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The minister for finance has defended his spending plans for next year after it was labelled as an \u201causterity budget\u201d and \u201cnon-budget\u201d.<\/p>\nThe minister for finance has defended his spending plans for next year after it was labelled as an \u201causterity budget\u201d and \u201cnon-budget\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the post budget briefing in the Budgetary Oversight Committee today, Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe\u2019s plans were criticized by independent TD Tommy Broughan\u200e.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bulk of social welfare recipients, people who are often, you know by the collar trying to survive, didn\u2019t get increases this year,\u201d Mr Broughan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was another austerity budget minister, and is there not a strong case, if we, and who can predict what\u2019s going to happen in British politics, but if 2020 turns out to be rather like 2019, to have more targeted resources at people who are dependent on pensions and on social protection \u2013 we should be able to afford it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, isn\u2019t there a strong case maybe that you should have another budget?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe previously defended not topping up social welfare payments next year, saying there is a chance more people will become unemployed because of a no-deal Brexit, and money must be set aside.<\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe reaffirmed on Tuesday that it was his \u201cstrong view\u201d that there should not be another budget until October 2020.<\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe replied that the criticism was incorrect: \u201cAusterity tends to be defined by the reduction of government expenditure over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis budget increased government expenditure by \u20ac3.4 billion, so describing a budget as austerity budget, given we increased overall expenditure is a very odd description.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Broughan interrupted Mr Donohoe a number of times, telling him that this did not take into account of inflation and incomes.<\/p>\n
Brexit has weighed heavy in Mr Donohoe\u2019s 2020 budget, which was curated in the expectation of a no-deal exit of the UK from the EU \u2013 which is predicted to have extremely detrimental outcomes for Ireland.<\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe repeated that although the government has set aside a separate Brexit fund, if a no-deal does not happen, the money will not be used for any other purpose but transferred into an approved surplus for the next year, resulting in \u201ca swing from an expected deficit of 0.6% to a surplus of 0.5%\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that the \u201cexternal economic outlook is still deteriorating, and with the remaining uncertainty around Brexit, our policy approach should be to budget surpluses in the future, and if the economy continues to perform strongly, to use them to reduce our national debt.”<\/p>\n