Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said the Government will hold a two-day “social forum” in July which will give interest groups and Opposition parties an unprecedented opportunity to shape next October’s budget.
The forum will be held soon after the Dáil rises in July and will be open to societal groups, political parties, and other interested parties to make an argument on how the additional €1.5 billion available to the Coalition in the next budget will be spent.
Parameters
Mr Howlin, in an interview with
The Irish Times
, said the shape of the forum was being finalised, but said it would be independently moderated. He said it would be opened by himself and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan who would set out the fiscal parameters.
The parameters, he said, would be those set out by the EU Fiscal Treaty which will limit the “fiscal space” for the budget to an additional €1.5 billion – which the Government has decided will be split equally between spending and tax reductions.
“What priorities should we have? Let’s have a robust discussion, in a meaningful way and not in a fanciful way,” said the Minister. He said he and the Minister for Finance would be in “listening mode”.
Mr Howlin said the forum and other new initiatives such as the spring statement comprised a complete reform of the budgetary process, making it more transparent, open to scrutiny at every stage and removing the element of surprise of traditional budget days.
Slow burner
He said Opposition parties were welcome to contribute to the forum, but that he had “no expectation” of them engaging. “That’s not the way politics work. This is a slow burner and we will migrate over time to a rational political debate. I won’t be holding my breath for that kind of debate with Opposition parties just yet.”
Mr Howlin said there was a contradiction in the arguments being put forward by the two blocs in Opposition, Fianna Fáil and the hard left, where the Coalition was being accused of buying the election and of not spending enough money. “Both can’t be right.”
In relation to his party’s own prospects in the general election he said that Irish people were “fair and will look back over the past four years objectively”.
“If we are lucky the political and economic cycle will be in harmony for us.”
