GOVERNMENT MINISTERS will today hold their first formal discussions on how to achieve €3 billion savings at a Cabinet meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin.
Officials from all departments have submitted documents outlining a series of options to save money, following an instruction from the Department of Finance. Each department is understood to have been given an individual savings target and a confidential budget strategy memo has been circulated among Ministers.
At the meeting, the Cabinet will also sign off on the €40 billion five-year capital spending programme.
While the introduction of a property tax and a means testing of child benefit payments are now considered unlikely, Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday insisted no decisions had been taken on any budgetary issue.
“We’ll have our budget in December and there are no decisions about any of these issues whatever and I really think it’s premature, speculative and rather needless,” Mr Cowen said.
Big-spending departments such as Social Protection, Health and Children and Education and Skills are expected to face the largest cuts. A spokesman for the Department of Education said: “As far as the budget goes, our deliberations are in gestation and no decisions have been taken as to where we will achieve savings but everything is very much under consideration. We’ve no sacred cows in here.”
However, he insisted the commitment to maintaining the pupil-teacher ratio at its current level would hold, as would the commitment to providing special needs assistants for children who require them.
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley made clear his party would oppose education cuts.
“You can look at the renewed programme for Government and you can see there that there are priorities that have been put in place, for example education spending is extremely important,” he said.
Mr Gormley said while cutting €3 billion was a “very big ask”, adjustments were required.
Of the €3 billion savings required this year, €1 billion will come from the capital programme while the remaining €2 billion will be achieved through a combination of revenue-raising taxation and cuts to current expenditure. A source said most of the €2 billion would come from current expenditure.
Changes to income tax and the introduction of water charges are thought to be unlikely, while reducing the old-age pension is considered too politically sensitive.