Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Under the fiscal compact, every national parliament must consider the stability programme update and return it to the European Union. This matters. It sets parameters for the budget, is based on the growth forecast and comes from the Commission. This is the first part in a very important part of the budgetary process. We got it at 10 p.m. last night. We telephoned the Minister's office yesterday, as soon as we knew statements were coming, but the officials refused to speak to us. We telephoned the Department of Finance and it refused to speak to us.

This is a very pretty document in that it has had graphic designers, typesetters and printers, which means the data in the document has been available for a considerable period of time. It is completely unacceptable that graphic designers, typesetters, printers and civil servants have all had access to this document, which is a key part of the budgetary process, and that the caretaker Minister, the acting Minister, would put it in pigeonholes for Parliament to consider at 10 p.m. at night and say we can have a chat about it in the morning and he will then send it off to the European Commission.

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