'Funny money' funds fury
Friday April 26 2002
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern proposed a controversial €2bn-a-year plan to fund new roads, public transport, schools and health facilities.
In effect this would take the responsibility of major capital projects from the civil service.
A special new agency would raise the €2bn-a-year in a variety of ways, from traditional Exchequer borrowing to privately financed projects such as toll roads.
Critically, around half - €1bn - would be kept off the Government borrowing sheet.
But his plan was attacked by the two main opposition leaders and provided both a focus and a basis for a potentially lengthy battle.
Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan compared it with an Indian rope trick.
Labour leader Ruairi Quinn described the scheme as "trick of the loopery" and off-balance-sheet accounting.
In the most imaginative element of Fianna Fail's 86-page manifesto, Mr Ahern proposed a National Finance Development Agency (NDFA). This would issue bonds for a total of €10bn of the National Development Plan (NDP) over five years.
He said it would minimise the cost to the public purse and maximise quality and speed in the completion of projects.
Ireland's borrowing and deficit levels are controlled by EU guidelines.
But Mr Ahern explained that a return on the bonds - such as road tolls - would mean they would not be classified by the EU as borrowing.
Fianna Fail sources believe projects such as toll roads and private hospitals could amount to €1bn-a-year that does not count as Government borrowing.
Mr Noonan said the bond scheme might make the Government books look good but it was still borrowing and had to be paid back. "When you disguise borrowing it is dangerous," he said.
Ruairi Quinn said: "Government bonds are Government borrowing. There is no other way of calling it."
With all the main parties gearing up for an intensive three weeks on the hustings, Fianna Fail was the first of the big parties with its manifesto.
The PDs, with two of its four TDs retiring, got its document out on Sunday.
In a series of potentially costly moves, the Taoiseach promised:
* 3,000 new beds in hospitals and 12,000 extra "health professionals".
* a permanent end to hospital waiting lists within two years
* an extra 2,000 gardai and tougher sentences to keep criminals off the streets
* a minimum pension of €200 a week and a home-maker's pension.
While much of day one's campaigning focussed on money, borrowing, funding costs and taxation, Mr Noonan gave a clear signal that he intended to focus on social issues. He argued that, in the last five years, Fianna Fail had created an ideological culture of greed and a downgrading of community values.
He questioned the value of a society where it was a struggle to get through traffic to work and a struggle to find childcare.
- Chris Glennon and Brendan Keenan
