Labour Party Chairman refuses to rule out voting against Budget

Labour Party Chairman Colm Keaveney has not ruled out voting against today's Budget.

The Galway East TD has voiced concerns about expected cuts to child benefit, and changes to the PRSI threshold.

He also had criticisms for Fine Gael this morning regarding the Budget negotiations between the two parties.

It comes amid speculation that some of the measures set to be officially unveiled later today could be unacceptable for some Deputies in the smaller coalition party.

Deputy Keaveney was asked this morning if he is going to vote with the Government when it comes to approving the Budget.

"I'll look at the pull package of the Budget, because what we are looking at, we're isolating specific headline figures, and I want to see what is progressive in the Budget and I have to balance that up," he said.

"I find it appalling that our Coalition partners would have put, allegedly, the gun to Labour's head on the universal social charge.

"I'm reading speculation to the effect that it was a quid pro quo vis-à-vis the universal social charge or cuts in social protection."