July 18 (Reuters) – Ireland may not have the political will to bring its budget deficit in line with EU rules as planned by 2014, the chairman of the smaller governing coalition member Green Party was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Investors and European leaders have praised Ireland for austerity measures culminating in 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) of spending cuts imposed in last December’s budget for 2010.
Green Party Chairman Dan Boyle told the Sunday Tribune it was “probably a heresy” for a government party to question whether the deficit could be cut to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014 from more than 14 percent in 2009.
“It is certainly doable if you want to be draconian every year,” Boyle was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “But is it politically feasible and is it socially possible?”
Boyle said he still expected the cabinet to deliver the 3 billion euros of savings planned for the 2011 budget in December and then the government could “take stock”.
“I do not see the public appetite continuing,” Boyle said. “It could be that we have neutral budgets for a period.”
The Green Party last year debated quitting the alliance with Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s Fianna Fail party due to the strains of the fiscal tightening and bank rescue programme, but its members ultimately decided to stay on board.
Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, the main architect of the reforms and also from Fianna Fail, are adamant Dublin must stick to austerity measures for the next four years.
If Ireland loosened its budget discipline, it could cause a flight of investors who already demand a hefty premium for holding Irish sovereign bonds.
So far Green ministers have supported the reforms. Boyle is chairman of the party and a member of the upper house of parliament, but not a member of the cabinet.
The budget deficit has risen partly due to the cost of rescuing banks, with much of it spent on nationalised Anglo Irish Bank [ANGIB.UL].
Boyle said he also expected the state to raise its minority holding in another lender, Allied Irish Banks (ALBK.I) to a majority of up to 70 percent.
(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Ramesh told not to exceed his brief, won”t resign for now: Sources
New Delhi, May 13 (ANI): Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh is unlikely to resign from the Union cabinet for the moment, but has been told by the Congress leadership not to overstep his brief.
The reported dressing down comes a day after he met Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram for about ten minutes to explain his stance on the controversial comments that he made in China with regard to the Indian Home MInistry.
Some sources had said earlier that the minister had offered to step down when he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, but others in the ministry and in the Congress have said that this is incorrect and added that Ramesh has no plans to quit.
Last week, Ramesh said the Home Ministry”s policies towards Chinese companies were “alarmist” and “paranoid”, and he had to explain his stand to the Prime Minister and to Sonia Gandhi.
Ramesh”s remarks were made in the context of a company named Huawei Technologies, which is a major manufacturer of telecom equipment, which has been lobbying to operate in India.
Ramesh is a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh and his term in the Upper House of Parliament comes to an end next month. The Congress leadership in Andhra Pradesh is reportedly reluctant to re-nominate him in the wake of his refusal as a minister to give permission and environment clearance to build a memorial for former chief minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy in a forest area where his chopper went down on September 2 last year. (ANI)