THE DEPARTMENT of Finance has not costed the new programme for Government and will not be in a position to do so this year, Fine Gael’s spokesman on enterprise Leo Varadkar contended last night.
Mr Varadkar said disclosure was made in reply to parliamentary questions tabled by him last week and seemed to contradict comments by Green Party leader John Gormley that the programme would be costed in the context of December’s budget.
The response of Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan to his four questions about the cost of the revised programme was “truly remarkable”, said Mr Varadkar.
“Mr Lenihan’s response was telling, as he confirmed that the overall cost of the programme for Government has not been calculated and that specific commitments would only be costed on budget day on a year-to-year basis,” he said.
He also contended that the programme was prepared “on the back of an envelope”. Mr Varadkar claimed it raised new doubts about the commitments contained in the programme on education, social welfare and taxation.
“This is not a programme for Government at all. It’s a list of capitulations by Fianna Fáil to the Green Party to get them through their party convention. Now that has been done, the document is already in the bin,” he said.
Mr Varadkar’s claims were rejected by the Greens yesterday. The party’s spokesman in Government said this was a “continuous tiresome game of political point-scoring” by the Opposition.
“The programme for Government is a series of commitments to do specific things. Cost was an issue . . . but specific detail about how to implement this agreement continue to be worked upon.”
