Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is pretty clear from the Taoiseach's reply to Deputy Kenny that the Government's offer to make information available to the Opposition parties is not genuine. This is not a genuine involvement of the Opposition in the budgetary decision process. The Taoiseach said that the Government will make decisions and announce them on budget day. That is business as usual, the Government presenting it to us as a fait accompli. The Opposition parties are not genuinely involved in the exercise. The information available to us is no more than we would be able to get by the use of good parliamentary questions. This exercise of opening the doors to the Opposition, mar dhea, is a political smokescreen while the Government goes on with the job of making decisions.

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