Opposition questions value of Dáil pre-budget debate
Fine Gael and Labour last night said they did not expect the Government to reveal any significant details of its budgetary strategy during the debate. As a result, the main opposition parties said they would refrain from giving details of their own proposals until closer to Budget Day on December 9.
The debate was announced last night by Government chief whip Pat Carey, who pledged the Coalition would listen to all political views on the issue.
“A number of reports should help to provide deputies with the full range of economic choices available to the Government in framing the budget,” he said. “These reports include the OECD report, the Commission on Taxation report and the Report on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes.”
However, the opposition made clear they would not be spelling out their detailed budgetary deliberations in the debate.
A Labour spokesman said it would be some time after the debate on November 17 before the party published its pre-budget submission.
“We’ll take the opportunity to say what we want to say about the economy on November 17,” said the spokesman. “But what the Government wants is for us to spell out our budget proposals while they say nothing. We’re not going to do that. We’ll publish our pre-Budget submission but it will much closer to the budget.”
A Fine Gael spokesman predicted the Government would use the debate simply to reiterate “how dire things are” and call for the Opposition to support devastating budget measures in December. As such, the party believes the debate will merely be a cynical exercise.
The party will publish its pre-budget submission closer to December 9, the spokesman added.
