CONDITIONS:CONDITIONS IMPOSED on next month's budget by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union will be quite specific and subject to strict compliance, officials from the external bodies have told Opposition parties.
Senior representatives of the joint mission to Ireland of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the EU Commission separately met delegations from Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin in Dublin yesterday.
They briefed the parties on aspects of the bailout package being negotiated with the Government and answered questions about the nature of the memorandum of understanding that will be agreed with the Government, and of the three-year programme Ireland must enter in return for the loan.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and finance spokesman Michael Noonan led the party’s four-person delegation, while the Labour Party group was led by leader Eamon Gilmore and finance spokeswoman Joan Burton.
A source said yesterday the three bodies told Opposition parties the Government would be expected to meet very specific conditions for Budget 2011.
The memorandum that will be signed when negotiations are concluded will lay down the conditions with which the State must comply if it is to draw down the loan facility of €85 billion, added the source, who did not wish to be named.
However, the officials also said the conditions would be less specific for later budgets for 2012 and 2013.
The heads of missions from the three bodies briefed the party representatives. They were: Ajai Chopra, the IMF’s deputy director for Europe; Ishvan Szekely, the director of economic and financial affairs at the EU Commission; and Klaus Masuch, division chief with the ECB. David Hawley, a senior adviser on external relations with the IMF, also attended the meeting.
Mr Masuch is also the ECB’s head of mission in Greece and visited Athens earlier this month, along with senior officials from the IMF and the EU Commission, to analyse the Greek fiscal plan for 2011.
A spokesman from Fine Gael said the party reaffirmed to the three bodies its commitment to the fiscal correction of €6 billion this year and €15 billion over four years. “We informed them that, if elected to government by the people with a mandate for our policies, we would be seeking to replace policies within any agreed plan with our own, in order to strengthen it. The IMF delegation were open to this,” said the spokesman.
Mr Noonan said that the representatives were very forthcoming when answering questions about the implementation process, the memo of understanding and other issues.
The Labour Party said its meeting lasted over an hour and there was a useful exchange of views. The officials indicated to the parties that it was willing to sit down with an incoming government and accept anything that would contribute to further consolidation. “Measures that would reduce the effectiveness of the plan would not be welcome. The impression they gave was they would be open to measures that would contribute to more effective growth,” said the source.
A spokesman for Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he has not yet met members of the mission but would do so when negotiations were near conclusion. That is expected to be closer to the end of the month.
Sinn Féin opposes the proposed €15 billion adjustment and is also opposed to the presence of the outside bodies in Ireland.