Ireland is small - so small (4.1m) that we don’t appreciate the scale
of the cartastrophe that has hit our neighbour. At the end of this I
scale up the cut in public service employees to the same proportion
as if this were the UK. So I will go through this again and add what
the UK equivalent would be. I do it thus: [UK equiv....]
Earlier I reported that Dell computers were decamping from Ireland to
Poland with a loss of 1400 jobs. That would work out at nearly
21,000 here. That would cause a stink here!
At least the politician here is honest in that finances will take
another five years of hard grindm high taxes and austerity before
things get back on an even keel.
They could of course leave the euro and devalue the reconstituted punt.
xxxxxxxxxxx cs
===================
IRISH INDEPENDENT 9.1.09
Lenihan to tell EU that finances won't balance until 2013
By Brendan Keenan and Senan Molony
IT will be 2013 before Ireland's public finances are back in balance,
the Government will tell the EU Commission today, and that will
require higher taxes and fierce control of spending.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has been forced to sharply downgrade
the projection in last October's Budget. These foresaw the deficit in
the government finance falling below the permitted ceiling of 3pc of
national output by 2011.
But with the economy now expected to shrink by 4pc this year, tax
revenues will be the less than in 2005, despite the €2bn in new taxes
and levies in the Budget. That would leave a deficit of €20bn this
year[[UK equiv....£299bn - a staggering sum], unless immediate action
is taken.
Mr Lenihan is understood to have told Cabinet colleagues that a
cumulative €17bn [UK equiv....£253bn] will have to be found in
spending curbs and increased taxation over the next five years.
He wants decisions to be announced in the next few weeks and public
sector pay will figure strongly in the proposed adjustments.
Even social welfare spending may not be immune, given that falling
prices this year could increase the real value of the Budget increase
to 5pc.
However, any adjustments there are unlikely before the 2010 Budget.
Increased unemployment, which is expected to top 10pc by the end of
this year, would contribute to public spending rising by 5.25pc this
year, unless savings are made.
Timetable
The new timetable will have to be approved by the EU Commission to
avoid Ireland being subject to the disciplinary procedures for
members of the euro area who breach the borrowing rules.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night said it was important to sit down
with the social partners, given the scale of the difficulties facing
the country.
"We want to listen to any inputs that they would have, so that we
might work together to deal with them, and get on with making those
decisions," he said.
Mr Cowen refused to be drawn on whether the Government had decided
that the National Pay Agreement should be destined for the deep freeze.
Earlier the Taoiseach was bluntly told by employers yesterday that up
to 66,000 jobs [On this figure scaled up to the size of the UK that
would be the equivalent of no less than 980,000 people of 50% more
than the total state employees here! -cs] should be chopped from the
Irish public service. IBEC has called for the public sector to be
aggressively pruned to more "realistic" levels. The demand will
provoke an angry response from public sector unions
of the cartastrophe that has hit our neighbour. At the end of this I
scale up the cut in public service employees to the same proportion
as if this were the UK. So I will go through this again and add what
the UK equivalent would be. I do it thus: [UK equiv....]
Earlier I reported that Dell computers were decamping from Ireland to
Poland with a loss of 1400 jobs. That would work out at nearly
21,000 here. That would cause a stink here!
At least the politician here is honest in that finances will take
another five years of hard grindm high taxes and austerity before
things get back on an even keel.
They could of course leave the euro and devalue the reconstituted punt.
xxxxxxxxxxx cs
===================
IRISH INDEPENDENT 9.1.09
Lenihan to tell EU that finances won't balance until 2013
By Brendan Keenan and Senan Molony
IT will be 2013 before Ireland's public finances are back in balance,
the Government will tell the EU Commission today, and that will
require higher taxes and fierce control of spending.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has been forced to sharply downgrade
the projection in last October's Budget. These foresaw the deficit in
the government finance falling below the permitted ceiling of 3pc of
national output by 2011.
But with the economy now expected to shrink by 4pc this year, tax
revenues will be the less than in 2005, despite the €2bn in new taxes
and levies in the Budget. That would leave a deficit of €20bn this
year[[UK equiv....£299bn - a staggering sum], unless immediate action
is taken.
Mr Lenihan is understood to have told Cabinet colleagues that a
cumulative €17bn [UK equiv....£253bn] will have to be found in
spending curbs and increased taxation over the next five years.
He wants decisions to be announced in the next few weeks and public
sector pay will figure strongly in the proposed adjustments.
Even social welfare spending may not be immune, given that falling
prices this year could increase the real value of the Budget increase
to 5pc.
However, any adjustments there are unlikely before the 2010 Budget.
Increased unemployment, which is expected to top 10pc by the end of
this year, would contribute to public spending rising by 5.25pc this
year, unless savings are made.
Timetable
The new timetable will have to be approved by the EU Commission to
avoid Ireland being subject to the disciplinary procedures for
members of the euro area who breach the borrowing rules.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night said it was important to sit down
with the social partners, given the scale of the difficulties facing
the country.
"We want to listen to any inputs that they would have, so that we
might work together to deal with them, and get on with making those
decisions," he said.
Mr Cowen refused to be drawn on whether the Government had decided
that the National Pay Agreement should be destined for the deep freeze.
Earlier the Taoiseach was bluntly told by employers yesterday that up
to 66,000 jobs [On this figure scaled up to the size of the UK that
would be the equivalent of no less than 980,000 people of 50% more
than the total state employees here! -cs] should be chopped from the
Irish public service. IBEC has called for the public sector to be
aggressively pruned to more "realistic" levels. The demand will
provoke an angry response from public sector unions
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