Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I am delighted the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, is present as the matter is directed to him. It is in all our interests to proceed in a sure-footed manner when managing the public purse. In view of our expected exit from the bailout, I wish to ask the Minister whether he would consider amending the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 to require a statement each year or a report to be laid before the Oireachtas regarding first, the contingent liabilities of the State based on current policies, including pensions and guarantees, and second, the policy measures needed to live within the expenditure caps the Government has set for future years.

I ask the Minister for Finance to provide a transparent roadmap for the Oireachtas and the general public that will show the impact of Cabinet and Government decisions on our finances and that such a roadmap would be laid before the Oireachtas each year. Such a report would give us a better idea of the impact of policy changes and proposed reduced budgets. We are well aware there is always a price to be paid and trade-offs to be made for changes in policy. The reform process in which the Government is engaged is not adequately designed at present because it is not transparent.

I have the IMF document from July 2013 here and in regard to Ireland's fiscal transparency assessment it clarifies specifically that Ireland needs a statement of fiscal risks that will cover contingent liabilities as well as pensions and guarantees. As the Minister knows, a contingent liability may be something such as a liability for a toll road, where if enough cars do not use it, the State will have to pay a certain amount to make up the difference. Another example might be the deposit guarantee scheme, although it is not considered a contingent liability currently because of its legal form. However, like the insurance fund, if the State had to pay, it would have to levy other depositors. Therefore, the deposit guarantee is essentially a contingent liability, because if it was required, the State would have to raise the revenue to pay out. The IMF states this clearly in Table 3.3. Ireland: Selected Contingent Liabilities of General Government, 2011/12.

My motion requests an annual statement of these contingent liabilities to be laid before the House. Some contingency liabilities are listed in the stability programme update, but other similar liabilities, such as the examples I have given, are not listed. Thus, we have an incomplete picture. The IMF recommends a comprehensive statement of fiscal risks, including more information on these liabilities. While I welcome the exit of the IMF, we should learn from its advice so that our nation never repeats its mistakes. We should be committed to reforming practices so as to improve practice at Civil Service, ministerial, public transparency and accountancy level.

My second request is that an annual statement outlining the policy measures required for us to live within the expenditure caps will be set out by the Government for future years. The Government announces expenditure limits in the budget each year. However, it does not give the figures on estimated expenditure. The amendment I would request from the Minister would produce two sets of figures. For example, it would produce the expenditure levels for 2015 and 2016 with no policy change and also the expenditure caps as proposed by the Government for those years which would assume some specified or unspecified policy changes. The Oireachtas could then see the gap between option one and two and could debate the policy options for bridging those gaps in a meaningful and timely way. The Members, who have been elected by the public, could then have some say and could come up with ideas that could influence the final shape of the choices made. This would give Oireachtas Members more ownership of the process. This would be much better than the current situation, where policy choices are frequently concealed from the Oireachtas until after the Government has irrevocably made up its mind and the Oireachtas is then obliged to adopt those decisions on a take it or leave it basis.

EU Directive 2011/85/EU recommends that the Government spell out this no policy change scenario, but as things stand, the Government is not doing this adequately transparently. As the Minister can see, the Government is obliged to do some of what I am requesting by the end of 2013, but it has not done so yet. Will the Government amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 in this regard to meet these commitments on an annual basis? The current budgetary process and forecasting would then, therefore, be more transparent and more useful to the Oireachtas and the general public.