All the hype over budget. It wasnt bad at all!

JohnnyTodd

That budget was grand. I was expecting much much worse. Seems like a few cuts here and there but nothing major.

Agreed or am I missing something?

Professey Chin

The big part is tomorrow

Dermo

JohnnyTodd wrote: »

That budget was grand. I was expecting much much worse. Seems like a few cuts here and there but nothing major.

Agreed or am I missing something?

The rest of the budget is tomorrow. This is only half of it

sensibleken

are you from the future?

sensibleken

"Cut of six weeks in the cold weather allowance."

what the hell is cold weather allowance. surely everyone in the country could claim that

BunShopVoyeur

JohnnyTodd wrote: »

That budget was grand. I was expecting much much worse. Seems like a few cuts here and there but nothing major.

Agreed or am I missing something?

Tune in tomorrow...

washiskin

sensibleken wrote: »

"Cut of six weeks in the cold weather allowance."

what the hell is cold weather allowance. surely everyone in the country could claim that

It's the €20 pensioners get per week which barely covers a bag of coal & a bale of briquettes.

silly

JohnnyTodd wrote: »

Agreed or am I missing something?

yes, the 2nd day of the budget.

Anyone

Today was just the foreplay. Tomorrow we get rode.

The Internet Explorer

Easy for yoarghhhh arghhh rabble rabble rabble if you werarghhhhh rabble rabble rabble then you wouldn't bearggghhhhhhhhhhhhh rabble rabble rabble. With the rabble rabble arggghhh and the state the country is argggghhhhh. Rabble rabble rabble. Rabble.

Biggins

http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2012/2012.aspx

ONLY todays lot:

Child Benefit
�� Phase out entitlements to higher rates for the third and
subsequent child over two years
�� Discontinue one-off grants in respect of multiple births


Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance
�� Raise age at which a child qualifies from 2 to 4
�� Reduce rates of payment from €305 to €250 and from €200 to
€150


Qualified child increases
�� For new social insurance claimants, standardise entitlement to a
half-rate qualified child increase where spouse/partner has an
income in excess of €400 per week

Jobseeker’s Benefit
�� Base payment entitlement on a 5 day week rather than a six day
week where a person is working for part of a week
�� From 2013, take employment on Sunday into account when
determining the level of entitlement

Farm Assist
�� Amendments to means test

Disability Allowance
�� Increase age of entitlement for new claimants to 18 in line with
other social welfare payments
�� Align rates of payment for new claimants aged 18 to 24 with the
Jobseeker’s Allowance scheme - new rates of €100 for 18 to 21
year olds inclusive and €144 for 22 to 24 year olds inclusive.
�� As a compensatory measure, entitlement to Domiciliary Care
Allowance will be extended to 16 and 17 year olds

Disablement Benefit
�� For new claimants, remove entitlement to disablement benefit,
where the level of disability is classified as less than 15 per cent

One Parent Family Payment
�� Entitlement will be restricted to cases where the youngest child is
7 years of age over the period to 2014
�� Discontinue, for new and existing claimants, entitlement to two
qualified child increases (currently €29.80 per week) where a
recipient is also on Community Employment Scheme
�� Reduce – over five years – the earnings disregard from €146.50
to €60 per week, for new and existing claimants and discontinue
the transitional payment where income exceeds €425 per week

Redundancy and Insolvency Scheme
�� Reduce employer rebate from 60% to 15%

Rent Supplement
�� Increase minimum contribution and review rent limits

Mortgage Interest Supplement
�� Increase minimum contribution and further restrict expenditure

Fuel Allowance
�� Reduce fuel season by 6 weeks from 32 to 26 weeks for new and
existing recipients

Community Employment Schemes, Back to Education Allowance and
Jobs Initiative
�� Reduce the training and materials from €1,500 to €500 per
participant per annum and obtain savings from supervisory costs
on Community Employment schemes
�� Reduce the annual cost of education allowance to €300
�� Reduce materials allowance and discontinue payment of training
budget for participants on Department’s Jobs Initiative Scheme.

Household Benefits
�� Reduce expenditure on the electricity/gas allowances

State Pension
�� Provide, for new claimants, new payment rates of State Pensions
where the yearly average number of contributions and credits is
less than 48 contributions (from September 2012)
�� Increase the minimum number of contributions required to qualify
for a Widow/er’s Contributory Pension from 156 to 520 in July
2013

Concurrent Payments
�� Discontinue entitlement, for certain new claimants, to concurrent
receipt of an additional half-rate of Jobseeker’s Benefit or Illness
Benefit
�� Phase out – over three years – entitlement to Community
Employment payment and another DSP payment

Late Claims
�� Reduce statutory backdating for late claims from 12 to 6 months
for full entitlement and remove proportionate provision.

Fraud and Control Measures
�� Enhance fraud and control activity

Other Measures
�� Reductions through administrative budget; means testing
rationalisation; treatment benefit and other miscellaneous
measures

Source: http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2012/2012.aspx


...And thats a summary. There's more. See PDF's at above link.

My name is URL

There's another five years of harshly austere budgets to come, let alone the rest of this years!

Biggins

My name is URL wrote: »

There's another five years of harshly austere budgets to come, let alone the rest of this years!

Yep.

sensibleken

^^ all seems fairly reasonable.

therell be those kicking up a fuss whos job it is to kick up a fuss but realistically those proposals seem fair enough.

whats the story, is that the cuts bit done and tomorrow is the taxes bit?

Chuck Stone

washiskin wrote: »

It's the €20 pensioners get per week which barely covers a bag of coal & a bale of briquettes.

People on the state pension are entitled to have their houses insulated aren't they though?

So that would mitigate the fuel allowance cuts.

I cajoled my parents (seniors) into getting their house insulated and it made a huge difference and they're using a hell of a lot less gas.

Vicxas

Roll on tomorrow..... we're gonna get bummed

Biggins

sensibleken wrote: »

...whats the story, is that the cuts bit done and tomorrow is the taxes bit?

Correct.

However it was not all cuts.

On December 1st FG/Labour allowed a 17% increase in their travel expenses, a 23% increase in their office expenditure (others only got 15% increase).
This was all mentioned (FF speaker) in the Dail a while ago along with a lot more increases to TD's in power.

Nice eh?

stimpson

Can anyone decode this for me?

Qualified child increases
�� For new social insurance claimants, standardise entitlement to a
half-rate qualified child increase where spouse/partner has an
income in excess of €400 per week

smash

Vicxas wrote: »

Roll on tomorrow..... we're gonna get bummed

Sounds like you're well up for it though.

Lord Trollington

My name is URL wrote: »

There's another five years of harshly austere budgets to come, let alone the rest of this years!

We're already to the bone as it is. Cant imagine what services will be like in 5 years time.

Biggins

stimpson wrote: »

Can anyone decode this for me?

Qualified child increases
�� For new social insurance claimants, standardise entitlement to a
half-rate qualified child increase where spouse/partner has an
income in excess of €400 per week

Not sure myself but thats how it appears on page 24 of this document:

APOLOGIES - CORRECTED LINK: http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2012/Documents/CER%20-%20Estimates%20Final%20Part%202.pdf

The CLEAR cut numbers are shown on page 28 onwards.

donalg1

Chuck Stone wrote: »

People on the state pension are entitled to have their houses insulated aren't they though?

So that would mitigate the fuel allowance cuts.

I cajoled my parents (seniors) into getting their house insulated and it made a huge difference and they're using a hell of a lot less gas.

Think they have to pay a bit towards the grant though so its not completely free unless they manage to get it from the council under the Housing Aid grant, think they get referred to the SEI alot of the time as the Council got no money for this and tend to focus on more urgent aspects of the Housing Grants

ilovesleep

Biggins wrote: »

Correct.

However it was not all cuts.

On December 1st FG/Labour allowed a 17% increase in their travel expenses, a 23% increase in their office expenditure (others only got 15% increase).
This was all mentioned (FF speaker) in the Dail a while ago along with a lot more increases to TD's in power.

Nice eh?

Jesus fcuking holy fcuking christ on a fcuking bike!
Is there anything that will stop this carry on at all?

Sure hit disabed teenagers to keep their pockets fuller. What a fcuking insult.

leonidas83

Biggins wrote: »

Correct.

However it was not all cuts.

On December 1st FG/Labour allowed a 17% increase in their travel expenses, a 23% increase in their office expenditure (others only got 15% increase).
This was all mentioned (FF speaker) in the Dail a while ago along with a lot more increases to TD's in power.

Nice eh?

People dont care anymore and I dont blame them, were all sick of hearing how the politicians are living on a different planet to the rest of us, we know they are taking the piss and have been for many years. There's hardly anything we can do individually and there isnt enough of us collectively that want to do something about it so these guys are just going to carry on robbing the nation blind. So get used to it for the next years and buy some lube

ilovesleep

JohnnyTodd wrote: »

That budget was grand. I was expecting much much worse. Seems like a few cuts here and there but nothing major.

Agreed or am I missing something?

Fair - clearly - see above

Richard Hillman

In very happy with it so far and think they could have cut more. I'd imagine they will have the "bad" day 1st and a light day for the 2nd. Have the people fear the worse for day 2 only to find it wasn't as bad as it was built up to be. This was the reasoning behind the speech last night.

That_Guy

Disability allowance hit.... If they made this announcement and it coincided with an initiative to get those with disabilities into training with the hope of future employment it wouldn't have seemed so bad really.

smash

Richard Hillman wrote: »

In very happy with it so far and think they could have cut more. I'd imagine they will have the "bad" day 1st and a light day for the 2nd. Have the people fear the worse for day 2 only to find it wasn't as bad as it was built up to be. This was the reasoning behind the speech last night.

Tomorrow is when we'll really get screwed with stealth taxes.

Biggins

smash wrote: »

Tomorrow is when we'll really get screwed with stealth taxes.

Big time.

ilovesleep

leonidas83 wrote: »

People dont care anymore and I dont blame them, were all sick of hearing how the politicians are living on a different planet to the rest of us, we know they are taking the piss and have been for many years. There's hardly anything we can do individually and there isnt enough of us collectively that want to do something about it so these guys are just going to carry on robbing the nation blind. So get used to it for the next years and buy some lube

This is a country that I no longer want to live in with the majority having such a way of thinking. This bullsh1t and clear abuse would not happen in any other country and I want to know what makes it acceptable?

leonidas83

ilovesleep wrote: »

This is a country that I no longer want to live in with the majority having such a way of thinking. This bullsh1t and clear abuse would not happen in any other country and I want to know what makes it acceptable?

Happens in alot of countries, the difference with ours and the rest is that we've found out how out lazy and apathetic we really are

JohnnyTodd

Yeah there's cuts alright but it's not bad.

I'm thinking tomorrow won't be too bad neither.

Fingers crossed

That_Guy

Vicxas wrote: »

Roll on tomorrow..... we're gonna get bummed

I haven't had sex in a while. This will be a treat.

Arawn

JohnnyTodd wrote: »

Yeah there's cuts alright but it's not bad.

I'm thinking tomorrow won't be too bad neither.

Fingers crossed

Td???

FrostyJack

ilovesleep wrote: »

This is a country that I no longer want to live in with the majority having such a way of thinking. This bullsh1t and clear abuse would not happen in any other country and I want to know what makes it acceptable?

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I hear the government are much better in Syria.

Kashkai

I can't wait for the delightful "Household Charge" that covers what exactly????? I'll still have to pay €400 a year for my bin collections, €200 a year to have my septic tank emptied etc. So no services are being provided that aren't already being paid for out of my income tax/net income.

Then there's the lovely prospect of this €100 a year (which once wouldn't have seen like such a large sum but now is a small fortune to me!) household charge morphing into a property valuation tax in the coming years. I paid €32,000 in fcuking stamp duty when I bought the house 6 years ago. I'm now in negative equity, paying 55% of my net monthly income on the mortgage repayments and have to support my wife and kids on what's left. I know that it was my choice to buy the house (well you're supposed to put a roof over your family's head instead of seeking to have the State/fellow taxpayers do it) and I'll keep on making the repayments but christ on a stick, where the fcuk am I supposed to get the money to pay a property tax? Not make a mortgage repayment? Not eat for a couple of months?

I've had my fill of these swines. I've worked all my life, never been on the dole, paid my taxes, etc etc etc. And yet I've the prospect of having absolutely no disposable income left for any kind of life, for the rest of my life, struggling to pay for the basic essentials while being told that "it wasn't my fault the country is where it is". Well I fcuking knew that Inda Kinny (you bloody muppet) but those who put us here are all on pensions of 3 - 4 times what my gross salary is. Take their pensions off them as penalty for putting us in penury.

It felt good to get that off my chest. Now if only I could kick a politician in the nuts too!

donalg1

leonidas83 wrote: »

Happens in alot of countries, the difference with ours and the rest is that we've found out how out lazy and apathetic we really are

+1

The amount of moaning in this country is unreal gets worse by the day too, who knows what it will take for people in this country to be happy again or were we ever??

Red_Wake

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I can't wait for the delightful "Household Charge" that covers what exactly????? I'll still have to pay €400 a year for my bin collections, €200 a year to have my septic tank emptied etc. So no services are being provided that aren't already being paid for out of my income tax/net income.

Then there's the lovely prospect of this €100 a year (which once wouldn't have seen like such a large sum but now is a small fortune to me!) household charge morphing into a property valuation tax in the coming years. I paid €32,000 in fcuking stamp duty when I bought the house 6 years ago. I'm now in negative equity, paying 55% of my net monthly income on the mortgage repayments and have to support my wife and kids on what's left. I know that it was my choice to buy the house (well you're supposed to put a roof over your family's head instead of seeking to have the State/fellow taxpayers do it) and I'll keep on making the repayments but christ on a stick, where the fcuk am I supposed to get the money to pay a property tax? Not make a mortgage repayment? Not eat for a couple of months?

I've had my fill of these swines. I've worked all my life, never been on the dole, paid my taxes, etc etc etc. And yet I've the prospect of having absolutely no disposable income left for any kind of life, for the rest of my life, struggling to pay for the basic essentials while being told that "it wasn't my fault the country is where it is". Well I fcuking knew that Inda Kinny (you bloody muppet) but those who put us here are all on pensions of 3 - 4 times what my gross salary is. Take their pensions off them as penalty for putting us in penury.

It felt good to get that off my chest. Now if only I could kick a politician in the nuts too!

Can the mods give this lad a namechange to Hobo Dave?

Kintarō Hattori

Biggins wrote: »

Late Claims
�� Reduce statutory backdating for late claims from 12 to 6 months
for full entitlement and remove proportionate provision.

.......

Silly me, browsing through your list at speed I read that as 'Latte Claims' and thought... WTF?

Chairman Meow

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I can't wait for the delightful "Household Charge" that covers what exactly????? I'll still have to pay €400 a year for my bin collections, €200 a year to have my septic tank emptied etc. So no services are being provided that aren't already being paid for out of my income tax/net income.

Then there's the lovely prospect of this €100 a year (which once wouldn't have seen like such a large sum but now is a small fortune to me!) household charge morphing into a property valuation tax in the coming years. I paid €32,000 in fcuking stamp duty when I bought the house 6 years ago. I'm now in negative equity, paying 55% of my net monthly income on the mortgage repayments and have to support my wife and kids on what's left. I know that it was my choice to buy the house (well you're supposed to put a roof over your family's head instead of seeking to have the State/fellow taxpayers do it) and I'll keep on making the repayments but christ on a stick, where the fcuk am I supposed to get the money to pay a property tax? Not make a mortgage repayment? Not eat for a couple of months?

I've had my fill of these swines. I've worked all my life, never been on the dole, paid my taxes, etc etc etc. And yet I've the prospect of having absolutely no disposable income left for any kind of life, for the rest of my life, struggling to pay for the basic essentials while being told that "it wasn't my fault the country is where it is". Well I fcuking knew that Inda Kinny (you bloody muppet) but those who put us here are all on pensions of 3 - 4 times what my gross salary is. Take their pensions off them as penalty for putting us in penury.

It felt good to get that off my chest. Now if only I could kick a politician in the nuts too!

Its ludicrous. As if youre not paying enough, now theyre gonna tax something most people already cant afford. Im not a homeowner at the moment but will be by next year, the prospect of these bastards scrounging even more money off me on what will already be the biggest, most expensive purchase of my life? Get to ****.
Im sick of it, the people who actually work and pay taxes get ****ed, people on the dole wont lose a ****in penny. The sisters fiancee works with a guy whos mother claims the dole, does she work? Does she ****, she gambles it all on online bingo, week in week out. And his sister does the same. Why am i paying for this crap??

ilovesleep

donalg1 wrote: »

+1

The amount of moaning in this country is unreal gets worse by the day too, who knows what it will take for people in this country to be happy again or were we ever??

But what makes it acceptable to take of those with disabilities to give extra to those who have money?
Many people have morals and this plain wrong.

Biggins

RE: POST 21 - APOLOGIES - CORRECTED LINK:

* http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2012/Documents/CER%20-%20Estimates%20Final%20Part%202.pdf

Kintarō Hattori

Money raised from the charge will be paid into the Local Government Fund and will be allocated back to local authorities to pay for the provision of services such as fire and emergency services, street maintenance, public parks, waste management, libraries and leisure facilities, the government has said.

http://www.thejournal.ie/less-than-e2-a-week-government-publishes-household-charge-bill-296510-Dec2011/

Ehh why the €500 call out for the Fire Service if the Household charge partly goes to cover the Fire Service?

ilovesleep

FrostyJack wrote: »

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I hear the government are much better in Syria.

Next time you see a homeless man asleep on the street make sure to steel his flee infested blanket because you need to top up your supply of blankets at home.

Lawrence1895

Biggins wrote: »

Correct.

However it was not all cuts.

On December 1st FG/Labour allowed a 17% increase in their travel expenses, a 23% increase in their office expenditure (others only got 15% increase).
This was all mentioned (FF speaker) in the Dail a while ago along with a lot more increases to TD's in power.

Nice eh?

Ah well...Richard Bruton needs a comfy chair in his new office, when he is sitting there, looking at the pictures from his last holiday to the sun...ooooops, business related trip...whilst the next company announces XYZ staff being made redundant :mad:

scotty_irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Silly me, browsing through your list at speed I read that as 'Latte Claims' and thought... WTF?

wouldn't surprise me mate with some of the bull**** people can claim for!

Celly Smunt

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/less-than-e2-a-week-government-publishes-household-charge-bill-296510-Dec2011/

Ehh why the €500 call out for the Fire Service if the Household charge partly goes to cover the Fire Service?

Because.just because.

Biggins

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Silly me, browsing through your list at speed I read that as 'Latte Claims' and thought... WTF?

For those milking it!

Kernel

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I can't wait for the delightful "Household Charge" that covers what exactly????? I'll still have to pay €400 a year for my bin collections, €200 a year to have my septic tank emptied etc. So no services are being provided that aren't already being paid for out of my income tax/net income.

Then there's the lovely prospect of this €100 a year (which once wouldn't have seen like such a large sum but now is a small fortune to me!) household charge morphing into a property valuation tax in the coming years. I paid €32,000 in fcuking stamp duty when I bought the house 6 years ago. I'm now in negative equity, paying 55% of my net monthly income on the mortgage repayments and have to support my wife and kids on what's left. I know that it was my choice to buy the house (well you're supposed to put a roof over your family's head instead of seeking to have the State/fellow taxpayers do it) and I'll keep on making the repayments but christ on a stick, where the fcuk am I supposed to get the money to pay a property tax? Not make a mortgage repayment? Not eat for a couple of months?

I've had my fill of these swines. I've worked all my life, never been on the dole, paid my taxes, etc etc etc. And yet I've the prospect of having absolutely no disposable income left for any kind of life, for the rest of my life, struggling to pay for the basic essentials while being told that "it wasn't my fault the country is where it is". Well I fcuking knew that Inda Kinny (you bloody muppet) but those who put us here are all on pensions of 3 - 4 times what my gross salary is. Take their pensions off them as penalty for putting us in penury.

It felt good to get that off my chest. Now if only I could kick a politician in the nuts too!

That's why they should have gone further with the social welfare cuts. The worker is already getting lashed out of it. The soft target.

Biggins

Kernel wrote: »

That's why they should have gone further with the social welfare cuts. The worker is already getting lashed out of it. The soft target.

MORE years cuts to come remember!

The general political opinion is that the Croke Park agreement now WILL have to be looked at.
So far (I think because of Labour/Unions) FG was fearful of going near it.

Celly Smunt

Kernel wrote: »

That's why they should have gone further with the social welfare cuts. The worker is already getting lashed out of it. The soft target.

then leave your job and live on the dole since it's so easy to do.