The three criteria for the Budget - fair, fair and fair

"Does the Taoiseach accept that such a proposal as I have described is unfair. . . yes or no?" the Fianna Fáil leader asked, citing a proposal from Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell-O'Connor to introduce a special low tax rate for returning emigrants.

“Yes, I do,” the Taoiseach replied bluntly.

And with that the idea was dead. If it isn’t fair it’s not getting into the budget.

Say what you like about Kenny, but he is a man who knows how to deliver a message. And today’s message is fairness.

“We want to present a budget that is as fair as possible. We do not have the resources to deal with all the claims that are coming in,” he told the Fianna Fáil leader. “So what we have to do is try to be as fair as possible with what we have.”

Next, Gerry Adams wanted to know what the budget was going to do for users of a service for disabled people in his Louth constituency.

“This is about fairness. Will the Taoiseach commit to the budget showing fairness to citizens with disabilities, their families and carers?” Adams asked. He would, of course.

Then Labour leader Brendan Howlin asked about the social welfare Christmas bonus. "We will try to be as fair as possible with the resources that are available," the Taoiseach reassured him.

Fairness will be the central motif of the budget. But it will also be central to the inevitable criticisms. A fair budget, Michael Noonan will insist. Unfair, his opponents will roar.

Public spending

But it’s not just the budget – the demand for fairness is now central to politics and policymaking, from taxation rates and public spending limits, to individual decisions about hospital services.

“Is that really fair, Minister?” radio and TV interviewers demand of unfortunate Government representatives charged with answering for the latest public service failure or cock-up.

Last week Sinn Féin's David Cullinane declared it was not fair that there was no 24/7 cardiac care in Waterford Hospital.

When Enda Kenny came into the Seanad on Thursday to address Senators, the Sinn Féin leader in the Upper House, Rose Conway-Walsh, told him he owed it to all the disadvantaged people in Ireland "to have a fair fiscal policy that will drive a fairer distribution of wealth in this country".

Nor will Fianna Fáil be outdone in demanding fairness. Health spokesman Billy Kelleher was speaking up in recent days on behalf of nurses who missed out on salary increments as a result of a decision by the Department of Public Expenditure not to count their internship experience between 2011 and 2015. The nurses, Kelleher said, "must be treated fairly".

His party colleague Michael McGrath last week criticised the Central Bank’s restrictions on mortgage lending. What do the mortgage deposit rules need to be? They need to be “flexible and fair”.

Willie O’Dea was speaking up in support of lone parents. Government proposals, he said, were “not only unfair, it is deeply damaging to parents and their children”.

But what does it actually mean?

It’s hard to escape the conclusion that for politicians and interest groups who are lobbying in advance of the budget “fair” means whatever they want to see in the budget.

And that is generally more public spending, and sometimes less tax, for their particular interest.

And for the Government “fair” is whatever eventually makes it into the budget.

The typical pre-budget submission declares that “now is the time for fairness” for whoever is the author of the document.

Yet does more spending automatically mean more fairness? "In general yes," say Tom Healy of the Nevin Institute, a trade union-funded think tank.

Others challenge that idea. The Hibernia Forum is a small centre-right think tank. The group, which is led by journalist and author Eamon Delaney, says budgets since 2011 have prioritised public spending over tax cuts, and that balance should now be reversed.

“Words like fairness – what does it mean?” asks Delaney. “When people call for more resources they usually mean higher pay and better conditions for themselves? What’s fair about that?”

The group also says it stands for “fair” – by which it means lower taxation.

Tax breaks

Meanwhile, business groups lobby publicly and privately for tax breaks – witness the campaign by the hospitality industry for the maintenance of the special 9 per cent rate of VAT.

And politicians in all parties demand that “hard-pressed taxpayers” be given a break from the “hated USC”. After all they’ve been through, it’s only fair.

Most calls for fairness centre around the perceived need for higher public spending on services, especially in areas like health. People stuck on waiting lists for treatment or sitting for hours in hospital emergency units feel the brunt of the health system’s shortcomings. But how exactly is the system unfair: is it underfunded or just chaotically organised?

Surveys by the Central Statistics Office and the OECD have found that Ireland is one of the highest spenders on health yet patients experience worse outcomes.That's surely unfair, but whose fault is it? And how to fix it? These are questions that won't be answered by the budget no matter how "fair" it is.

Many of the State’s 302,000 public servants believe that it is only fair that the pay cuts they endured should be reversed, and quickly. Gardaí are at the sharp end of that campaign.

Lost their jobs

The State employs over 66,000 teachers, 10,000 doctors and 41,000 nurses, and all have seen their incomes cut since the crash, many seeing take-home pay cut by as much as 20 per cent.

But many private sector workers lost their jobs, and many others saw pay cuts. All are paying higher taxes. They don’t have the security or pensions that their public sector counterparts enjoy.

The existing provision of public service pay increases in next year’s budget is €320 million. The allocation for tax cuts (which public servants will also benefit from) is about €330 million.

But even if the Government wanted to there would be no earthly chance of meeting all their demands for tax cuts or more spending – more fairness – in the budget, or the next 10 budgets as long as it continues to observe EU budget rules.

Restoring public service pay or tax cuts for all workers – which is fairer? Spending available resources on housing or disabilities? Restoring the social welfare Christmas bonus or a pay rise for gardaí?

Like everything else , it depends on who you ask.