John Bruton
Question:99 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance his views on strengthening the resources of Oireachtas committees to undertake serious public expenditure evaluation. [25588/02]
Written Answers. - Public Expenditure.
I have made it clear that I, as a member of the Government, have no wish to impose my views as to how this House exercises its duty of scrutinising the expenditure activities of the Executive – a duty I consider to be highly important.
I also regard the disposition of staff and other resources between different activities of these Houses to be a matter for Members and the management of the offices of the Houses of the Oireachtas. To ensure that this is so, I initiated the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill which is awaiting its Committee Stage.
I expect that this Bill, which will transfer to the Oireachtas commission wide powers in regard to the creation of posts and the disposition of staff in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, will be enacted shortly. In the meantime I do not intend to anticipate any decisions the commission might take by giving commitments to providing resources in the interim for any individual committees.