DEMOCRATIC Left is running the country, the Fianna Fail spokesman on finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy, claimed.
He said: "The Minister for Social Welfare and his party have decided what should not be Government policy, what should be in the Budget, and what cannot be in the Budget."
In the lead-up to the Budget there had been a spectacle never witnessed before. While there were supposedly three parties in government, it was clear that one was in control.
Notwithstanding the ideological differences, there had been an agreement when the Government was formed that it would do certain things. But what had happened was outrageous.
Two parties of the left were jockeying for position and keeping an eye on one another to such an extent that nobody was prepared to make a decision without consulting the Minister for Social Welfare. The Minister for Finance had been ignored.
He said that following the last general election, Labour Party gurus had in mind the post of rotating Taoiseach for their leader. "But I don't think they ever had in mind the position of rotating Taoiseach or Tanaiste for Proinsias De Rossa. That is effectively what we have had for the past while."
The Budget had been decided by people who held a minority viewpoint and the electorate had not voted for that, said Mr McCreevy. A small percentage of the Irish people had voted for parties of the left, with nearly three per cent voting for Democratic Left. "It is not on that a small group of people such as that control the Government and decide economic and fiscal policy."
In the past few weeks a new disease had emerged, pre-Budget tension (PBT), which had been heralded by The Irish Times. said Mr McCreevy. This had not been experienced by people in his party who had served in government.
Warning that the State was at the top of an economic cycle, Mr McCreevy said that there was a danger of a slow-down at the end of the decade. There was never a better chance than this year to have no current Budget deficit. A heavy price would be paid in the future for not utilising that opportunity.
He noticed that the phrase "tax reform" was not included in the Budget. It had been forgotten about. Yet politicians had said that they would do something about tax reform if there was economic growth. Now it was not even mentioned.
Mr McCreevy said he believed that society had a duty to look after the old, the sick and those who could not fend for themselves. But he did not believe there should be a society which encouraged people actively to stay out of the employment force.
There were able young men and women who could take low-paid jobs but did not do so because they did not think it worth their while, given the tax and social welfare codes. "I do not believe in a system which gives that type of disincentive."
Urging the Government to be more open, he said that the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, should give the details of the awarding to the QMP advertising agency of the divorce referendum campaign. The Minister should come into the House and say, "Yes, we gave it to one of our own, we could communicate with them and knew their way of thinking. And they were probably about the best . . . there were three or four about the same, anyway."
The Irish people would understood that, he said. While The Irish Times would not understand it the plain people of Ireland would.
