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Consensus budget might be possible
12.10.10
by Linda McGrory
JUSTICE Minister, Dermot Ahern, has said he is
broadly in favour of an all-party approach to
devising a four-year budgetary plan for the country.
He said he was already on record as saying a "Tallaght-type"
strategy was needed.
Speaking in Buncrana, Co Donegal, yesterday at the
opening of a new 7.5 million garda headquarters, he
said:
"I've been on record previously as saying that it is
necessary to have a Tallaght-type strategy. At
least, there needs to be some understanding of the
problems that we face and, that suggestions that
might be made that are not viable from a financial
or economic point of view, need to be at least
answered by people in the Department of Finance who
might say it's not possible for this or that
reason.
Mr Ahern said it was "necessary and correct" that
the Opposition were fully appraised by the
Department of Finance of the difficult decisions
that lay ahead. |
"I think it is
necessary and correct in the circumstances that we
find ourselves as a country that (the Opposition)
are fully appraised of the enormity of the task that
is ahead of us and whoever comes into Government
after the next election.
At least then, people will be realistic in any
public criticism that they might make about
decisions that have to be made, he said. The
minister said the Government "would implement any
good suggestion that comes from the Opposition".
Meanwhile, he said the Cabinet's deliberation over
last year's budget was "the most intense examination
on a line-to-line basis" he had experienced since |
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Justice Minister, Dermot Ahern |
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1997 and that we have
to do that again this year". Mr Ahern said the
Government was willing to sit down with Opposition
spokespeople but they first needed to be briefed by
the Department of Finance. |
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