THE COALITION has been accused of “posturing” over next year’s budget as senior Ministers sought to play down suggestions by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte that the cuts should not be too severe.
Meanwhile, a new report on Ireland yesterday from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the Government should go further than planned in its budgetary adjustment, “economic growth permitting”.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore insisted yesterday that there was no split in Cabinet over the budget despite apparent differences as to whether the adjustment for next year should be more than €3.6 billion.
“There is no split in the Cabinet. I think the question that Minister Rabbitte was asked yesterday in Brussels was a clear question and he answered it with the level of information that’s available to him,” said Mr Kenny. He reiterated the target of reducing the deficit to 8.6 per cent of gross domestic product next year.
“Whatever it takes to reach that target is what the Government have to decide on. And as the Minister pointed out to you, neither the information in respect of the self-employed nor the corporates are available to Government yet, nor indeed the projections for the growth figures for next year.”
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has accepted that he is likely to need savings of more than €3.6 billion in order to reach the target and that view has been backed by Labour’s Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin.
Mr Gilmore said the Cabinet remained committed to meeting its goals and denied there was any division. “The target has been agreed with the EU and the IMF and ECB, and the target is 8.6 per cent.
“That’s what the Government will be seeking to achieve,” Mr Gilmore said in Seoul, South Korea.
A senior Labour source insisted Mr Rabbitte was expressing a widespread view in the party that €3.6 billion should remain as the target.
Fine Gael Ministers took a conciliatory tone, with one party source suggesting the junior Coalition partner was being allowed some “leeway”.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that international media coverage sparked by Mr Rabbitte’s comments was not helpful to Ireland’s reputation abroad. “Minister Rabbitte needs to be told to stop the Labour Party posturing and the Cabinet needs to be unanimous and clear in its commitment to meet the 8.6 per cent target,” he said.