Seanad debates

Tuesday, 25 March 2003

Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Second Stage.

 

This will not be made any easier by Sustaining Progress, the new partnership agreement, because it includes as well as everything else the benchmarking awards. We are looking at a quite substantial increase in public spending with very little to show in the way of return – this at a time of little or no revenue growth to fund that extra spending. Benchmarking – I am sure Senator Ross will have something to say about it – is a done deal at this stage, and nothing can roll it back. What it imposes on us is an obligation to revisit the issue of public spending, to see if we can squeeze better value out of it.

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