The empty Dáil Éireann chamber of the Lower House of the part-time Oireachtas (Irish Parliament). The members are amongst the best-paid in the world - - typical pay is equivalent to that of a United States Senator's $169,000 plus tax-free expenses, which can amount to more than 100% of pay - - but the Parliament only holds about 90 plenary sessions annually.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan told the Dáil today that many of the recommendations of the Bord Snip/McCarthy report on public spending “don't make sense.”  Her comments follow recent remarks from the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance that Commission on Taxation proposals are for the long-term. It's consistent with tradition; order up a report to delay making decisions on issues and then bin them if they produce the wrong answers.

The report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, unofficially known as Bord Snip, under the chairmanship of UCD economist Colm McCarthy, was published last July and contains proposals on spending cuts of €5.3 billion per annum.

Coughlan made her comment in the Dáil today, in response to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who accused the Government of "making a mess" of prison spaces.

Gilmore also called on the Tánaiste to state the Government would reject the McCarthy report recommendation that 350 Garda stations across the State should be closed.

"What sense is there in closing 350 Garda stations to make savings of €1 million. You could make that saving by abolishing two ministers of state. This recommendation doesn't make any sense, it is nonsense . . . particularly when the savings are so small."

Coughlan said all the proposals in the McCarthy report were being considered within the budgetary framework. "There are many recommendations within McCarthy that don't make sense, many," she said. "But it will be a matter for the Government to make the appropriate decisions."

Last Monday, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the proposals of the Commission on Taxation report will be implemented in the long term rather than the short term.

He said the immediate issue was the “unsustainable” nature of the public finances. He was responding to a claim that the report would be shelved.

“We do have to recognise that this is about setting out over the coming years. There’s a long-term focus, if you like, to how you would redesign our tax system,”he said.

“So that is an exercise that will, over time, have to be considered and implemented by Government . . . and obviously political decisions and input have to come into that consideration. But I think the immediate issue is clearly that the public finance position is presently unsustainable.”

The Commission on Taxation’s 550-page report had 230 recommendations covering a range of areas.

Cowen said the proposed redesign of the tax system would reward enterprise and result in equity, fairness and transparency. He said the system must provide a sustainable level of income to the exchequer for the provision of public and other necessary services. He said  Ireland needed to position itself so it could compete when an economic upturn came.

Last week, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan challenged anyone who doubted him on not raising taxes in the December Budget, said  "watch my lips," in an echo of the first President Bush in 1988.

He said the Government would not bring in a property or water tax this year. "I am not aware of any other (new tax hikes)," he said.

"I don't want to increase the burden of taxation in this Budget," he added on Today FM's 'The Last Word'.

If not taxes, then the choice will have to be spending cuts.

Earlier this month the Bord Snip chairman Colm McCarthy said at a conference in Dublin, that the Government had no choice but to introduce a serious medium-term fiscal adjustment.

He said the Government could not continue to borrow 10 per cent to 11 per cent of GDP. It needed to take action on pay and social welfare.

Speaking to journalists after the conference, McCarthy called for a new review of public sector pay. He said a third benchmarking exercise should be free to recommend pay cuts where necessary. The last benchmarking exercise had been prohibited in its terms of reference from recommending pay reductions.

McCarthy acknowledged that staff in the public sector had already seen their pay reduced by 7.5 per cent under the Government’s pensions levy and that an examination of top level pay rates was currently under way. He said public officials were entitled to be paid similarly to people in the private sector but this might involve pay reduction.

Asked about the establishment of a new campaign by public sector unions and representative bodies to oppose the spending review recommendations on cuts, the economist said: “A small reality is this country is bust. There is no shortage of compassion; there is a shortage of money. We are borrowing €400 million per week and a big component is the public sector payroll.”

Commission on Taxation Report 2009 - - Proposals on Irish tax overhaul

Lenihan publishes Bord Snip report; Proposes €5.3 billion in spending cuts and public sector staff reductions of 17,300; Says public pension cost at 30% of salary