A public showdown between the leaders of the main political parties looms following a call by Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan for the Government to make full public disclosure on the state of public finances by 3pm tomorrow afternoon.
Mr Noonan, who was addressing a press briefing this afternoon said that according to its own figures, the Government had over spent by eight per cent in the first four months of the year, a figure that was likely to rise even at current levels by December’s budget.
In light of this, Mr Noonan said, the only way to balance the books was to cut spending notably in health, which, according to an article in the Sunday Tribune today, would commence as soon as the election was over.
While Mr Noonan was unclear as to what would happen at 3pm tomorrow if the figures were still unpublished, he did not rule out personally going to the Department of Finance to obtain the figures.
" . . .I am very concerned that we are not being told the full picture on the state of public finances by the Government which inherited a budget surplus from the Rainbow administration. . .," Mr Noonan said.
"When it came into office this Government promised to limit the growth in current public spending to four per cent per annuum.
" . . .The rise in current spending in the last two years alone has been over 40 per cent. . .spending 10 billion per annum above their own target of five years ago."
In addition to the state of public finances, Mr Noonan is also demanding how and where in the health services the Government is planning cuts, and what other public services might be affected.
While he conceded that he was reasonably optimistic about the prospects for the economy, he accused the Government of "concealing the real facts" of the effects of their budget, he said that without real and accurate figures, it was impossible to gauge what corrective measures would be needed to balance the books.
"I am now calling on the Taoiseach to make a full public statement before 3pm tomorrow on the real state of the public finances and to tell the Irish people the full details of his plans for cutbacks in the health and other public services," Me Noonan added.
"In particular, he must come clean with the public as to the extent of the spending over-runs in each department and on the nature of the corrective action being planned."
Earlier this morning, Mr Cowen , the Minister for Foreign Affairs, denying that there would be any health cuts, said speculation to that effect was unfounded.
On the contrary, Mr Cowen said, funding to the health boards had been increased by between 15 and 18 per cent in the last budget allocations and that Fianna Fail was committed to increasing health spending over the course of the next government.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn has accused Fianna Fail of "scepticism" about increased investment in the health services and said the prospects for the health services under a new Fianna Fail administration were bleak.