THE LONG-AWAITED report of “An Bord Snip Nua”, as it is popularly known, is now expected to be delivered to the Department of Finance early next month.
Officially titled the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, the four-member committee is headed by University College Dublin economist Colm McCarthy.
Senior political sources said the report had been initially expected by the end of June but there was “still stuff being worked on”.
Speculation is growing about the recommendations from the committee, which was given a remit to examine a wide range of government spending with a view to identifying possible savings.
“They were asked to look at everything and come up with possibilities. The idea was to have someone the unpalatable and maybe even the unthinkable,” according to sources close to Government thinking.
Questioned yesterday about predicted large-scale cuts in social welfare, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said “no decision” had been taken and this was a budgetary matter.
