Fianna Fail minister says Fine Gael not ‘dictating’ budget policy

Fianna Fail Minister for State Dara Calleary said Fine Gael junior ministers were not “dictating” to the Minister for Finance when they made policy suggestions for the budget.

This week, three Fine Gael junior ministers – including a junior finance minister – called for a full-time worker on a wage of 52,000 euro to get 1,000 euro back in tax relief in the next budget.

Ministers of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Martin Heydon and Peter Burke argued that this cohort “deserve a break”.

Budget 2024 will be Fianna Fail’s Michael McGrath first as finance minister, having served as public expenditure minister for the past three fiscal packages, alongside Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe.

When asked on Wednesday whether he would be “bullied” over the budget by his coalition colleagues, Mr McGrath replied “certainly not”.

He added: “I think it’s inevitable in a three-party coalition government that there will be times when parties want to assert, as they see it, their identity, and will seek to carve out space on a particular issue.”

That position was echoed by Mr Calleary on RTE’s Drivetime on Thursday when asked about the Fine Gael policy position.

“We have three distinct parties in government that work well together.

“We’re working well under the framework of a programme for government. But every budget season, there is good debate and good discourse within Government.”

Asked if the ministers were dictating to his party colleague Minister McGrath, he replied: “They’re not dictating, they’re making policy suggestions – there’s a difference.

“The policy suggestions will go into the mix. Michael McGrath will present the budget and Paschal Donohoe who on budget day, and there will be a lot of suggestions between now and budget day, from within Fianna Fail, from our other government partners and indeed outside the political system.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris, a Fine Gael TD, said the opinion piece was not a “solo run” and was long-standing party policy.

Speaking to Virgin Media Television, he said: “It’s a clear articulation of Fine Gael policy. In a way, I’m a little taken aback that it’s actually generated as much of a discussion as it has, because it’s certainly not news to me.”

He said there will be “lots of different ideas and suggestions” from all parties ahead of the budget.

He added: “And at the end of the day, the three government parties will come together just like we did last year and the year before and put a decent budget package in place to try and help people and tax cuts will be part of that.”

Mr Harris said it was “perfectly appropriate” for politicians to give their views.

“You can’t be silent on these issues either,” he added.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin reportedly described the Fine Gael junior minister’s comments as “unhelpful”.

Asked about this characterisation, Mr Harris said he had “huge respect” for Mr Martin.

He added: “I can cite lots of different examples of different politicians and different government parties coming forward with ideas, floating ideas, putting forward views in a very public fashion and I think that’s actually fine and acceptable.”

Earlier, Fine Gael Minister Simon Coveney said he did not think the junior ministers had an “intention to upset anyone”.

Speaking to RTE’s Morning Ireland, he said they were outlining party policy in an opinion piece.

“Three junior ministers, I think reflected the view in Fine Gael, in an opinion piece. and I mean, that’s what this was.

“And they were outlining Fine Gael policy which I support, which is that when the economy is growing, that we should give what many people call the ‘squeezed middle’, in other words, people who are middle income in Ireland, that we should try to give them a break.”

Mr Coveney said the Fine Gael junior ministers were not “bullying” the Minister for Finance.

“Let’s be clear, nobody is bullying anybody.”

He said it was a a good coalition government in which the parties worked well together.

“That doesn’t mean that the parties have the same views all the time when it comes to policy.”