Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on progress on reforming the budgetary process since his budget speech in December 2004. [12410/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In my budget speech last December, I set out the Government's proposals for reforming the budgetary process. As I promised to do on budget day, I subsequently wrote to the Opposition finance spokespersons and the party Whips on 20 December last to invite them to a briefing on the Government's proposals for reform.

The Fine Gael finance spokesperson has indicated his intention to accept the invitation while stating that he has more proposals of his own in the area. The Labour Party finance spokesperson has indicated that she sees no point in engaging in discussions within the parameters set out in my budget statement and my invitation and has suggested that the recent Committee of Public Accounts report on Estimates reform should be the starting point for discussion. The Green Party spokesperson is of the view that the recent Committee of Public Accounts report should at least be given a shared priority in the context of discussions on Estimates reform. I have subsequently addressed the relevant issues raised in the Committee of Public Accounts report in the minute of the Minister for Finance of 27 March. This minute has been forwarded to the Committee of Public Accounts.

In the meantime, my Department has begun preparations for replacing the traditional economic review and outlook document with the updated three-year economic and fiscal projections with a view to publication in the autumn. My Department has also requested all Departments to formally put in place arrangements to ensure the production of the annual outputs focused statement by the 2007 deadline.

The publication of a revised economic review and outlook document in the autumn will give an updated pre-budget view of the fiscal outlook. This revised document will review and present a pre-budget analysis of the economic and budgetary prospects for the current year and the following two years. As regards Government expenditures, the analysis in the revised document will be based on an update of the overall existing level of services projections published with the previous year's budget. This will significantly improve information available to the Oireachtas in the context of the next Estimates and budget.

The annual output-based statement will significantly revamp the presentation of Estimates to the Oireachtas from 2007 so as to ensure a more meaningful presentation of the annual Estimates and associated output information. It will allow the Oireachtas and the public to assess what is being targeted for delivery through public expenditure from 2007 onwards. From 2008 onwards, Departments will be reporting on what was delivered in the previous year versus the planned output for that year and setting out a target for delivery in the current year. This will represent an important development and will tackle the information deficit in this area. As I said in the budget, once bedded down, these proposals can lay the ground work for consideration of a more unified budget approach in the future.