Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

He is taking the public for fools. If he does not want to answer the question that is fine but it is not for the Minister of State; it is for the Minister for Finance. He is taking us for fools. That is a major decision to take. Yes, it is absolutely a decision the Minister can take but it actually reduces the data he has in framing the budget. Every single finance Minister has crucially said that. The Committee on Budgetary Oversight has been demanding that the White Paper be published weeks earlier and every Minister for Finance has said it cannot be published until midnight on the Friday before the budget on the following Tuesday because the September tax receipts are crucial to the formation of the budget. If the Minister has decided to bring it forward, let him be truthful about it. It is to give himself options for an early budget instead of actually coming up with this cock-and-bull story about a clash. Is he going to a European Union meeting on 8 October? Is that what is happening? Is that why we cannot have the budget on 8 October as normally scheduled?

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