Finance Minister to discuss Budget 2019, health estimates with Budgetary Oversight Committee

Minister Donohoe is expected to begin delivering his opening statement shortly after 1:30 p.m. in Committee Room 2 of Leinster House.

The meeting can be viewed live here and on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.

His appearance comes one week after the Committee published a trove of assessments and recommendations in its Final Pre-Budget Report. It highlighted risks to the economy, emphasised the need to enhance fiscal transparency by improving the quality of budget information, and called on Minister Donohoe to make an Equality Budget Statement on Budget Day.

The Final Pre-Budget Report also appealed to the Government to ensure that Budget 2019 includes a more accurate estimate of the likely total cost of funding health services in the coming year.

“In recent years, budgets have consistently underestimated the true cost of keeping our hospitals running. It has become an unwelcome norm for the Oireachtas to vote through supplementary measures for mid-year funding increases. This practice has the potential to undermine budgetary transparency and suggests a lack of adequate forecasting,” said Committee Chairman Colm Brophy. “The Committee hopes Budget 2019 will break this pattern and take full account up front of the nation’s likely health bill.”

Among Wednesday’s other topics for discussion are the future of discounted VAT rates for the hospitality sector, the creation of a Rainy Day Fund to safeguard Ireland against external shocks, and the need to begin to measure the gender impact of spending and tax moves in Budget 2019.