€4bn underspending by State angers Green Party

THE Department of Finance’s under-estimation of the State’s financial performance by almost €4 billion in the past two years has come in for strong criticism from the Green Party.

The party’s finance spokesperson, Dan Boyle, said publication of the 2004 Exchequer returns this week raised serious questions about the forecasting methods.

While acknowledging that estimating future Exchequer was not an exact science, he said the coalition was in the happy position of “squirrelling away” billions of euro that could be spent in the run-up to the next general election.