This presentation was made by Ronnie Downes, OECD, at the 8th meeting of Parliamentary Budget Officials and Independent Fiscal Institutions held in Paris on 11-12 April 2016.

1. Review of Budget Oversight by Parliament:
IRELAND
Ronnie Downes
Deputy Head
Budgeting and Public Expenditures, OECD
Presentation to PBO Network
Paris, 11 April 2016

2. Parliamentary budget oversight
“National parliament has a fundamental role
in authorising budget allocations and in
holding government to account”
Core democratic function of budget approval /
scrutiny on behalf of citizens
 Dominance of the executive
in some models
 Do parliaments have a clear
role in practice?
 Even if “yes”, are
parliamentarians equipped to
fulfil this role?
Importance
Challenges

3. An OECD-wide challenge
“Countries should provide for an inclusive,
participative and realistic debate on budgetary
choices, by offering opportunities for the
parliament and its committees to engage with
the budget process at all key stages of the
budget cycle, both ex ante and ex post”
OECD Recommendation on Budgetary Governance

4. Ireland
provides an
interesting
case study
0 20 40 60 80 100
United States
Hungary
Sweden
Norway
Switzerland
Netherlands
Japan
Austria
Denmark
Mexico
Germany
Luxembourg
Belgium
South Korea
Czech Republic
Finland
Iceland
Portugal
Spain
Poland
Turkey
Italy
Slovak Republic
New Zealand
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Greece
France
Ireland
Wehner (2010)
Index of Legislative Budget Institutions

5. Ireland: Key issues identified
• Dáil not engaged as a partner in the budget
process
• Lack of time for effective scrutiny
• Lack of timeliness (i.e. after budget year
has begun)
• Patchy presentation of performance
information
• Asymmetry of information (technical,
financial, analytical) for budget scrutiny
• Lack of willingness and capacity of
parliamentarians to engage

6. OECD review of
budget oversight by parliament
1. A new “whole of year”
approach to budget
engagement
2. A renewed commitment
for the parliament to be a
partner in the process
Proposes a modern model of budget oversight,
underpinned by two pillars:

7. Principles
based
approach to
reform
Respect for distinct national traditions
Respect for constitutional prerogatives
Promotion of open, engaged, effective parliament
Focus upon real issues identified
Balanced, proportionate and focused approach
Consistency with ongoing reform efforts
Focus on changing behaviours, not just rules
OECD review of
budget oversight by parliament

8. • Spend less time where there is little power to change
things…
– Speedy approval of the Annual Estimates after the budget
• Spend more time where there is (or should be) such
power…
– Ex ante national policy dialogue, ex post performance
dialogue
• Invest in upgrading parliamentary capacity
– Parliamentary Budget Office
– Streamlined and specialised Committee engagement
– CPD
• Better flow of budgetary information to nourish this
work
– early Estimates, including “pre-budget” allocations
• Broader national issue: performance framework
– Key National Indicators
– Authoritative framework to “anchor” performance
accountability
Thrust of proposals

9. Looking forward
• Post-review support for
implementation
• Challenges in Irish case may be
mirrored elsewhere?
• Core tenet of OECD:
no “one size fits all” solution
• Principle of effective parliamentary oversight is, however, now more universally accepted
• Possible future themes for OECD reviews :
– Drawing lessons from successful parliamentary engagement models
– Common PFM reform themes (MTEF, fiscal rules, “semesterisation” of fiscal and budget cycles) lend
themselves well to parliamentary reforms
– Engaging and “workshopping” with stakeholders on potential design solutions
• Longer-term: can we distil “good practices for parliamentary oversight?”

10. Review of Budget Oversight by Parliament:
IRELAND
Ronnie Downes
Deputy Head
Budgeting and Public Expenditures, OECD
Presentation to PBO Network
Paris, 11 April 2016