Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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151. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to reflect and deliver on a public duty (details supplied) in his Department's statement of strategy due to be published in October 2016; the way in which his Department is engaging with the programme for a partnership Government commitment to equality and gender proofing in the departmental and budgetary process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28648/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that our new Strategy Statement, which is currently being drafted, is consistent with the new collaborative approach outlined in the Programme for a Partnership Government. To this end, all Government Departments as well as the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Programme for Government Office at the Department of the Taoiseach are being consulted and their views will be taken into consideration in preparation of the Strategy Statement, its strategic goals and underlying action plans for the coming years.  In developing our new Strategy Statement my Department is cognisant of the commitment of Government to equality evidenced by the many Programme for Government commitments that reflect this equality agenda and our new strategy will reference our Public Sector Duty.

The Department of Finance is committed to develop the process of budget and policy proofing as a means of advancing equality, reducing poverty and strengthening economic and social rights. Each year, the Department of Finance, independently and in conjunction with other Departments, conducts a number of analyses to examine the distributional impact of possible Budget options and of the final Budget package. These provide an evidence base on equality issues which can be integrated alongside other budgetary considerations. As a means of assessing this the Department carries out distributional analyses of budgetary options using the Economic and Social Research Institute's (ESRI) Simulating Welfare and Income Tax Changes (SWITCH) model.

Furthermore, as part of the reformed Budget Process in 2016, papers were brought to the Tax Strategy Group (TSG) much earlier than was the case in previous years. Included in the 2016 TSG Income Tax & USC paper are details of the distribution of the burden of these taxes, international comparisons, and analysis of potential impacts on different groups of a range of possible reforms.  The TSG papers were circulated to the Oireachtas Committees in July, well in advance of the Budget and facilitating the Committees in considering distributional issues. They were subsequently published on the Department of Finance website. Overall, the analysis and transparency of the decision making process, as well as awareness and assessment of the impact of these decisions on different members of the population, has undergone constant improvement over recent years and continues to do so.