Written answers

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Department of Finance

Proposed Legislation

9:00 pm

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Finance when the fiscal responsibility Bill will be published and if he will detail the range of fiscal policy and expenditure management reforms that will be contained within the Bill. [16680/11]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a long-established budgetary framework which has undergone a series of reforms in recent years to assist in making the budgetary process more transparent and effective. Moves have been made in the last year or so to accelerate this process of reform and the bringing forward of the draft Fiscal Responsibility legislation will be central in this regard. While the matter has yet to be considered by the Government, it is my intention that the Bill will be introduced in the Dáil in the Autumn session. In that context, the main fiscal policy and expenditure management reforms which are likely to be contained in the Bill are:

Provisions to underpin the soon-to-be-established Fiscal Advisory Council which will provide independent assessment of key aspects of the Government's fiscal stance;

Fiscal rules governing expenditure growth, debt formation and deficit financing, taking account of initiatives currently being finalised at EU level, and

Provisions relating to the introduction of a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), building upon existing multi-annual systems and taking account of best international practice, as a support to the ongoing process of restoring the public finances to sustainability.

In early April, my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform jointly published a discussion document entitled Reforming Ireland's Budgetary Framework which provides further detail in relation to the above measures. The document may be accessed on my Department's website at www.finance.gov.ie .

Enhancing and strengthening our budgetary architecture will assist in establishing confidence in our ability to successfully restore sustainability to the public finances.

Finally, the Deputy may be aware that under the Joint EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support, Ireland is committed to implementing a range of measures to reform the budgetary framework. This includes the introduction of a Fiscal Responsibility Bill by the end of 2011.

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