Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2006 > Committee on Finance and the Public Service > Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, 2005

TITHE AN OIREACHTAIS

An Comhchoiste um Airgeadas agus an tSeirbhís Phoiblí

TUARASCÁIL BHLIANTÚIL 2005

Márta 2006

HOUSES OF THE OIREACHTAS

Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service

ANNUAL REPORT 2005

March 2006

Table of Contents

1. Content and Format of Report

This Annual Report covers the period from 1^st January to 31^st December 2005.

The Report has been prepared pursuant to Standing Order 84 (3), (5) and (6) (Dáil Éireann) and Standing Order 69 (3), (5) and (6) (Seanad Éireann) which provide for the Joint Committee to-

•undertake a review of its procedure and its role generally,

•lay minutes of its proceedings before both Houses, and

•make an annual report to both Houses.

2. Functions and Powers

The Dáil Select Committee was established by Order of Dáil Éireann of 16^th October, 2002, to consider, in respect of the Departments of the Taoiseach and Finance, Bills, Estimates for Public Services and such proposals contained in any motion concerning the approval by the Dáil of international agreements involving a charge on public funds.

Under the same Order, the Dáil Select Committee was enjoined with a Select Committee of Seanad Éireann, established by Order of Seanad Éireann of 17^th October, 2002, to form the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. The principal functions of the Joint Committee are to consider —

•public affairs administered by the Departments of the Taoiseach and Finance, including, in respect of Government policy, bodies under the aegis of those Departments,

•matters of policy for which the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance are officially responsible,

•related policy issues concerning bodies which are partly or wholly funded by the State or which are established or appointed by Members of the Government or by the Oireachtas,

•statutory instruments made by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance,

•such proposals for EU legislation and related policy issues as may be referred to it,

•strategy statements laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance,

•annual reports and accounts, overall operational results, statements of strategy and corporate plans of bodies under the aegis of the Departments of the Taoiseach and Finance or bodies which are partly or wholly funded by the State or which are established or appointed by Members of the Government or by the Oireachtas.

The Orders of Reference of the Dáil Select Committee and the Joint Committee are set out at Appendix 1.

3. Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Convenors and Membership

Deputy Seán Fleming was elected as Chairman of the Joint Committee on 13 November 2002. Deputy Michael Finneran was elected as vice-Chairman of the Joint Committee on 13 November 2002. The Chairman of the Joint Committee is also Chairman of the Dáil Select Committee.

Deputies M.J. Nolan and Catherine Murphy are the Convenors of the Committee. Their primary function is to ensure the availability and attendance of Members or their substitutes for meetings of the Committee and, in particular, to ensure Members’ availability for divisions.

The Members of the Joint Committee are listed at Appendix 2.

* Catherine Murphy replaced Deputy Paddy McHugh as Convenor on 29 September 2005

4. Meetings, Attendance and Recording

Meetings of the Joint Committee and Select Committee took place in the committee rooms in Leinster House 2000. Meetings were in public unless otherwise ordered by the Committee.

Televised coverage of public meetings of the Committee was broadcast live within the Leinster House complex and was available for subsequent public broadcasting.

Official Reports (Parliamentary Debates) of the public meetings of the Committee have been, or are in the process of being, published. These may be purchased from the Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2. The Official Reports may also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas website at www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas.

Copies of other reports published by the Joint Committee may be obtained from the Clerk, Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, Kildare House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. These reports are listed in paragraph 7. Recent and future reports may also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas website.

5. Number and Duration of Meetings

The Joint Committee met on 21 occasions in the period under report. These meetings involved more than 45 hours discussion.

The Dáil Select Committee met on 9 occasions in the period under report. These meetings involved more than 23 hours discussion.

6. Work of the Committee

6.1 Joint Committee

On the 21 occasions the Joint Committee met, it dealt with the following matters:

Procedural reports

The Committee agreed and laid before both Houses reports on the following issues:

•Annual Report 2004;

•Interim Report on the Policy of Commercial Banks concerning Customer Charges and Interest Rates

Scrutiny of proposals for EU legislation

The attention of the Committee was drawn by the Sub-Committee on European Scrutiny to a large number of proposals for EU legislation. The Committee scrutinised the following proposals in detail, discussed the issues involved with the appropriate Departmental officials and reported its opinions to both Houses of the Oireachtas:

•COM(2004)273 concerning directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on reinsurance and amending Council Directives 73/239/EEC, 92/49/EEC and Directives 98/78/EC and 2002/83/EC;

•COM(2004)103 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF);

•COM(2004)104 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office in respect of the Euratom Treaty (OLAF);

The Committee agreed to scrutinise other proposals listed below but the Committee has not yet been in a position to report on these:

•COM (2004) 227 concerning general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (submitted in application of Article 27 of Directive 92/12/EEC);

•COM (2004) 641 concerning a proposal for a Council Regulation laying down implementing measures for Directive 77/388/EEC on the common system of value added tax;

•COM (2004) 728 concerning a proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 77/388/EEC with a view to simplifying value added tax obligation; Proposal for a Council Directive laying down detailed rules for the refund of value added tax, provided for in Directive 77/388/EEC, to taxable persons not established in the t4erritory of the country but established in another Member State; Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 1798/2003 as regards the introduction of administrative cooperation arrangements in the context of the one-stop scheme and the refund procedure for value added tax;

Other issues

•Discussions with the Chief Executive of IFSRA (i) the Report of the Inspectors appointed (under section 8 of the Companies Act 1990) to investigate the affairs of National Irish Bank Limited and National Irish Bank and National Irish Bnk Financial Services Limited, and (ii) the IFSRA report on Investigations in AIB Group on Foreign Exchange and Other Charging Issues & Deal Allocation and Associated Issues;

•Discussion regarding Annual Report 2004, Work Programme 2005, selection of a Consultant;

•Discussion with the (i) Chairman of the Expenditure Review Initiative Steering Committee (ii) The Irish Farmers Association and farmer creditors of Tralee Beef and Lamb;

•Discussion with representative of National Irish Bank and EU Scrutiny;

•Discussion with representative of IBOA (The Finance Union);

•Consideration of Draft Interim Report on Bank Charges and Interest Rates;

•Discussion with officials from Depts. of the Taoiseach and Finance on Delivering Better Government, in particular, Strategic Management Initiative and Public Service Modernisation;

•Discussion with representatives of the Standards in Public Office Commission ;

•Discussion with representatives of the National Lottery Company;

•Discussion with representatives from the Department of Finance regarding Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme;

•Discussion with the Ombudsman regarding the Annual Report of the Ombudsman, 2004;

•Discussion with the Information Commissioner regarding the Annual Report of the Information Commissioner, 2004;

•Discussion with representatives from the Department of An Taoiseach on the Strategy Statement 2005 -2007 for the Department of An Taoiseach;

•Discussion with representatives from the Department of Finance on the Strategy Statement 2005 -2007 for the Department of Finance;

•Proposed attendance at a High-level OECD Parliamentary Seminar on ‘China: Current Economic Policy Challenges’ in Paris on the 6^th October 05;

•Review of Tax Relief’s and Exemption Submissions (meeting with officials from the Department of Finance and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners);

•Review of Tax Reliefs and Exemption Submissions — discussion with the Irish Taxation Institute and the Arts Council;

•Review of Tax Reliefs and Exemption Submissions — discussion with the Arts Council;

•Review of Tax Reliefs and Exemption Submissions — discussion with Combat Poverty Ireland;

•Review of Tax Reliefs and Exemption for High Earners — discussion with CORI;

•Review of Tax Reliefs and Exemption for High Earners — discussion with Construction Industry Federation, Irish Business & Employers Confederation and Irish Congress of Trade Unions;

•Progress in Public Service Decentralisation — discussion with Mr. Finbarr Flood, Chairman, Decentralisation Implementation Board.

6.2 Dáil Select Committee

The Dáil Select Committee considered the following matters which had been referred to it by the Dáil during the period under report:

Bills

•Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2004;

•Finance Bill 2005;

•National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) Bill 2002

•Statute Law Revision (Pre — 1922) Bill 2004

Estimates for Public Services

•Revised Estimates for Public Services 2005 (Votes 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 to 17 inclusive);

•Revised Estimates for the Department of the Taoiseach 2005 (Votes 2, 3, 4, 13 and 14);

•Supplementary Estimate for the Chief State Solicitor’s Office

•Consideration of Supplementary Estimate — Office of the Minster for Finance (Vote No 6)

Motions

•Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income and Capital Gains) (Republic of Chile) Order 2005

•Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Portuguese Republic) Order 2005

•Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Adjustment of Profits of Associated Enterprises) (Accession States) Order 2005

7. Work in Progress

The following work was commenced by the Joint Committee in 2005 and will be continued in 2006:

•Scrutiny of EU legislative proposals;

•Report under section 32(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 1997

Under section 32(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 the Committee reviews from time to time the operation of legislative provisions that authorise or require the non-disclosure of a record. The Information Commissioner has reported to the Joint Committee on the reports published to it by members of the Government. The Committee intends to report on these matters early in 2006.

•Civil and Public Service Decentralisation Programme

The Joint Committee held discussions with Mr. Finbarr Flood, Chairman of the Decentralisation Implementation Group.

8. Travel

Expenditure from the Joint Committee’s budgetary allocation for travel was incurred in the course of the following work done on behalf of the Committee in accordance with its Orders of Reference and in connection with its Work Programme:

•Deputies MJ Nolan and Ned O’Keeffe attended an inter-parliamentary debate entitled “European economic policy: a National and European perspective” in Brussels on 25^th April 2005.

•Deputy Joan Burton attended the 4^th Munich Economic Summit in Germany on the 9^th & 10^th of June 2005.

•Deputy Michael Finneran attended an Annual Meeting of Committee on Budgets and the Chairs of Budgetary Committees of National Parliaments of the EU to be held in Brussels on 16^th June 2005.

•Deputy Ned O’Keeffe attended a High level OECD Parliamentary Seminar on “China: Current Economic Policy Challenges” at OECD headquarters in Paris on 6^th October 2005.

9. Functions and Powers

The Joint Committee is satisfied with its present procedures and role. The Joint Committee will, however, keep its procedures and role under review and report, as appropriate, to the Committee(s) on Procedure and Privilege(s).

____________________

Mr. Seán Fleming, T.D.,

Chairman,

Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service.

March, 2006.