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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
2 4 October 2016
T
he May 2016 Programme for Government com-
mits the Government to “develop the process
of budget- and policy-proofing as a means of
advancing equality, reducing poverty and
strengthening economic and social rights”. In
doing so, it specifically recognises the Irish Human
Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) as an independ-
ent expert body to support the development of this
proofing.
The commitment focuses on equality and human-
rights budgeting including by developing institutions to
support proofing processes in key Government Depart
-
ments and strengthening the budget-scrutiny role of the
Oireachtas. There is a separate commitment for the
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to advance
the role of social impact assessment.
Ireland was once a leader in policy-proofing. The 1997
National Anti-Poverty Strategy ‘Sharing in Progress’ pio-
neered ‘Poverty Proofing’ to assess all major policies
and programmes at design and review stages to ensure
that they either contribute to reducing poverty or, at
least, do not increase poverty. It was
applied to major economic and social
proposals and was embedded in the
Strategic Management Initiative for the
public sector.
A National Economic and Social Coun-
cil evaluation in 2001 found a high level
of formal compliance with poverty-
proofing. However, there was confusion
as to whether the objective was tone-
setting or practical. Over time there was
a shift from overall poverty-proofing to
specific poverty-impact assessment in
the Office for Social Inclusion. The non-statutory exer
-
cise became a ‘tick box’ exercise, and there was a
gradual rundown of the supporting institutions including
the Office of Social Inclusion.
Elsewhere, the Gender Equality Unit in the Department
of Justice, Equality and Law Reform developed, promoted
and supported Gender Impact Assessment Guidelines
for the National Development Plan 2000- 2008. This had
been mandated by the EU for disbursement of its Struc-
tural Funds.
Progress was found to have been made on main-
streaming gender under the headings dealt with by the
National Development Plan. However, progress uneven.
The process ended with the closure of the Gender Equal-
ity Unit.
An Equality Proofing Working Group was established
in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
It was an initiative of the Equality Authority which funded
it 2000-2008. It instigated a number of pilot projects,
promotional events, proofing tools, and data analyses
to support policy-making to take account of the situa-
tion, experience and specific needs of groups
experiencing inequality and covered by the grounds in
equality legislation. This initiative collapsed with the
diminution of the Equality Authority over the 2009-2010
period.
It is difficult to isolate specific outcomes generated
through these processes. However, progress includes:
process innovations including in information provision,
data-gathering and analysis; greater transparency;
greater accountability; and culture change within public
institutions. Improvements were also made in various
policy areas.
The procedural and substantive progress smoothed
the path for new commitments to human-rights and
equality-proofing, including equality and human-rights
budgeting.
The commitment to human-rights and equality coin
-
cides with changes to, and pressure for reform of, the
budget process. An OECD report, ‘Review of Budget over-
sight by Parliament: Ireland’ in 2015 recommended a
range of reforms aimed at improving the quality of pol-
icy-making, resource-allocation and accountability, and
ultimately at promoting better outcomes for citizens.
The serious
business of proong
How to assess how policy advances
equality and human rights, and
reduces poverty
by Mary Murphy
Gender-budgeting has
been described by Elson
as a process of merging
two sets of knowledge,
that of gender equality
and that of public-sector
budgeting/financing
POLITICS
October 2016 2 5
These reforms included greater ex-ante engagement
of the Oireachtas in fiscal planning through commit-
ments by Government to provide more information to the
Oireachtas and the establishment of a Parliamentary
Budget Office to analyse information about taxation,
expenditure and performance, and to cost policies.
There have been a number of important new develop
-
ments in the budgetary process this year. These include
publication of the Spring/Summer economic
statement (SES) and parliamentary
engagement in the National Eco
-
nomic Dialogue (NED), which the
budget scrutiny committee
attended, in June. In July the
Tax Strategy Group papers
were published and for-
warded to parliamentary
committees. The Budget
White Paper will continue
to be published on the
Friday before Budget Day.
Documents available on
Budget Day will now include
distributional analyses.
SWITCH analysis will be available
before the Social Welfare and
Finance Bills. The Department of Public
Expenditure and Reform will have regard to
equality and human-rights-proofing as part of its social
impact assessment framework. There will be a new ex-
ante focus on the ‘Stability Programme Update’ with
more parliamentary comment encouraged, and there will
be greater parliamentary engagement with mid-year
expenditure reports.
At the end of June 2016 the ‘Report of the Select Com
-
mittee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny’ set out
proposals, on foot of the Programme for Government,
for a new budget scrutiny framework. This should
include: a Budget Oversight Committee which has since
been established; enhanced budget scrutiny by existing
Oireachtas sectoral Committees that should involve
engagement with civil society; and the early establish-
ment of the Independent Parliamentary Budget Office
- on a non-statutory basis in the first instance and on a
statutory basis within two years.
This Report also states that Government proposals for
budget changes and policy changes should be policy-
proofed with specific reference to gender,
age, disability, poverty and regional
impact, and should be subjected
to a distributional impact
assessment. It recommends
that the Independent Parlia-
mentary Budget Office
should liaise closely with
IHREC, taking opportuni
-
ties for exchange of
information and learning
about their respective
agendas.
As to Budget 2017 on 11
October, the Select Commit
-
tee recommended that, to
advance the proofing arrange-
ments, the Department of Finance
and the Department of Public Expendi-
ture and Reform should be requested to
provide an early briefing on the development and imple-
mentation of the Government’s proofing of the
budget-making process - to the Committee on Budget-
ary Oversight. However, it would be better if individual
Ministers could also be asked to engage with their coun-
terpart committees in the early autumn over progress
made in the proofing of any specific proposed policies.
All this represents substantial progress on the Gov-
ernment’s commitment to enhanced engagement with
the Oireachtas throughout the budget cycle. However, it
is clear that the 2017 staging posts are constrained by
Ireland can invoke the
new public-sector duty
in section 42 of the Irish
Human Rights and Equality
Commission Act 2014. This
requires public bodies to
have regard to equality
and human rights in the
performance of their
functions
Proong:
high standards
demanded
2 6 October 2016
Constitutional provisions and by executive prerogatives.
Therefore, it is expected that much of the meaningful
parliamentary engagement with the budget will focus on
the legislative stages between the budget and the intro
-
duction of the Finance and Social Welfare Bills.
The commitment to human-rights- and equality-proof-
ing, including equality- and human-rights-budgeting,
derives from the UN ‘Committee on Economic Social and
Cultural Rights’ which in June 2015 encouraged the Irish
government to better deploy rights-based budgetary
governance processes. The Committee recommended:
phasing out austerity measures and ensuring that pro-
gress is made in the effective protection of economic,
social and cultural rights in the post-crisis recovery;
reviewing the Irish tax regime, with a view to increasing
revenues to restore pre-crisis levels of public services
and social benefits; and using human-rights impact
assessments in policy-making.
The IHREC is committed to using its enabling and com-
pliance powers to bring these recommendations into
effect. The IHREC’s 2016-18 Strategic Plan stresses five
goals, one of which focuses on building support for and
advancing socio-economic rights and actions to deliver
human-rights- and equality-proofing of key legislation
and budgetary processes. The IHREC has briefed the
Select Committee and civil society on developments and
possibilities.
Ireland has had little experience of human-rights or
equality budgeting. It is a complex and demanding field.
Gender budgeting has been described by Elson as a pro-
cess of merging two sets of knowledge, that of gender
equality and that of public-sector budgeting/financing.
Quinn describes it as the “integration of gender as cat
-
egory of analysis into budget process”. Gender budgeting
is required in about 60 states, often as an IMF condition.
An IMF study to be launched later this year will describe
various models and experiences of gender-proofing and
offer valuable lessons to advance gender budgeting.
There are different traditions of proofing. Some
human-rights approaches focus on principles. Equality
or gender-mainstreaming approaches focus on the pro
-
cess of implementing budgets. Poverty-proofing and
poverty impact assessment approaches often focus on
assessing distributional outcomes for different groups.
Human-rights- and equality-proofing, including equality
and human rights budgeting, needs to draw from and
integrate these traditions.
Irish people can invoke the new public sector duty
imposed by section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission Act 2014. This requires public
bodies to have regard to equality and human rights in
the performance of their functions. The IHREC has also
sought to implement lessons from international
experience.
The Centre for Economic and Social Rights, for exam
-
ple, has developed ‘OPERA’, a four-dimensional
monitoring framework for economic, social, and cultural
rights. ‘OPERA’ promotes a focus on: measurable out-
comes in enjoyment of these rights; the policy efforts in
processes and substance to secure such outcomes; the
resources allocated to enforcement of these rights; and
state compliance with international covenants.
Budgets should advance key human-rights rubrics
such as: progressive realisation of rights; non-retrogres-
sion in the enjoyment of rights; maximisation of available
resources for the enjoyment of rights; and immediacy of
obligations for rights implementation. Given Ireland’s
poor record in revenue generation and bottom-of-
league-table trend in public spending, as a percentage
of GDP, inevitably a key indicator of commitment, the
focus on evaluating efforts to maximise the resources
available to facilitate enjoyment of rights appears par-
ticularly useful.
Lessons from elsewhere suggest that institutional
reform to develop proofing capacity does not happen
overnight. The pace needs to be realistic and incremen-
tal. For Ireland, this should focus on working to establish,
in the medium term, a well-resourced and fully function-
ing independent parliamentary budget office that can
hold government and departments to account.
In Budget 2017, short-term progress
can be made with the following steps
•
Establish a national proofing committee to
advance the institutional framework for human
rights and equality proofing, chaired by the
Chair of the Budget Oversight Committee and
with the IHREC, ESRI , Irish Fiscal Advisory Coun-
cil, and independent experts as members.
•
Ensure all Departments, as part of their Section
42 public sector duty to have regard to equality
and human rights, establish human rights and
equality statements that set goals and establish
issues, and link budget expenditure to advanc-
ing these goals.
•
The Ministers for Finance and Public Expendi-
ture and Reform should include a human rights
and equality statement in their respective
budget statements.
•
Specific government departments, with support
from the IHREC, should, during 2017, participate
in demonstration models of proofing to pilot dif-
ferent approaches.
POLITICS
OPERA: a four-dimensional ESCR monitoring
framework process and policy and outcomes
Outcomes
Resources
Assessment
Measure aggregate levels
of rights enjoyment
Measure disparities
in rights enjoyment
Measure progress
over time
Identify legal and
policy commitments
Examine policy content
and implementation
Analyze policy
processes
Evaluate resource
allocation
Evaluate resource
generation
Analyse budget
processes
Identify other
determinants
Understand state
contraints
Determine state
compliance
Policy Efforts
