Burton rejects showing pre-budget plan

LABOUR FINANCE spokeswoman Joan Burton rejected Government demands that the Opposition parties reveal their pre-budget plans.

"It is like asking Giovanni Trapattoni to show his tactical notes to his French counterpart a full 24 hours before the Paris game starts. Dream on, Brian."

She described the Government's pre-budget outlook as "a dishonest and deceitful document".

She asked what credence could be given to a document that purported to set out income and expenditure for the coming year but did not provide a clue as to the ongoing cost of the banks to the exchequer for 2010.

Ms Burton said Labour accepted a deficit reduction target of €4 billion as long as the actual measures did not cause even further contraction in the economy.

"I can say without equivocation in this House that my party will face the obligation to meet the deficit target.

"In our last spell in government we produced the first balanced budget in a generation, so we have form on this and we have total commitment to financial stability."

However, said Ms Burton, Labour would agree nothing until everything was agreed, and that everything had to be a balanced mix that could command the confidence of the whole society.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said for the budget to succeed it must first be credible to both domestic and international audiences.

"To achieve that credibility requires a realistic policy mix including spending reductions and revenue-raising. It must also be fair, and seen to be fair."

Sinn Féin spokesman Arthur Morgan said his party would not join with other Opposition parties in taking a red marker to the social welfare Bill.

"Our total stimulus package of €4 billion has to be paid for, and to this end we sat down and looked at the taxation system and the genuine waste in the public sector," he said.

"In total, combined with a transfer from the National Pensions Reserve Fund of €2 billion - that's €2 billion less than the Government's transfer for Anglo Irish - we have raised €7.6 billion in our pre-budget submission."

Mr Morgan accused the Government of being unwilling to leave anything off the table.

"Its proposal to charge medical card holders for prescriptions shows the moral cowardice of its approach.

"Sinn Féin is not afraid to take on the big earners and the vested interests. The Government would rather take from children and grannies."

The Government, said Mr Morgan, had claimed it was capable of running the State's economy.

This was a dubious assertion, he said, considering the hames it had made of affairs to date.

"This document they produce is laughable in its poor analysis of the current crisis, and the solutions to get us out of it."

Mr Morgan said Sinn Féin's proposals were radical and brave, and he challenged the Government's assertion that expenditure cuts were more effective than raising taxation to close a deficit.