THE GOVERNMENT is poised to make a series of “drastic” spending cuts to rein in public spending, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern warned yesterday.
Speaking to reporters, he said “everything was on the table” given that the financial situation facing the country was now the worst in many decades.
His comments were echoed yesterday by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan. While declining to comment on whether pay cuts of up to 10 per cent were planned for public sector workers, she said “everything is up for consideration”.
Mr Ahern also denied reports of tensions between the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance, insisting the Cabinet was united in its attempt to bring spending under control. When asked by reporters how drastic the decisions on cutbacks will be, he said they were probably the most drastic that any government over the last three or four decades had to take.
“We’ll need the general support of the public. When you hear some of the comments of the social partners, they do accept that the financial situation of the country is difficult and we can’t go on spending the way we have been spending,” he said.
“We have to cut our cloth to suit out measure. We have gone through a very substantial process, not an easy process, of making substantial cuts already in 2008 and forecast for 2009. And now we have to go through it again.
“We all have to make sacrifices and the Government has shown a lead in that. The fact is the Government is looking – and has been over the Christmas – very intensely at the financial situation and we’ll be making decisions in the not too distant future.
“Everything is on the table, that’s the reality, because we have to. We need to bring people with us and we need to bring the social partners with us as well.”
Referring to media reports regarding divisions and tension within Cabinet, Mr Ahern said: “The Cabinet is completely united and I’m bemused at some of the reports. We set out on this path in the middle of last year and I well remember commenting at the time that we are now back in the McSharry era.
“We can’t go down the road of continuing to borrow for day-to-day spending,” he said.
He insisted that reports of tension at Cabinet were “complete nonsense” and that Ministers had led the way in taking a 10 per cent pay cut in recent months.
“We exhorted people at the highest echelons of society to do that. To be honest, the silence has been deafening,” he added.
Speaking during a visit to Limerick Ms Coughlan would not comment on pay cuts. “I think it’s appropriate to say we are not going to pre-empt anything. Everything is up for consideration,” she said.
The Government was awaiting the views of the social partners this week and “we would hope we will be in a working position next week”, she said.