Weekend pre-Budget meeting for Cabinet

THE Cabinet yesterday took the unusual step of meeting on Sunday to discuss its proposed measures on childcare, social welfare and tax bands in next month's Budget.

No pre-Budget meeting took place among ministers last year. But the Government Information Service said that pre-budgetary meetings have been a common occurrence in recent years.

When unveiling his Estimates programme for 2006 on Thursday, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said any additional spending in the Budget would be confined to childcare, investment, social welfare and services for the elderly.

Given the relatively careful nature of the spending programme outlined in the Estimates, it is widely anticipated that a series of generous tax measures will be announced on Budget Day.

Mr Cowen is expected to increase the income thresholds for the standard and higher tax rates. In the Programme for Government, the Coalition undertook to have 80% of taxpayers paying at the standard rate of 20%. However, that figure remains near 60%.

There has also been much debate within Cabinet about the shape of the childcare package to be announced on December 7.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has publicly stated that the proposals would not discriminate against stay-at- home parents.

However, others in Cabinet have argued that more must be done to relieve working parents with young children.

Mr Cowen is working on measures that will strike a balance between working parents and those who stay at home, and may announce a long-term package of spending, similar to last year's €900 million disability package.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan said the minister wanted to deal with childcare in a "structured way over time".

Another long-term package for care of the elderly may also be on the cards.

A report due out next month will show that Ireland spends only half the EU average on elderly care. The report, by the National Economic and Social Forum, also calls on the State to spend at least €1.5m a year until 2010 on the elderly.

Meanwhile, former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald yesterday said that while Mr Ahern has ruled out any arrangement with Sinn Féin after the next election, he has not specifically said he would not accept its support in the vote for Taoiseach.

The former Fine Gael leader told RTÉ's This Week that, under standing procedures, the first question to be decided when the Dáil resumes after an election is the nomination of a Ceann Comhairle.

Following that, Mr Ahern's name would be proposed as Taoiseach. He said SF could support the Taoiseach in that vote with no formal arrangement in place. If Mr Ahern did not want to accept SF's support, he could choose to "resign on the spot".