Govt under pressure to reveal date of four-year Budget plan

The Government is under pressure today to explain whether it is planning to delay the release of its four-year Budget plan until after the Donegal South West bye-election.

Yesterday. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan revealed that €6bn in cuts would be made in December's budget, but opposition parties believe the bad news contained in his detailed four-year plan will be delayed until after the election.

The Government had previously said it would publish its four year budget plan in the middle of November.

But opposition parties who were briefed by the Minister for Finance yesterday believe that date has now been pushed back until after the Donegal South West bye-lection on November 25.

Fine Gael's Michael Noonan said it would do nothing for stability or confidence to delay that plan, purely because the Government wants to keep bad news under wraps until after the election.

Yesterday, the Government released some of the details of the four-year plan, including the figure of €6bn in cuts and tax increases, which will be made in December's Budget.