Tensions flare in budget talks between Patrick O'Donovan and Jack Chambers, sources claim

A source has claimed Patrick O'Donovan's requests were 'too high' and that the meeting ended after eight minutes to allow a lower request to be submitted.

Media minister Patrick O'Donovan walked out of budget talks with the public expenditure minister Jack Chambers yesterday, as negotiations with several Government departments have become fraught.

With budget day looming, minsters have vented frustration that they are getting "diddly-fucking-squat" when they go into talks with Mr Chambers, who has demanded significant savings that are viewed as unworkable by several departments.

It is understood that a €100 culture credit for 16 year olds, which had been proposed by Mr O'Donovan, is among the items that have been scrapped by Mr Chambers, and there is no agreement on the level of funding that will be allocated to sports capital grants next year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Higher Education may not get any funding to expand apprenticeship schemes, which could put its programme for government commitments at risk.

Sources described a meeting between Mr O'Donovan and Mr Chambers this week as "concise", stating that "both sides went back to their corners fairly quickly".

"Any of the things that have been raised over the past two years have been cut. A lot of the stuff that is in the programme for government is gone," the source added.

However, another source suggested that "the ask" from Mr O'Donovan was "too high" and the meeting ended after only eight minutes to allow a lower request to be submitted.

The Irish Examiner understands that in some instances, departments are being offered just two-thirds of the money they are seeking.

There is also a feeling among cabinet members that the Department of Social Protection will be the "big winner", with smaller departments losing out.

The three Government leaders held a meeting with Mr Chambers and the social protection minister Dara Calleary last night to discuss a new cost-of-disability payment that is now likely to be between €400 and €500, and will be paid in a lump sum in January.

Micheál Martin, Simon Harris, and Sean Canney have yet to settle on the exact amount that pensioners, jobseekers, and people in receipt of other social welfare payments will receive. 

However, they have asked officials to go back and consider a rise of between €8 and €10 across all supports.

Independents pushing

The Independents in Government are also strongly pushing for changes to the living alone allowance and are seeking an adjustment to the income disregard for the fuel allowance.

Meanwhile, an increase in the carers' allowance threshold is also under consideration, but it is understood that the rise may not be as high as last year.

As budget tensions rise, it is believed that Mr Chambers wants to address the amount of spending on State agencies, which others in Government claim are essential to the running of many services.

"All of the smaller departments, the likes of enterprise, agriculture, sports, and defence, to a lesser extent, need to have agencies in order to deliver services," one senior source said.

There are also suggestions in Government Buildings that the Department of Public Expenditure intends to “push everyone to their limit” and see how low ministers will go before they settle their budgets.

“Efficiency, a dangerous word,” another senior Government source said, before adding that "it implies business as usual, but tighten your belt. But you can’t do business as usual with cuts”.

Fianna Fáil 'enjoying' holding the purse strings

One source said that the additional money on offer from the Department of Public Expenditure to their department would not even allow it to "stand still", and suggested that cuts would be made if Mr Chambers did not move from his position.

One Fine Gael source said they believed that the Fianna Fáil side of the coalition was "enjoying" holding the purse strings, saying that conversations had been "more difficult than expected" in a lot of cases.

Budgetary packages for the departments of health, rural, and community affairs, and energy are understood to be very close to being signed off. However, a senior source said they expected that some issues would drag into Sunday and possibly Monday evening.