The Government would not be able to get the Budget through the Dail in its present form and it would have to be rewritten in the Finance Bill, the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, predicted yesterday.
In an interview on RTE's This Week programme, Mr Quinn said the four Independent TDs would not support the measure as it stood and it would be up to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to consider whether he should resign because of the forced changes. Mr Quinn did not believe he would.
The Government was faced with a number of difficult choices but the details of the decisions were unlikely to become known until the Finance Bill was published in about six weeks.
The Labour Party's objections to the Budget were not based on the tax individualisation issue, which affected only people on incomes of over £28,000. Labour was saying people on low pay should have been taken out of the tax net entirely, while those on middle incomes should pay tax at the standard rate.
The Budget had ignored people on low pay, people with families had been largely ignored and those on social welfare had received only a small increase. It was heavily biased in favour of the rich and reflected the views of Mr McCreevy, supported by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney.
On the next general election, Mr Quinn said he had started the debate on how the new-found wealth of the State should be spent. His party wanted to abolish homelessness and poverty and give people a second chance through education, as well as improving social services.
The merger between the Labour Party and Democratic Left had worked very satisfactorily and they now had 22 Dail TDs.
He wanted to take Labour to a position where it could write the agenda for the next government.
On the North, he said there was no need to beat the drum about arms decommissioning as he believed that Mr Gerry Adams and the republican movement knew what was required.