TDs storm out of committee over €300m savings inclusion

The inclusion of the controversial €300m in savings as part of the Croke Park II agreement in the Government’s 2013 spending estimates triggered a walkout by opposition party TDs from an Oireachtas committee.

A huge row erupted between the opposition TDs and minister Brendan Howlin at the committee on public expenditure and reform. It was scheduled to agree spending estimates for this year.

When it emerged that the €300m in savings the Government had proposed as part of Croke Park II had been included in the estimates, Fianna Fáil’s Sean Fleming, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, and Independent Stephen Donnelly called a motion asking for the meeting to be deferred until these savings were removed from the estimates.