Budget 2012 Live Discussion thread

nesf

So we'll have one place to comment later. Only 2 hours to go people!

fliball123

nesf wrote: »

So we'll have one place to comment later. Only 2 hours to go people!

Does anyone know a good link online for the budget?

nesf

There should be a live update of measures here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1205/budget.html

fliball123

nesf wrote: »

There should be a live update of measures here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1205/budget.html

Cheers

who what when

Im confused, I thought the budget is tommorow? Or have I slept through Monday?

fliball123

who what when wrote: »

Im confused, I thought the budget is tommorow? Or have I slept through Monday?

Cuts budget today.... tax budget tomorrow

who what when

Oh right. Whats the point of that?

nesf

who what when wrote: »

Oh right. Whats the point of that?

To soften us up for the tax increases I'd say. "Look at all these PS cuts! Now we're just going to ask for a little something in return..."

Riskymove

who what when wrote: »

Oh right. Whats the point of that?

Finance was split into two Departments and both Ministers want their own speechifying time in the spotlight!!

Dan_Solo

Riskymove wrote: »

Finance was split into two Departments

Another brilliant cost cutting through doubling of staff exercise there Enda.

touts

who what when wrote: »

Oh right. Whats the point of that?

I suspect Labour wanted a budget speech but Fine Gael had the real Minister for Finance. So a second one was created for the Minister for Finance Lite. But that created a problem in that Fine Gael, the larger/senior partner, and Labour. the smaller/junior partner, both had the same number of budget speeches. So to keep Fine Gael happy they got half a budget speech which Enda made last night. That way the score is Fine Gael 1.5 - 1 Labour so everyone is more or less happy. God budget negotiations are tough.

nesf

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Another brilliant cost cutting through doubling of staff exercise there Enda.

I think they just split the existing DoF staff.

Sir Oxman

nesf wrote: »

So we'll have one place to comment later. Only 2 hours to go people!

Gulp. Runs off to get calculator (pen and paper)

That_Guy

Today's budget is sponsored by

Anita Blow

Not sure if it's already known, but just heard there that college fees to go up by 250 this year and then that's it. Originally I think it was meant to go up by 250 each year till 2015 but I guess they abandoned that idea.
Could be wrong though!

MagicMarker

Must get the popcorn on for this.

racso1975

When will the book of estimates be available?

nesf

€250 increase in Third Level fees confirmed. No further increases.

Child Benefit cuts for children past the second confirmed.

No Medical Card fee, no increase in prescription charges.

Increases in fees for private beds in hospitals, meaning higher premiums for everyone.

Byron85

Postgrad grants completely scrapped.

nesf

Fuel allowance cut to 26 weeks from 32 weeks. Savings of €50m.


Back to school allowance abolished for two and three-year-olds. Savings of €30m. Fraud control will bring savings of 40m. Administration savings of €20m.

nesf

Blah'd blah. Get onto to the meat of the issue!!

NIMAN

nesf wrote: »

Fuel allowance cut to 26 weeks from 32 weeks. Savings of €50m.


Back to school allowance abolished for two and three-year-olds. Savings of €30m. Fraud control will bring savings of 40m. Administration savings of €20m.

Do 2 and 3yr olds go to school now?

Sierra Oscar

nesf wrote: »

€250 increase in Third Level fees confirmed. No further increases.

Well fees are most certainly set to be €3,000 by 2015 at the very latest - its just that the next steps in achieving that goal have not been outlined yet.

_Kaiser_

nesf wrote: »

Blah'd blah. Get onto to the meat of the issue!!

Most of them aren't listening anyway.. they're busy reading through the actual specifics

nesf

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Well fees are most certainly set to be €3,000 by 2015 at the very latest - its just that the next steps in achieving that goal have not been outlined yet.

They're claiming at the moment that they'd abandoned that idea. I wonder what they're going to do instead in Education.

Sir Oxman

nesf wrote: »

Fuel allowance cut to 26 weeks from 32 weeks. Savings of €50m.


Back to school allowance abolished for two and three-year-olds. Savings of €30m. Fraud control will bring savings of 40m. Administration savings of €20m.

2 and 3 year olds got back to school allowances?

Looks like the extra benefits are being gnawed at - I have no problems with that within reason (ie, a proactive social system not a flatrate one)

Medcard/prescrips should not be left untouched (providing as above there is a proactive system in place)

I'd like to hear of immediate plans to link revenue and DSP systems.

disappointed for workers who will have yet another increase in medical costs.

nesf

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Most of them aren't listening anyway.. they're busy reading through the actual specifics

Yup, lucky bastards. I want to see now how much this will affect me.

nesf

gambiaman wrote: »

2 and 3 year olds got back to school allowances?

Yup, it was basically a way of subsidising childcare for working parents without directly calling it such. Was a bit silly in that everyone got it regardless of whether the kids were in childcare or preschool.

Dodge

NIMAN wrote: »

Do 2 and 3yr olds go to school now?

Not now they don't. Can't afford it

Sir Oxman

Springboard is good, being given extra resources.

Please abolish Jobbridge.

Jobs plan: Training, training and more training but where are the jobs

nesf

hellboy99 wrote: »

Jobs plan: Training, training and more training but where are the jobs

We badly need to retrain those who worked in the construction sector so it's a fairly valid idea. Not that we can turn every carpenter into a computer programmer or anything.

Sierra Oscar

hellboy99 wrote: »

Jobs plan: Training, training and more training but where are the jobs

Most likely in the slave labour internship schemes.

Its a disgrace to even count those unpaid positions as jobs.

nesf

nesf wrote: »

We badly need to retrain those who worked in the construction sector so it's a fairly valid idea.

I agree, but the jobs just ain't here and unemployment is on the up.

nesf

Hmm, a warning about Croke Park needing to work. Interesting from a Labour Minister.

Sick leave reform too.

JohnnyTodd

hellboy99 wrote: »

Jobs plan: Training, training and more training but where are the jobs

There is no jobs. If we were properly trained there would be loads of jobs.

That_Guy

"Protect the most vulnerable"

"Get people back working"

BINGO

_Kaiser_

Here it comes... (EDIT: no reduction in weekly social welfare payments. I'm surprised!)

EDIT 2: Guess he's also hoping the mild winter will continue too!

That_Guy

No change to social welfare payments. Wow.

MagicMarker

FFS, joke

Thrill

That_Guy wrote: »

No change to social welfare payments. Wow.

Colour me stunned.

mathie

That_Guy wrote: »

No change to social welfare payments. Wow.

And yet VAT increases so businesses have less to pay people.

What a joke this country is.

Duckjob

Did Enda nod off for a minute?

scargill

Duckjob wrote: »

Did Enda nod off for a minute?

wasn't he on de telly very late last night? needs a little nap.

nesf

€50 million for Mental Health and GP access. A ray of sunshine and smart. Community based mental health services save money by reducing the amount of people in hospitals.

Duckjob

Great.

So it's screw the middle income workers - AGAIN. Tediously predictable.

abouttobebanned

Thirteen thousand six hundred and forty four million for health.

Eh...

nesf

That_Guy wrote: »

No change to social welfare payments. Wow.

Loads of nibbling around the edges though. Disposable income for people on welfare will be going down.

Sofa King Great

Charlie Taylor: No reduction in social welfare payments



Charlie Taylor:
"The level of social welfare expenditure now in place cannot be sustained from the fundnig base now available" - Howlin
WTF???

sambora

No change to social welfare payments. Wow.

Why should there be a reduction? €188 is very little for people to survive on per week.

ongarite

What a joke. No cuts for social welfare.
Only real savings are to be made not from reductions in benefits but in rebates to employeers who layoff staff.