Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the process by which his Department costs pre-budget submissions produced by pressure groups and political parties; and if a submission can be declared to have been costed even when it has only received a brief general opinion from his Department. [53992/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The facility to cost Budget proposals and policies is one made available by my Department, on request, to all opposition parties. No party to date has availed of this facility in relation to Budget 2013. In advance of Budget 2012 one such request was received. This was passed to the relevant officials, examined in detail and costed accordingly. My Department receives Pre-Budget Submissions from a wide variety of groups and individuals. To date, some 540 have been received on Budget 2013. Even allowing for some duplication in the submissions received, it would be impractical to provide detailed costings for each. However, all Pre-Budget Submissions received are recorded and distributed as appropriate, both in my Department and in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, so that their content may be considered by the relevant officials in the context of Budget preparation.