Tánaiste Micheál Martin has issued a fiery response to Fine Gael ministers publicly calling for Budget measures.
He told the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party that “Ministers of State writing op-eds is not helpful” and “undermines” the budget process.
It comes after Fine Gael Ministers of State Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Martin Heydon, and Peter Burke wrote an article in the Irish Independent calling for tax breaks of up to €1,000 for middle-income earners.
However, Fine Gael politicians also hit back at their coalition partners, who they said were "on probation" from the last financial crash.
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The move angered many in Fianna Fáil, who accused its coalition partners of going on a solo run.
There is also anger after Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar told the Dáil there will be pension increases as part of October’s Budget.
At the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday evening, Mr Martin hit back at the comments.
Sources said that the Tánaiste spoke about the Budgetary process and “outlined the arrangements agreed in the Programme for Government around reducing the tax burden and increasing the spending on public services and infrastructure”.
“Ministers of State writing op-Eds is not helpful,” he said.
“It undermines this process.”
It is understood that he said that Fianna Fáil's priority will always be protecting those on fixed, low and middle incomes.
The Tánaiste said he was particularly conscious about people living with disability, pensioners and carers. He noted there had been tax relief to support renters and landlords.
He told his party that Ministers will make a “collective decision on the budget” closer to October.
The Tánaiste requested his party members engage directly with the Ministerial team “with any suggestions or proposals they may have.”
He reminded them that the budget will be “strategic in approach and guided by the agreed Programme for Government.”
Mr Martin stated that Finance Minister Michael McGrath has overall responsibility for the budget process and he “insisted that the Minister is given the space to do that” as the “public would expect no less.”
Meanwhile, at the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Mr Varadkar and his TDs and Senators also spoke about the budget.
The Taoiseach said the fact that there are record numbers of people at work will “allow for an income tax, welfare and pensions package in the Budget”.
He said that he expects Programme for Government commitments on relieving the tax burden on middle income earners to be “honoured”.
He also said that the Government will be able to take decisions on whether to reduce the national debt, increase spending on national infrastructure or set aside money for future pension liabilities and to what extent and combination.
Fine Gael will hold a meeting in June to discuss its Budget priorities.
Some sources at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meetings said that there was a lot of support for the junior ministers’ article.
It is understood that former Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said that Fine Gael does not need “lectures” from Fianna Fáil TDs who are “still on probation from the crash”.
Senator Garret Ahearn, meanwhile, is understood to have said that when Fianna Fáil speaks about money, it is a surplus gained “because of decisions made by Fine Gael over the past 12 years”.
The comments were echoed by Mr Varadkar, who said that Ireland has reached record employment “because Fine Gael had made the right choices on economic policy for the past 12 years in the Parliamentary Party Room and in Cabinet.”
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