Here is perhaps a foretaste of what must be done here once we have a government which will stop playing politics and DO something vital.
When reading the figures for Ireland and comparing 5them to Britain you should at a rough calculation multiply the Irish figures by 15. In addition today’s price for the euro is 91p. Thus a total spending cut shown here of €4 billion equates to about £55 billion in British terms. That’s somebody who takes his job seriously unlike Darling’s political manoeivring yesterday which did NOTHING to cut our debts.
Christina
===============================
IRISH BUDGET CUTS December 2009
(drawn primarily from the Irish Times)
Public servants and social welfare recipients took the brunt of the €4 billion in spending cuts announced in the Budget yesterday by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
Key elements in the Budget unveiled by Mr Lenihan yesterday were cuts of more than €1 billion in public service pay, a reduction of €760 million in social welfare, just under €1 billion on day-to-day spending and the same amount on capital projects.
From January 1st public servants will suffer a cut of 5 per cent on the first €30,000 of salary, 7.5 per cent on the next €40,000 and 10 per cent on the next €55,000. Social welfare recipients face an average reduction of 4.1 per cent with those under 25 facing much more substantial cuts.
Child benefit will be cut by €16 a month with families on social welfare being compensated through an increase of €3.80 a week in the qualified child allowance.
Pensioners were exempt from the welfare cuts and public service pensioners decoupled from the cuts in pay. However, Mr Lenihan announced his intention of ending the link between public service pay and pensions in the future, making a link instead with the cost of living index. A cut of 20 per cent in the Taoiseach’s pay and 15 per cent in Ministers’ pay was also announced.
Full details of the cuts across Government Departments will emerge in coming days. They include measures such as a 50 cent charge per item on prescriptions and an increase in the monthly threshold for the drugs payment scheme from €100 to €120. Savings of €400 million are to be made in health.
However, there is plenty more pain to come as Mr Lenihan last night revealed plans to achieve €2bn more in cutbacks in 2011 through water charges, a property tax and public sector reforms.
The Government is also planning a radical overhaul of the PRSI, income and health levy system, which will also widen the tax base.
KEY CUTS
-€16
Child benefit cut by 10 per cent to €150 a month. (=£136.50)
-€8
Unemployment benefit cut by 4.1% - to under €200. (=under £182)
-5-8%
Public sector workers on salaries of up to €125,000 (=£114,000) will have wages cut by between 5-8 per cent. Workers on salaries of up to €200,000 (=£182,000) face further cuts of between 8-15 per cent
-€8.20 (down £7.46)
Weekly carer’s benefit
50 cent charge on every item on prescription
KEY TAXES
+4.9 cent
Carbon tax - diesel up 4.9 cent a litre and petrol up 4.2 cent
+€200,000 (=+£182,000)
Domicile levy on all Irish nationals whose income exceeds €1m (=£910,000)
Posts
