Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Reilly for tabling amendment No. 12.

We do not propose to accept amendment No. 12. The fiscal council has been established to address gaps in fiscal policy analysis and to provide assessments and recommendations on fiscal policy. Imposing a wide mandate on the fiscal council would require larger resources, both in staff and budgetary allocation. Expanding the mandate would likely impede the council's ability to fulfil its core functions, including those specified in the treaty. Furthermore, some of the suggested functions are the job of the Government. It is important to note that a number of bodies are supported by the State, such as the ESRI and the NESC, and their reports consider all aspects of policy development, including the social impact.

In addition, we are not willing to assign functions that are not outlined in the Bill to the fiscal council. The view is that the task of the fiscal council is quite straightforward. It is to give its view to the country and the Government on fiscal policy generally. If the intention of the amendment is to widen that remit, it could take away from the core function, which is to give independent advice to the Government. As I mentioned previously, the council's remit is to be the contrarian, to take the opposite view and put pressure on the Government to justify its position. If we extend its remit into a range of other areas, not only do we take from other agencies that comment on these matters, but we take the focus of the council's fundamental task. We wish to ensure that the fiscal council has the resources it needs to complete its core functions. Expanding the functions would stretch the resources of the council to a point where its focus and attention would be removed from its primary role. We do not want that to happen.

Amendments that add requirements which are already covered by the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact, which are published in the annual stability programme update, are unnecessary. Section 2, Article 3, of the 1997 surveillance and co-ordination regulations requires the State to take into account the future pension liabilities of the State and this information is contained in the annual stability programme update. The fiscal council is required to provide an assessment of the official forecasts, which includes an assessment of the stability programme update. For these reasons, we do not propose to accept amendment No. 12.