Results 3,561-3,580 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Was there an exploration by the Departments of a retrofit fund, for example, or a greening fund? I am aware demographics put huge pressure on the economy but was there a version of this that answered the other pressures, including the major, long-term, existential pressures, that are on our economy?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay, so it could be a fund for anything.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay, great. I would like to talk a little about uncertainty, which we have already mentioned a bit tonight. I was interested in the discussion of indexation just there because I am interested in it generally. Some of that discussion somewhat implied indexation locks you into a particular decision and of course in most countries that is not the case. It is about what Mr. McGann...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Ms Callaghan is saying we have not done quite the same amount of it in certain other areas.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: We have done a number of universal once-off measures. Usually, when I am asked to defend that, I say it happens because we can get it to people quickly but we are almost a year into this process now. I am not sure that argument is going to run for much longer.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Absolutely, but people on a lower income level are buying necessities, not luxuries, which is mostly what will fuel inflation. I wonder about the thinking around once-off measures as opposed to the 67% of tax measures which benefited higher income earners, which could be seen as more permanent.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: During Covid, we were all hoping it would be over within three months. None of us think that is going to happen with the current Ukrainian crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. I want to stay with the idea of uncertainty, particularly in my questions to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. In terms of budgetary costings, considering how volatile the situation is at the moment,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: The costings in terms of funding particular programmes and capital costs. What is the methodology of the Department when it is so incredibly volatile at the moment in regard to everything from construction costs to the cost of medicines, for example? I suppose there is a particular challenge in ensuring the Department has adequately funded the things it thinks it has adequately funded.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Most of the costing or the funding allocation is annual, and I know every NGO and every service in the country would like it to be multi-annual. Is there a halfway house whereby we would forecast out multi-annual requirements or needs without actually allocating the money to give people more certainty in terms of what their requirements will be?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That is quite high level.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I will stay on that topic in my questions to the Department of Finance. I know Mr. McGann said he watched the meeting last week and he might be the only person here who did. We talked to Professor Stephen Kinsella about the cost of borrowing and the fact some of our national debt will mature in the next five to seven years. Again, we are in a volatile place, not just in Ireland but...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: How many years into the future does the Department go?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Having said that, there is a certain amount that will mature in five to seven years and our debt servicing costs will then rise.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: To bring it back to that fairly immediate question, what percentage of our debt is below that ten years maturity?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: And how much that will be. If it is 3%, it is not so worrisome, but if we are talking about 35%, it is very worrisome. We are trying to get a sense of that.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: If the Department can pass anything on to the committee, we would appreciate it. I want to finish on performance budgeting. I am glad to hear so much work is being done and I commend the work of both Departments on moving ahead with this as I think it is going to be the future of all policy decisions. It is to be hoped that will be evidence-based and we can only do that with good data....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Yes, we get this every year.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Post-budget 2023 Examination: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: One of the things that has come across this committee's desk previously - and it came up at the health committee too - is that often the performance indicators are written by the people or the Department who are running the programme. This might not always be the best reflection of outcomes. Sometimes the authors write a performance indicator because they are looking for an answer that they...