No Budget giveaway, warns McCreevy

THE Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, made clear yesterday that he has no intention of playing Santa to the nation in his forthcoming Budget.

That would be to deny the changed circumstances of the economy and we have to face up to the “new reality” he said.

Outlining his no-nonsense Budget strategy, Mr McCreevy said : “I have frequently spoken of the need for prudence in economic management. Prudence dictates that we take sensible decisions, which won’t put at risk the gains made in recent years.”

Economic gains can be easily eroded through Government taking the soft options, which was not on the cards as far as he was concerned.

Mr McCreevy made it clear he would do nothing to jeopardise the economic gains of recent years, attributable to the hundreds of thousands of people who worked hard to make them happen.

“In any business, it would be folly of the highest order to take such risks as to compromise the very existence of the enterprise,” he said.

Setting the scene for what is to come, the minister said the Budget “will be strategic and will set the scene for future economic recovery”.

And he warned that those expecting a quick fix or populist decisions in the Budget would be disappointed .

He had consistently advocated the need to take the long-term view and he was not going to deviate from that, he said when addressing the monthly lunch meeting of Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants in Dublin.

Dealing with the issue of the broader economy, the minister said the regulatory environment was crucial to providing a solid base that promoted entrepreneurial activity.

On that basis, the Government is preparing for the introduction of the important Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill, 2003, the second stage which goes to the Seanad later this week.

One of its key features will be the setting up of the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, whose main tasks will be to ensure that the profession here operates to the highest international standards.

Reflecting further on the economy, Mr McCreevy said it was clear that while double-digit growth was at an end, Ireland has shown remarkable resilience despite the global economic downturn.

Latest projections show that economic growth will still be well ahead of the EU average, while employment has held up over the past year.

The minister said he was sticking to the Department of Finance’s projection of an increase of 11,000 in employment figures for 2003.

The challenge now is to keep the economy stable so that the “tremendous achievements of the past six years can be consolidated,” he said.