Budgeting for honesty
VOTING on how public money is spent is one of the most important democratic functions of the Dáil.
But despite the Taoiseach’s promise last month of a “new departure” in budget transparency, it seems the Government is sticking to the traditional and democratically flawed approach best characterised as a mixture of secrecy and spinning.
When he outlined a timetable for publishing a series of documents in the run-up to budget day Enda Kenny told the opposition: “You’ll drown in debates and information about this budget.”
But instead, his backbenchers roared with laughter in the Dáil on Wednesday morning when Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin asked if Health Minister James Reilly would tell the House what he had told his party TDs the night before about proposed charges to medical card holders.
That morning, the opposition had received a copy of a document that had been distributed to members of the German parliament a week earlier, outlining austerity measures the Irish Government was planning to impose. The problem was not that the Bundestag was given information about our budget, but that the Irish parliament wasn’t.
It was inevitable when we borrowed €45 billion directly from our EU partners, as part of the €85bn bailout, that other countries would want to see what we were doing to save money before releasing the next lump of cash.
And under Germany’s parliamentary system a finance committee has to vet the use of the country’s money, and therefore it was entitled to examine the Irish Government’s document.
But if such information is being given to the bailout creditors, then it should also be shared in a more open way in the Dáil.
Instead, potential cuts have been carefully leaked to newspapers and told in private party meetings to test them for public reaction and soften-up backbenchers and the public for the hardship to come.
And when the opposition tries to raise questions in the Dáil, the Government dismisses them with utterances that “no decisions have been made” and “we are not going to reveal the details before the budget”.
When Mr Martin asked on Wednesday if there would be an “opportunity” for the Dáil “to participate proactively” in the budget choices, the Taoiseach said: “The Government has not signed off on the details that will be put in the budget.”
He said the reason the Bundestag saw the budget details was that “it’s a constitutional requirement of the German parliament that, where it is funding countries in a bailout, this kind of information must be made available”.
Perhaps he should have been thinking more about the Irish Constitution, under which not a cent can be spent by the Government without the Oireachtas voting on the budget document in question.
This is one of the most important roles of the Dáil, but consecutive governments, including those led by Mr Martin’s party, have not treated it this way.
As a recent essay on budget transparency, published by the economic think-tank, TASC, describes the traditional process:
*1. Budget proposals are developed in the Department of Finance.
*2. Proposals are discussed at Cabinet at which ministers may or may not be asked to agree.
*3. They may or may not choose to discuss proposals with backbenchers.
*4. The final budget is kept secret until it is read out in the Dáil.
*5. Opposition spokespeople prepare their responses on the spot without research or advice which “makes for shallow analysis” that highlights “populist concerns, while neglecting deeper effects on the economy and society”.
*6. The Dáil votes on the budget or a series of “financial resolutions”, with limited time for discussion, for measures to come into effect at midnight.
*7. There is more time to debate some issues when the finance bill and social welfare bill come before the Dáil. This sometimes takes weeks and is sometimes rushed, like the social welfare bill passed the day after last year’s budget.
The arrival of the IMF last year and its insistence on the four-year plan forced the Government to put some measures out in the public domain beforehand.
On October 18, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that the budget process this year will be “very different to what has applied to any other budget to date”.
He said: “It will give all deputies the opportunity to assess the process leading to the budget so that they will be able to comment and provide views about alternatives.”
In the interest of transparency, he promised to (1) publish a three-year plan at the end of October; (2) follow up with a capital investment plan; (3) publish a public service reform plan; and (4) publish the findings of the comprehensive spending review outlining options for cuts a couple of days before the budget.
He said: “That has never been done in this House since the foundation of the state. It will apply now and every deputy will have the opportunity to have thorough and comprehensive analysis of the scale of the challenge our country faces.”
Asked at the time by Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher if this would involved a “broad” and general debate ahead of the budget or a discussion of potential cuts, department by department, the Taoiseach responded: “The deputy will drown in debates and information about this budget.”
At a press conference around the same time, Finance Minister Michael Noonan was asked how the plan would be unveiled when the Dáil would be closed at the time proposed for its announcement for the presidential election.
The minister joked that: “In all my time in politics, I have never had a problem getting information out when you need to get it out.”
In other words, the Dáil was not needed to put the information in the public domain.
In the event, the Dáil was sitting when it was launched, but the Government opted for a press conference in the Government Press Centre, without giving any time to debate it in the Oireachtas.
Similarly, the capital spending plan outlining which infrastructure projects would be scrapped, was unveiled at a media event in the press centre.
The Government gave into opposition demands to debate the capital plan in the Dáil and just under two hours were set aside for statements on the cuts announced.
The next day, the public service reform document was launched — again in the Press centre — prompting Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin to question why it was not unveiled in the House.
There has been no debate on that document which states that public sector pay will be preserved but staff numbers would be cut over time.
According to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, the budget has been discussed during at least a dozen Cabinet meetings. Backbench TDs have also been briefed by ministers to test them for reaction to cuts coming down the line. But the Dáil has had no role in carrying out its democratic function of decision making on public spending.
According to the TASC report: “Strong democracy is when everyone has the right to participate in the decisions affecting themselves and, crucially, the resources they need to do so. Information is just one of the essential resources people need to understand and meaningfully participate; through discussion, lobbying, etc.”
What we have instead is a so-called kite-flying exercise which only frightens people about possible cuts and is a long way from the honest politics that Enda Kenny promised when he came into office.
If there are any lessons to be learned from the leaking of the budget to the German parliament, it is that the Dáil should have a stronger role in a more transparent budget process.
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