MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan’s plans for a €3.6 billion budgetary adjustment later this year will come under scrutiny next week when he appears before the Oireachtas finance committee.
Mr Noonan is to appear before the committee next Thursday for what is billed as an intensive consultative meeting with TDs and Senators. Central Bank governor Prof Patrick Honohan and deputy governor Matthew Elderfield will come before the committee on Friday.
EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Olli Rehn will appear before the committee in early October, according to a Leinster House spokesman. Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, and the heads of Nama, the National Treasury Management Agency and the main banks are also due to come before the committee to answer questions about their current strategy.
Committee chairman and Labour TD Alex White said the aim was to establish a thorough and indepth picture of the financial system. “These introductory sessions will assist the committee in finalising a meaningful work programme. I hope they will also contribute to public understanding and debate on the current economic and financial climate in the country at a critical time in the budgetary cycle, and in anticipation of the outcome of the forthcoming comprehensive spending review.”
The agenda for the meetings is very broad, encompassing the economy and banking sector, as well as the memorandum of understanding with the EU and IMF.
Under the memorandum, the Government is required to reduce the deficit target next year to 8.6 per cent of gross domestic product. This is likely to entail spending cuts of about €2.1 billion and a €1.5 billion increase in taxes.
Mr Howlin said in an interview this week that some Government departments had not “measured up” as well as others in delivering proposals on spending cuts.
Although he declined to name the offending departments, he said he would be making robust suggestions to those who were lagging behind and ultimately bringing proposals to Cabinet level.