases Secretaries General briefed Ministers about the process. There is no question of Departments, agencies or bodies offering up expenditure. It is an independent critical evaluation of day to day expenditure across the board. In no sense was it like a routine Estimates process where Departments were set figures and told to offer up sums. Rather, it was an exercise of an independent evaluation of expenditure.

The Government is not necessarily committed to the report. It offers the Government and the political system realistic options on expenditure which will require to be evaluated.