The Opposition has condemned the condition of the State's finances following the announcement by the Government that it will run a deficit of almost €15 billion next year.
The figures show that the General Government Balance, the figure used by the EU to measure compliance with the rules of the single currency, will be in deficit to the tune of €13.3 billion or 7 per cent of GDP. That is more than double the EU guideline of 3 per cent.
Speaking after the estimates were published, Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton said: “The Department of Finance has confirmed that the appalling deterioration in the public finances will worsen in 2009."
"A €5.2 billion surplus (2.9 per cent of GDP) in 2006 has turned into a deficit of €13.3 billion deficit (7 per cent of GDP) in 2009 . . . this €18.5 billion turnaround represents 10 per cent of GNP and 32 per cent of total Government spending."
Mr Bruton continued: “These figures underline the unsustainable growth of Government spending in recent years, which was built on unsustainable revenues from the property bubble.
He added that the Government must avoid making matters worse by cutting investment or raising taxes and urged it to instead focus on "long-overdue reforms to stamp out waste, to rationalise an overblown administrative structure and to protect front-line services".
"Vulnerable sections of our community must not become the fall guy for years of Fianna Fáil’s complacent management of public money,” the Fine Gael deputy leader said.
Sinn Féin Finance spokesman Arthur Morgan described the estimates as “a damning indictment of Government mismanagement of the economy”.
“These estimates confirm the depth of the recession which we have now entered. The massive deficit recorded in these estimates is likely not the full story as this Government has repeatedly got its figures wrong. Nonetheless these estimates are a damning indictment of Government mismanagement.
“The spending estimates for 2009 now promise major cuts in public services," he continued.
Mr Morgan added that the Government now had 12 months "to turn around the economy, to start creating jobs that will add to the revenue stream and to overhaul the taxation system to make it fair and progressive"
