Opposition furious over 'late' December 9 date for Budget
THE Budget will be held on Wednesday, December 9, informed sources said last night.
The Government is still declining to state the date officially, although it is understood the Cabinet formally fixed the day at its meeting yesterday.
A spokesman for the Government refused to disclose the date at a briefing of political correspondents last night, after weeks of Taoiseach Brian Cowen keeping the opposition parties at bay on the issue.
But Labour Finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said last night: "It is clear they are pushing the Budget into the second week of December, instead of the first Wednesday of the month, as has traditionally been the case.
"Shoving it late will mean that the detailed debate in the Dail will only come in the third week of December, when people are doing their shopping, going to parties, or otherwise preoccupied with Christmas."
She said such a move was designed to shut down the usual airing of Budget details; was "cynical in the extreme"; and "a totally travesty of democracy".
The Taoiseach's spokesman last night refused to give any detail of Budget discussions by ministers at a special two-and-a-half hour cabinet meeting yesterday -- or even to confirm that €4bn in savings was still the figure being targeted.
Debate
Last night, it emerged that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was committed to Euro-group meetings of EU finance ministers in Brussels on December 1 and 2. Those engagements mean the earliest the Budget can be presented is the following Wednesday, December 9. The Budget is traditionally held on a Wednesday, and any later date would effectively prevent debate before Christmas.
Opposition parties are also furious that the Government will not produce estimates ahead of the Budget.
The publication of such figures, which traditionally come 10 days before a Budget, gives an overall picture of projections for the public finances. This allows politicians to have an impression of how the Budget measures will be framed to produce such a forecast. It also shows the breakdown of allocations by department.
The early production of the estimates this year would reveal the scale of the economies intended by the Government for 2010 and provide a map of where the axe will fall.
But the estimates are now expected to be produced on Budget Day itself -- as was the case last year when the Budget was specially brought forward to October.
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
Irish Independent
