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Inishowen reacts to Budget 2010
11.12.09
INISHOWEN people, like
the rest of the country, were yesterday trying to
digest Budget 2010 to see how it will affect them
next year and in years to come. Many of the major
cuts, such as Child Benefit and public sector pay
were well flagged up, but the extent of the cuts in
other areas such as Jobseekers' Allowance took many
by surprise. Here are some of the main provisions:
*Child benefit cut by €16 per child to €150 a month.
*Unemployment benefit cut by 4.1% - to under €200.
*Public sector on salaries up to €125,000 will have
wages cut by between 5-8 per cent. *Workers on
salaries up to €200,000 face further cuts of between
8-15 per cent
*€8.20 cut in the weekly carer’s benefit
*50 cent levy on every item on prescription.
*Carbon tax - diesel up 4.9 cent a litre and petrol
up 4.2 cent
*A €200,000 domicile levy on all Irish nationals
whose income exceeds €1m
Reactions to Budget 2010:
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 Families
should check out FIS: MANY families entitled to
extra financial help due to being on a low income
are not availing of the Family Income Supplement
Scheme or FIS, says Senator Cecilia Keaveney.
"As the Budget has put more pressure on many
families I think it is all the more important that
people on low incomes check out avenues for extra
financial support that they may well be entitled
to," she said.
"From January a family of four children will be
entitled to a FIS payment of €190 per week as a top
up to their wages if one parent is working full time
and the other working 19 hours a week and both are
on the national minimum wage. Their net income (not
gross) would be around €500 per week. This would
give them a combined income from employment and FIS
of about €690 per week. They would also be entitled
to €155.53 of Child Benefit per week.
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 A
massively missed opportunity: SINN Féin
councillor Pádraig MacLochlainn has described Budget
2010 as a "massively missed opportunity to address
the inequalities in Irish society".
"The Government has deliberately targeted the lowest
paid and the unemployed to carry the heaviest burden
of their mismanagement of the economy," he said.
Cllr MacLochlainn also noted 'the omission of any
substantive job stimulus measures was
"mind-boggling". "This should have been a Budget of
hope, with economic stimulus, job creation and
equity at its core. The Government could have
introduced a third tax rate for people earning more
than €100,000 a year; they should have introduced a
wealth tax similar to the successful solidarity tax
in France and capping higher end civil servants' pay
would have been a massively fairer measure in
comparison to the decision to now take a total of
12% in additional taxes from the lowest paid public
service workers."
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 VAT
and excise cuts should help: THE half per cent
cut in VAT and cuts to excise duty have been
welcomed by FF Deputy Niall Blaney. “This is very
practical move and I know that it will come as good
news to both retailers and consumers.
"The difference in the VAT rate and the favourable
currency exchange rate across the border in Northern
Ireland and in the UK, in general, has added to the
pressure on retailers here in the last number of
months.
“With the general downturn and people spending less,
many businesses have been finding it hard to
compete. This move by the Government should improve
the situation somewhat," he said, urging Donegal
people to shop local this Christmas.
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 Devastating
blow for families: DONEGAL Sinn Féin Senator,
Pearse Doherty has described the budget as a
"devastating blow to Donegal families". He said it
was also destructive to the local economy and a
"disgraceful Budget from a Government desperate to
protect high earners". "This Budget reduces social
welfare payments for the 20,000 unemployed people of
Donegal, it partially charges our 78,000 medical
card holders for their medication, and over 35,000
Donegal children don't escape the blow either as
their allowance is cut by €16 per month.
"It is beyond belief that this Fianna Fáil
Government has cut funding for primary schools by
27% at a time when 61 schools in Donegal are waiting
for over twenty years for a new school or extension
to their existing school," he said.
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Budget strongly
linked to ECB: PEOPLE'S Movement chairperson and
former MEP Patricia McKenna has said the link
between Budget 2010 and the European Central Bank
"must not be ignored or brushed aside". "We no
longer have our own money, or our own exchange rate
or our own interest rate. In addition, our own
Central Bank has no real independent control over
banking regulation or monetary policy. That is all
coming from Frankfurt," said Ms McKenna.
"There is no doubt that this budget has been
designed with the needs and demands of the ECB
taking centre stage. If anyone believes that our
Government put together a Budget in isolation of EU
demands or without checking the acceptability of
their proposals with the powers-that-be in Brussels
and Frankfurt, then they are gravely mistaken.”
Mixed message for Donegal tourism: BUDGET
2010 has brought a "mixed message for Donegal
tourism", says Senator Keaveney. "On the one hand
there has been a very welcoming tripling of the
capital programme for product development to some
€22m.
"The programme to encourage older people to holiday
in Ireland with reduced priced rail vouchers, while
novel, won't impact at all in Donegal unless there
is an island approach to the train services covered
and that the buses are covered also."
DEPUTY Niall Blaney has described as "significant"
the measures in Budget 2010 to support and create
jobs, retrain people, and assist employers. “The
measures introduced coupled with Government
initiatives that are already in place will help
sustain and create employment opportunities.
“It’s vital that we continue to invest in job
stimulation and retraining to get people back
working so that we are in a position to take
advantage of the upturn when it comes.”
“In particular I am happy that we were in a position
to offer one-year employers’ PRSI exemption for all
new jobs created for unemployed in 2010.”
“This will help in the creation of jobs and take
some burden off employers who have been finding it
hard to maintain wages bills.”
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