Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----the Government has made policy commitments which are not factored into the spring statement. What we are getting does not reflect the Government's intentions. The Minister admitted this is a first stab at the new procedure. We have this document six months before the budget thanks to the European Semester rules. Similar statements are being made in the other parliaments at the same time because we all have to publish our budgets by mid-October. However, this is not the first time we made such statements. Last year the Government published its economic forecasts without a debate in the Chamber. The reason for our debate this year was to allow the Government to claim it is doing wonderfully in the run up to the election. The document issued 12 months ago indicated an adjustment of €2 billion would be required but by the time of the budget €1 billion was available in the opposite direction, which means the spring forecast was out by €3 billion. I do not know how inaccurate it will be this year but there is no basis for assuming the forecasts in the spring statement will bear any relation to the figures announced on budget day.

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