Why did Fianna Fáil wait until now to show their budget hand? – Doherty

Regina Doherty, Fine Gael TD for Meath East, has today (Friday) questioned why Fianna Fáil has only now come clean and published their pre-Budget proposals.

“The Budget is next Tuesday and Fianna Fáil has waited until midday today to provide their proposals on Budget 2015, allowing no time for the Government or the Irish people to consider what they propose.

“Fianna Fáil has been absent from and irrelevant to the public and parliamentary debate ahead of Budget 2015. Their finance spokesperson appeared on television on Tuesday night to discuss their unpublished proposals, but since then Fianna Fáil has absented themselves from the debate.

“The fact that Fianna Fáil published its budget proposals on a Friday, four days before the Budget, and in the middle of voting in two bye-elections says a lot about the weakness of Fianna Fáil and shows a lack of confidence in its own policy positions. Their apparent belated acceptance of the Local Property Tax which they first proposed in 2010 is a case in point.

“For Fine Gael and the Government, the overriding objective of the upcoming Budget is to secure recovery by introducing measures to incentivise new jobs, more work and investment. The Government will make sure that recovery to date will not be threatened or wasted. In contrast to absent Fianna Fáil, people can trust us to make the necessary decisions to build a strong economy that can provide quality jobs and quality of life for the Irish people.”