Budget 2017: What the parties wanted and what they got

Political Correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith looks at the different parties ahead of Budget 2017 and asks what they wanted and what they got.

FINE GAEL

Fine Gael’s first achievement in Budget 2017 is that it has managed to keep the show on the road, just, while managing a hodge-podge of parties and groups the likes of which may never be seen again.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s party will also be able to lay claim to USC reductions and high-profile supports for housebuyers which could see some people receive €20,000 alongside more supports for non-pensioner welfare recipients. On the surface it’s all good news as Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe prepare to make their speeches from 1pm today.

However, despite the relative relief compared to previous budget years, there are still stumbling blocks for the Government party. The squeezed middle has been assisted, but so has Fine Gael’s arch-nemesis Fianna Fáil. For every silver lining there’s a cloud, and any strategist in Fine Gael will know this only too well.

FIANNA FÁIL

They’re just “influencing” the budget and “facilitating” government, but have no doubt Fianna Fáil’s fingerprints are all over what will be announced by Fine Gael today. The opposition party has pushed the €5 pension issue to the top of the agenda, so much so that it was the subject of last-minute talks with Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe yesterday.

Though the pension rise would be scaled back to a March start date, with other linked welfare rises sought by Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar also delayed, Fianna Fáil has had a significant impact on this budget. Its impact on the health area is equally apparent due to the National Treatment Purchase Fund’s return, although an equally high-profile plan to find €100m for third-level education has fallen by the wayside.

The party’s real challenge is now just beginning, with rival opposition parties preparing to target it alongside the Government for any budget negatives.

INDEPENDENT ALLIANCE

Forget the spin. The reality is the Independent Alliance has struggled badly to influence budget 2017. While the five-strong group is in power and has two seats at the cabinet table, it was last night scrambling to lay claim to key budget points during eleventh-hour talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Michael Noonan and Paschal Donohoe.

In recent days the Shane Ross-led group has sought the credit for the pensions rise, 11,500 medical cards for children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance, and other matters which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were already pushing or open to agreeing.

The alliance was said to have achieved a partial win last night after prescription charges for over-70s were reduced, but other key priorities such as a fuel allowance hike were ruled out.

The reality is the group has been squeezed out by an uneasy Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil truce. Once John Halligan was sent to the other side of the planet for pre-budget week seemingly to keep him out of trouble, the writing was on the wall.

INDEPENDENT MINISTERS

A good day awaits for Children and Communications ministers Katherine Zappone and Denis Naughten, who despite being smaller in number than the Independent Alliance have influenced the budget far more than the Shane Ross-led group. Ms Zappone can announce a significant rise in her department’s budget, with some reports predicting a €70m increase, in addition to funds for childcare supports which is aimed at households with a net income under €49,000.

Former Fine Gael TD and unaligned Independent minister Mr Naughten is due to reveal rises in funding for broadband services, energy grants for homes and money to tackle illegal dumping in rural areas. All three of the areas are of concern to a minister who has a responsibility for communications, climate change, and environmental services.

And, being from the rural Roscommon-Galway constituency which has been affected by — what a coincidence — poor broadband, illegal dumping, and climate change-linked floods in recent years, it won’t exactly hurt his home base either.