The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has blamed the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, for the EU budget sanctions imposed on Ireland today.
The measures were introduced to quell Irish economic overheating and to amend Mr McCreevy's Budget 2001, which the EU described as ‘inflationary’.
The 20-member Commission meeting in Brussels earlier today, ruled that Ireland had breached agreed EU economic policy guidelines, the first time it its history the Commission has singled out a member country for censure.
According to Mr Quinn, the decision of the European Commission to 'sanction' Ireland indicates that Mr McCreevy’s policies are inflationary.
"He [Mr McCreevy] has singularly failed to explain to the European Commission the difficulties faced by Ireland in the face of a weak euro," said Mr Quinn.
"Minister McCreevy is in effect damned by his own figures. On Budget Day 2000 he announced a tax package of £942m against a backdrop of inflation between two and three percent.
"On Budget Day 2001 he announced a package of £1.2bn against backdrop of 7 per cent inflation.
"In the interim Minister McCreevy engaged in a campaign of vitriol against anybody who dared suggest that we faced a significant inflationary threat, and that included the European Commission. This has come home to roost."
The Government has been censured becuse it is accused of pursing inflationary economic policies, including last December’s budget.
Under Article 99.4 of the Maastricht Treaty, euro-zone countries can formally reprimand a member state, deemed to be behaving contrary to agreed EU economic policies or threatening the smooth functioning of monetary union.
The Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Mr Pedro Solbes, said after the meeting today that Ireland had decided to spend its available money and this created a problem of overheating in the economy.
"In this context the sin of the Irish Government is that they have adopted their decisions taking into consideration the Irish economy only, without considering that they belong to a global economic situation which is monetary union," he said.
"When we received the figures of the last budget and last programme it was immediately evident that neither of the recommendations of 1999 were satisfied nor the recommendations of 2000," said Mr Solbes.
He said Ireland conformed with the EU Pact of Growth and Stability in terms of public debt and unemployment. But he said Irish policy on spending, including tax cuts, were heading the country toward overheating and greater inflation.
Mr Solbes said draft recommendations would be prepared and sent for consideration to the Council. The issue will then go before a meeting of the EU finance ministers for approval at a meeting on February 12th.
Ireland now has the euro-zone's highest inflation rate - 4.6 per cent in 2000 - coupled with a record growth rate of over 10 per cent, Mr Solbes noted, adding Dublin's policies "therefore posed a problem of coherence among the euro zone economies".
The European Central Bank has set an upper medium term target for euro-zone inflation of 2 per cent.
Additional reporting AFP