Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have no problem with this Bill and will support it. Many of the comments I intended to make were made by Senator Bradford, especially on the prebudget process. I raised the issue in the House on Tuesday in terms of the programme for Government promise to open up the budgetary process to public scrutiny which would restore confidence and stability in the budgetary process.

The House will go into recess shortly and I regret we did not do this earlier, knowing that the budget will be in October. This should have been done sooner. While we support the Bill we will table a number of amendments to strengthen the proposal and give life to the programme commitments. They relate to transparency in the budgetary process, greater Oireachtas and civil participation and to make sure that when decisions are made that is done on the basis of poverty and inequality impact assessments. We will table an amendment on changes to the Fiscal Advisory Council's terms of reference. We will be supporting this legislation.