THE GOVERNMENT has not yet decided when the Dáil will resume after the summer recess due in two weeks.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen last week said the Dáil would rise for the summer on July 8th.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said yesterday “the Government has made no decision on an appropriate date for the resumption of the Dáil but it will of course make a decision before the Dáil rises”.

The Minister also told Labour leader Eamon Gilmore the budget will be introduced in early December but “no precise date has been fixed”. He said there would be no extra budget. “Considerable scepticism has been expressed about whether there would be an additional budget this year. There will be no additional budget this year. The budget will be in December.”

When asked about comments concerning him by his brother Minister of State for Science Conor Lenihan that he can “sometimes swing an axe indiscriminately” in making cuts, the Minister said he was speaking in a “jocose sense”.

The Minister of State for Science had been speaking at an event organised by Enterprise Ireland when he made the comments and also said that some Department of Finance officials did not fully understand the connection between investment in scientific research and economic development. He insisted this was not a criticism and described his comments about his brother as “lighthearted”.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the Minister of State had accused him of “wielding the axe” in an indiscriminate manner.

“I ask the Minister is there any chance you could lay down the axe for a while, if only in the interests of health and safety among members of the Government.”

Mr Lenihan replied: “It is important to stress that the Minister of State in question made it clear he was speaking in a jocose sense”.