Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has said Fianna Fáil is in disarray over the contents of the forthcoming Budget, after Arts, Sport & Tourism Minister Martin Cullen protested vocally about proposed cutbacks in his Department.

“Two days ago Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told us to we read his lips: there would be no tax rises.

“Now Minister Cullen has very publicly said at a meeting attended by influential figures from around the world that he would not tolerate any cutbacks in his own Department.

“He made this remark despite the fact that just one week ago, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said no area of Government spending could be exempt from cutbacks.

“It’s impossible to square these three contradictory statements. The Cabinet is clearly deeply divided about the content of the forthcoming Budget, as well as future fiscal and industrial policy.

“The time has come for a new Government with a new team to take the country in a new direction.”

A close reading of the Bord Snip Nua report clearly shows that the report was ready for publication more than three weeks ago and that publication was withheld until the Dail Recess so that Ministers could avoid answering questions on the cutbacks proposed to their departments and agencies according to Leo Varadkar, Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade & Employment.

“The McCarthy report actually calls for some cuts that have already been announced and refers to legislation which will ‘be published shortly’ which has actually already passed through the Dail and Seanad.  Among the recommendation made by McCarthy are cutbacks to the REPS scheme.  They were announced by the Minister for Agriculture before the report was published.  Section 12 of Volume II recommends further cutbacks to the Oireachtas.  In this section, reference is made to legislation due to be ‘published shortly’ to change the way MEPs are paid.  In fact, this bill was published over a month ago and has already been passed through the Dail and Seanad.

“Anyone who reads this report closely can see that it was ready for publication several weeks ago and has not been edited since then.  I can only surmise that the government deliberately withheld publishing the report until the Dail went into recess so that they could avoid responding to the recommendations made.  I believe that the Dail should be recalled to discuss the McCarthy Report and the forthcoming Report of the Commission on Taxation so that we can hear from individual ministers’ response to the recommendations made regarding their budgets.