Opposition parties’ spending demands to be scrutinised by IFAC under proposed legislation  – Heydon

Opposition spending demands will be scrutinised by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) ahead of every budget under a Private Members Bill submitted by the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party Chairman Martin Heydon.

Deputy Heydon, a member of the Oireachtas Budgetary Oversight Committee, said: “I have submitted a Private Members Bill which would see the legislative powers of IFAC expanded to allow them to examine opposition demands in the advance of each budget.

“This is something that I have raised with both Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and the Chairman of IFAC, Seamus Coffey who suggested that this is something that should be considered in Ireland.

“Having independent, expert analysis of opposition spending calls and financial policies is important for the public to be well informed.

“This is the case now more than ever in the face of Fianna Fáil’s constant stream of spending demands which they pluck from thin air in a bid to hide the fact that they have no plans and no solutions. They promise spending to all with no plan on how to do this or balance the country’s finances.

“My colleague, Deputy Peter Burke, compiled a report into spending calls from Fianna Fáil – which totalled a massive €4.35bn in the first six months of 2019.

“Despite the evidence that the party has called for €24m every day for the first half of the year not a single representative has yet explained – two weeks on – how the taxpayer would fund their reckless spending pledges.

“Micheál Martin has been asked on two separate occasions but instead of answering the pertinent questions he has resorted to deflection saying it is juvenile and childish.

“Micheál and his TDs may think that making wild spending calls day in and day out is a trivial matter, but voters do not share that view. Fianna Fáil have made the lifetime of this Government contingent on Brexit and the public deserve to know what they have called for in the meantime and how they will pay for all this.

“This is a party who claim they want to govern and voters deserve to know exactly what that would look like.

“Does it look like broken promises or does it look like a lot like it did the last time Fianna Fáil were in power?

“Giving a body like IFAC the power to examine all Opposition spending calls will help ensure that this type of cynical politics is held to account,” Deputy Heydon concluded.