Sir, In On the Margins on September 13th, you reported that witnesses who gave evidence at the meeting of the Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs on September 11th had been surprised by the detail of the questioning by members of the committee. Your correspondent described the knowledge and grasp of matters financial as "quite impressive", but attributed this to the fact that consultants engaged by the committee had supplied members with prepared questions.
Your correspondent does members a disservice. The consultants did in fact supply briefing material, the main purpose of which was to compare and analyse proposals made but which did include suggested lines of questioning. However, the briefing ran to some 41/2 well spaced pages, whereas the meeting lasted some two hours. A quick review of exchanges at the meeting indicates that lines of questioning suggested by the consultant were taken up by members on no more than half a dozen occasions (in only one instance did a member quote directly from the brief).
Members of the committee do have an impressive grasp of their brief, which incidentally involves far more than "matters financial" in the same edition, your paper reported on the fact that the committee had considered the Criminal Assets Bureau Bill on the morning of September 12th and met with the Secretary of the Department of Finance in relation to the outlook for the 1997 Budget that afternoon. The committee is also currently considering a Bill proposing wide ranging powers for Oireachtas committees and is undertaking a comprehensive review of electoral law, amongst bother matters.
The committee system harnesses talents and knowledge of members in particular fields of expertise which would otherwise largely go untapped. More reporting of actual proceedings would constitute a fairer acknowledgment of this. Reporting of prepared statements by interested groups appearing before the committee, and comment such as that appearing in On the Margins, clearly do not.
Incidentally, the Committee on Finance and General Affairs is to report to the Dail (rather than the Minister for Finance) on its Budget deliberations in November although it does hope that the Minister will be swayed by the committee's "impressive grasp" of the issues when formulating his Budget proposals! Yours, etc., Chairman, Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.