A town-hall style meeting between Government backbenchers and senior Ministers has been suggested to try to avoid prebudget tensions between the two Coalition parties.
Fianna Fáil’s Wicklow-Wexford TD Malcolm Byrne has written to the chairs of both parliamentary parties seeking the meeting, which he suggested would be attended by Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
It comes after a period of unrest among the Fianna Fáil backbenches following the party’s disastrous presidential election and the fuel protests, during which TDs said they wanted more input into big decisions – including the budgetary process.
In his email to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Byrne wrote that such a meeting would ensure input into policy “but also avoid some tensions”.
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“I think it might also mean that it could address constant media efforts to try [to] find differences and disputes!” he wrote.
Last week saw an exchange of fire between Government parties over the possibility of reductions to the student registration fee in the budget, with Fine Gael backbenchers critical of Fianna Fáil Minister for Higher Education James Lawless on the issue.
It was reported during the week that cost overruns in the Department of Education could imperil a reduction come budget time, with other departments having to find cash via a levy on next year’s spending in order to pay for the deficit in education.
Lawless said during the week that it was too early to say anything about the budget but conceded that a levy placed “additional challenges for all our spending plans”.
The row was defused, but not before Fine Gael’s higher education spokeswoman Maeve O’Connell urged Lawless to commit to a cut in the fee in the budget, saying she was “disappointed” in his position.
It led to private and public criticism, with each party blaming the other for the spat behind the scenes.
Byrne told The Irish Times that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had different priorities for higher education, with the former favouring a fee cut while his party wanted to increase access and grants.
He also pointed to differences over the planned reduction in the VAT rate for the hospitality sector, arguing that Fianna Fáil preferred income tax cuts for workers – something that Harris had also identified as a budget priority for this year.
“By debating in the room, consensus could emerge,” he said. “I think there is strong support for income tax or USC reductions to help workers this year.”
He called for focus during budget negotiations against a backdrop of global upheaval, saying “we are in a period of geopolitical turbulence and (are) about to see major disruption to a variety of employment sectors, particularly tech.”
Fianna Fáil candidate in the Galway West byelection campaign Cillian Keane is unlikely to challenge for the seat, with support registering in single digits.
Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne is slightly ahead of Independent Ireland rival Noel Thomas in the campaign, according to Thursday’s Irish Times/TG4 opinion poll.
Asked about poll carried out by Ipsos B&A, Taoiseach Micheál Martin urged caution “in respect of opinion polls”.
“It’s not the real poll. It’s two weeks to go yet and I’ve no doubt the candidates will be out there campaigning very, very hard to achieve their highest first preferences,” he told reporters following the North South ministerial Council meeting in Armagh city on Friday.
“Transfers will be critical.”
Tánaiste Simon Harris acknowledged that while “all the normal health warnings come with opinion polls”, the poll showed those who “think it’s a slam dunk one direction or the other are clearly not right”.
It’s “a very competitive” byelection,” he added.
“There’s a long way to go ... but if the opinion poll does turn out to be anything like that on the day, the era of anybody being close to a quota on the first count of a byelection ... is likely gone.”
