Madam, – There has been a lot of talk recently about achieving a cross-party consensus for the Government’s four-year fiscal plan. However, in order for the Government to get support from across the aisle in Dáil Éireann, the Opposition must be fully briefed by the Department of Finance on the condition of the State’s books. The fact that the Opposition has to be briefed by the Department of Finance is completely ridiculous, and is evidence that the Dáil is simply an arm of the government and the Opposition members are mere on-lookers in the governing process.
In a fully-functioning parliamentary democracy, opposition parties have a crucial role to play in holding the government of the day to account, in scrutinising government proposals and fostering debate. A vibrant, working opposition is essential to the health of a parliamentary democracy, and this has been sadly lacking in Dáil Éireann, where the executive holds enormous power and makes our legislature redundant.
However, this situation could be greatly improved with the creation of a parliamentary budget office. This would be an independent, non-partisan institution which could provide credible economic information to all parties in the Dáil and also heavily scrutinise the costs of proposed legislation.
The Congressional Budget Office has been in existence in the United States since 1974 and in 2008 Canada also established a similar institution. Moreover, there has been growing debate in the United Kingdom about the merits of a parliamentary budget office.
If such an institution were established in Ireland, it would greatly strengthen the hand of the Opposition, no longer relegating it to the position of spectators in the governing process. All parties would also have the opportunity to consult the budget office and use it to vet proposals that they are submitting to the Oireachtas. This would be an enormous asset to the Oireachtas, and would go some way to enabling opposition parties to present a credible alternative to government proposals. – Yours, etc,