Labour and FG allege breach of confidentiality protocol

Labour and Fine Gael withdrew yesterday from a meeting with Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, alleging that confidentiality protocol…

Labour and Fine Gael withdrew yesterday from a meeting with Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, alleging that confidentiality protocol between the Department of Finance and Opposition parties may have been breached.

The Department of Finance provides costings on policy and manifesto proposals, such as tax and other spending ideas, to Opposition parties on a confidential basis. Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton and Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton wrote to Mr Cowen seeking clarification as to whether one of Mr Cowen's advisers had access to such information, after the adviser alluded to contacts between Labour and certain officials in the Department of Finance. A spokesman for the Department of Finance rejected any suggestion that the confidentiality protocol had been breached and said the secretary general of the Department of Finance Tom Considine would be writing to both TDs assuring them of this.

Yesterday Mr Bruton and Ms Burton withdrew from a meeting with Mr Cowen to discuss proposed reforms to streamline the annual budgetary process, following an earlier telephone conversation between Labour's economic adviser Colm O'Reardon and an adviser to Mr Cowen, Gerry Steadman.

Mr O'Reardon said that during the conversation to discuss arrangements for the meeting, Mr Steadman said he was aware that Mr O'Reardon had been in contact with officials in the department about a different matter, and he would be happy to arrange a briefing for him on the reforms at an official level. In their letter to Mr Cowen, the Opposition TDs stated that "the only contact which Mr O'Reardon has had with the Department of Finance this year has been in connection with the costing of a policy proposal".

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The letter stated that it "appears that Mr Steadman is aware of contact between the Labour Party and the Department of Finance regarding the costing of proposals". The joint letter added: "It appears that the necessary procedures within the department to insulate the costings process from Ministers and their advisers have been breached".

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Cowen said that "the published procedures for the costing of political proposals for political parties has not been breached and the integrity of that system is absolute."