Taoiseach ‘unhappy’ at Martin’s Ard Fheis promises
Harris furious at Tánaiste’s pre-budget giveaway speech
NEW Taoiseach Simon Harris has expressed his unhappiness to colleagues over the number of giveaway budget promises made by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin at his party’s Ard Fheis last week, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
It marks a reversal of the tensions sparked by Mr Harris’s predecessor, Leo Varadkar, who enraged his Coalition partners by promising tax cuts and childcare funding boosts in advance of last year’s budget talks.
One Fine Gael minister told the MoS: ‘We found it rather ironic. This was the kind of thing Fianna Fáil were constantly complaining about Leo for, and making similar accusations against Simon Harris making non-agreed statements. And Micheál goes on a pre-budget giveaway Ard Fheis speech worthy of Bertie and Charlie McCreevy in their boom heyday. We shouldn’t have expected less.’
But Fianna Fáil ministers, on learning of the new Taoiseach’s dissatisfaction, pointed out that Mr Harris himself revealed a new five-year house-building target in his own speech the week before. Fianna Fáil Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is not due to unveil new housing figures until September of this year.
But the Taoiseach is not the only Coalition leader unhappy with Mr Martin’s pre-budget largesse.
Yesterday it was reported that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan confronted Mr Martin at the weekly meeting of Coalition leaders. Mr Ryan calculated that the Fianna Fáil leader had made spending promises worth more than €2bn in recent weeks.
And Mr Ryan fired another shot across the bows of his feuding Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael partners yesterday when he told his party conference that budgets ‘are for October’.
Addressing questions at the Green Party Ard Fheis, Mr Ryan played down claims of ‘sharp exchanges’ with his fellow Government party leaders. But in an apparent dig at his partners, he said ‘easy false promises’ will not win over voters.
Mr Ryan said: ‘I think we should do the budget in October. I think we should also be careful about promises.’
And Coalition tensions are expected to increase in the coming months as the three Government parties seek to distinguish themselves in advance of the general election, which will be held on or before March 22 next year.
However, all TDs and candidates have been put on alert by their respective party HQs to look out for an election falling any time from the end of September this year onward.
The next budget day is expected to be confirmed for October 10, but there is speculation it could be moved to late September.
It would not be the first time the budget has been moved forward; in 2022 the budget was announced a month early to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
If Finance Minister Michael McGrath does something similar this year, it will be a clear signal that an early election is on the cards. There are two bodies of opinion with the Government over whether or not to go to the polls earlier than next March.
The first, and most powerful, group argues that the Coalition should go all the way to the end of its
‘We shouldn’t have expected less’
‘I think we should do the budget in October’
term to fulfil its commitments and present a sober, stable front in the face of increasing populism.
This group includes the three Coalition leaders and senior Cabinet figures such as Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Mr McGrath.
Sources have said new ministers recently appointed by Mr Harris also want the chance of a prolonged spell in Cabinet to get experience in their new jobs.
However, there are many pragmatic figures within Government who believe the opposition will table a series of motions of no confidence to capitalise on the Coalition divisions, which are exacerbated by the at least 15 Fine Gael TDs who are not expected to stand in the next election.
With Mr Harris’s party losing more than a third of its sitting deputies, it could prove very difficult to hold together a razor-thin majority.