Ahern wants public spending cut by €1bn

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has given three outside experts nine weeks to identify cutbacks of some €1 billion next year in efforts to control spiralling public spending.

The Cabinet has already agreed cuts across several departments, worth 300m euro for this year, as part of urgent corrective action. Last night, at its final meeting before the August summer holiday, the Cabinet appointed a three-person Expenditure Review Committee in a move which recalled the draconian cutbacks of ex-Finance Minister Ray MacSharry in 1987-89.

A similar committee during the MacSharry era became unaffectionately known as An Bórd Snip. The current group all have senior experience of managing the country’s finances and the 260,000-strong public service workforce but all are now outside the civil service.

The experts have been given until September 30 to submit a report to Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy. Since many senior officials and ministers are on holiday through much of August, this effectively gives them four weeks in September for really serious work.

Officials last night said they will assist the Finance Department in assessing the 2003 estimates for each department in efforts to identify economies. Any new projects will come under special scrutiny. A Government spokeswoman again insisted they were talking about “spending adjustments” and said the term cutback was a misnomer since expenditure in all key areas was on the increase. The 2003 goal is to keep spending increases at just 8%, compared with 14% in 2002 and 23% in 2001.

Labour Party finance spokesman Brendan Howlin said the latest Government action proved Fianna Fáil had lied to the voters during the election campaign in May.

“Fianna Fáil’s election campaign was widely regarded as slick and professional. But it is now proving to be the most dishonest and cynical run by the party since the days of Charlie Haughey,” Mr Howlin said.

The external committee members are former Central Bank governor Maurice O’Connell, former Revenue Commissioners chief Dermot Quigley and former head of the Department of Labour Colm Bonnar.

The Government also set up a senior officials’ group to examine the planned National Stadium. The Coalition partners must resolve differences by September if the Scottish-Irish bid for the 2008 European Championships is to succeed.

The Taoiseach also announced his 11 nominees to the Seanad and appointed Foreign Minister Brian Cowen as Fianna Fáíl deputy leader.