Budget scrutiny falls short of Fine Gael plan

FUTURE budgets are to be opened up to greater scrutiny, but the reforms fall short of Fine Gael’s pre-election plan to force ministers for finance to heed independent advice or tell to the public why it was ignored.

This “comply or explain” obligation was a key part of Fine Gael’s strategy to ensure governments kept within the spending targets laid down by an independent fiscal council and a budgetary office. However, in the new budget blueprint announced by Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin, the timetable has been kept but the requirement to explain discrepancies did not form part of it.

According to Mr Howlin’s schedule, ministers will have to appear before Oireachtas committees each spring to discuss their plans to spend money under three-year allocations. This will be followed in April with a multi-year spending statement which will allow ministers to take on board the views of Oireachtas committees and the Fiscal Council.

Mr Howlin said: “I hope that the announcements of today and tomorrow will be the last of the big bang budgetary secret statement, that we will have a much more open budgetary process.

“I hope we can have a much more coherent and open debate on what will constitute savings and additionalities in each area of expenditure.”

Mr Howlin’s spread-out discussion dates are in line with a timetable set out in a 12-month budget preparation schedule published by Richard Bruton in late 2010 as part of his Reinventing Government strategy. In this he looked for the three-year spending schemes.

However, Mr Bruton’s plan included a process each October whereby a government’s pre-budget outlook would be brought before the Finance Committee to lay out its agenda and account for areas where it veered from expert advice.

This was because Fine Gael felt “the Government’s budget is presented to the Oireachtas as a fait accompli. While a superficial debate takes place, no significant alterations are tolerated by government”.

Within this plan Mr Bruton had proposed allowing Oireachtas committees to make small alterations to the government’s budgets to reallocate money under each department’s umbrella.

Under the system announced by Mr Howlin, the Oireachtas committees will be told in autumn of expenditure policies and will be given the opportunity to engage with various value-for-money reviews.