Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Finance if he intends to make additional resources available to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council once it is put on a statutory footing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30037/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Additional resources will be available to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council when it is put on a statutory footing. The Council was allocated a grant-in-aid of €650,000 in the Revised Estimates Volume for 2012. The General Scheme of a Bill to be called the Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012, which I published on the 26th of April 2012 in the context of providing information for the referendum on the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance, includes provisions for the statutory establishment of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council which includes its funding arrangements. The draft legislation proposes that the Fiscal Council should be funded directly from the Central Fund subject to an annual limit of €800,000. This limit, which will be adjusted each year by the annual percentage change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, represents an increase of 23% over the grant-in-aid provided for in 2012. I expect to publish the Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012 before the summer recess.