What ARE you willing to have cut?

homerjay2005 · 13-11-2011 06:58PM

is there anywhere that gives a detailed breakdown on public spending?

for example, we spent 21billion on social protection across 60 + schemes last year. the dole is only one of them. take in 447,000 people on the dole and lets say an average of 250 a week (its probably less), thats still only 5.8billion.

the dole is only one part of the problem, its the other fees that make up 75% of the expenditure. and then you can add another 10 billion in free healthcare.

rent allowance,single mothers payment and child benifits are 3 that should be reviewed,stopped and means tested. theres probably another 3 billion there. i assume then the pension makes up another billion or 2 and wages/administration costs a fair whack.

but would be interesting to see where this 30odd billion is going. the amount of money it costs to run a country with a workforce of 86% in a population of 4.5 million, is astounding.

Mike 1972 · 13-11-2011 06:59PM

mal1 wrote: »

Will your Jack Russell look after you when you get old?

Why assume your kids will ?

Spudmonkey wrote: »

Bringing it down to a third of the current rate would make it comparable with the average industrial wage. A better solution would be removing their ability to claim unvouched expenses and put a cap on what they can claim.

The two options are not mutually exclusive.

Coriolanus · 13-11-2011 07:00PM

Get rid of the navy and air force. The Army is grand, they actually do stuff and are pretty cool. All the navy does is cause drug droughts.
Legalize weed, import it cheap, tax it to high heaven and it'd still be cheaper than off the dealers.

Mike 1972 · 13-11-2011 07:03PM

Nevore wrote: »

Legalize weed, import it cheap, tax it to high heaven and it'd still be cheaper than off the dealers.

Is Irish weed not good enough for you ?

Spudmonkey · 13-11-2011 07:03PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Why assume your kids will ?

The two options are not mutually exclusive.

You are willing to have someone acting on a national scale drawing the same amount as a industrial worker?

Oranage2 · 13-11-2011 07:04PM

Cill Dara Abu wrote: »

Why anyone under 30?

I think the rossie1977 is the clue

FloatingVoter · 13-11-2011 07:04PM

We should immediately declare war on the US and the UK, possibly China too. When we lose, they'll rebuild us and we get to rule Europe (this has happened before). Just means we cut a few politicians due to the inevitable hangings. Shortly before we declare war, our senior civil servants become commissioned frontline troops with Field Marshal Kevin Cardiff in charge.
Our gangland inmates can supply the cannon fodder.

Crann na Beatha · 13-11-2011 07:06PM

This post has been deleted.

WindSock · 13-11-2011 07:07PM

mattjack wrote: »

We should not cut education.Children need to learn how to spell.Its spelt Werther's Originals by the way

I see punctuation is over-rated too :P

Richard Hillman · 13-11-2011 07:07PM

Any RTE funding
Scrap rent allowance
End social housing
scrap any extra money for lone parents over 1 child
end childrens allowance
Cut the dole for single people living in their parents house by 80%

Then i would privatize Dublin Bus and RTE. Sell the prime real estate that is Leinster house and move the Dail to a NAMA site. I would also sell the naming rights of Bank Holidays and rail stations.

mal1 · 13-11-2011 07:07PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Why assume your kids will ?

Did I assume? I just know that your dog won't.

papajimsmooth · 13-11-2011 07:09PM

Well, we have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people

Mike 1972 · 13-11-2011 07:10PM

Spudmonkey wrote: »

You are willing to have someone acting on a national scale drawing the same amount as a industrial worker?

Several TD's claim they only draw the industrial average.

TBH when all their pay and allowances are included about double the average industrial wage should be a pretty fair salary for a backbench TD with full Dail attendance (seeing as how theyre not in it for the money and only doing it out of a sense of public service -right ?)

Expenses should be capped at a reasonable level and fully vouched/audited.

A small (means tested) pension should be available for any TD who has served for more than two years and is no longer active in public life and has no other source of income.

That is all.

mal1 wrote: »

Did I assume? I just know that your dog won't.

If things get hard sure you might get a couple of days eating out of it.

Coriolanus · 13-11-2011 07:13PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Is Irish weed not good enough for you ?

It's not really economical to grow it in hothouses here. There's a reason Penneys get stuff made abroad. Given a regularized workforce and shipping schedule in a convenient subtropical country it really would be cheaper than anything we could grow ourselves and most certainly cheaper than that smuggled traditionally.

Mr Trade In · 13-11-2011 07:17PM

Civil Servants, Banks, cut the local councillors, close the Seanad,cut the number of TDs, Dublin has way too many for starters, yes to cutting their pay and pensions, cut the tax exemptions for all who receive them, close the loop holes many use to hide their assets in banks abroad. Stop the needless secretive tribunals and hold these in open court, any found guilty should be charged with treason and have their assets seized. Have a massive fire sale of the ghost estates,cash only.

saa · 13-11-2011 07:17PM

If you're living with your parents you should not get the dole, if you can't live with your parents you must submit a report as to why, I think people should have to prove their needs.

No one should have a medical card as such so the doctors don't get paid for having them on their listings, the drs don't need the extra cash, if you need to see a doctor or go to the hospital you should claim it not have unlimited doctor visits and so on (from a medical card holder!)

Anyone over a certain wage should not get child allowance.

I don't mind people giving out as long as their is action and a willingness to give up certain things

Mike 1972 · 13-11-2011 07:18PM

Abolish the presidency.

Nevore wrote: »

It's not really economical to grow it in hothouses here. .

Pleanty of empty NAMA houses and unemployed people knocking about. I reckon we could have the basis for dynamic new export idustry here. Might even give those Dutch a run for their money.

david75 · 13-11-2011 07:37PM

Pepare to get sick.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060899/As-Ireland-braces-budget-cuts-politicians-cut-secret-deal-3million-euro-year-pay-rise.html

gifted · 13-11-2011 07:44PM

Pay public pensions for the same amount of time that they done their job, eg, minister for 5 years should get ministers pension for 5 years. If you join the army at 17 and leave after 21 years you get a pension for life from the age of 38 onwards, crazy that is. Pay them for the amount of years they do

pragmatic1 · 13-11-2011 08:00PM

david75 wrote: »

Pepare to get sick.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060899/As-Ireland-braces-budget-cuts-politicians-cut-secret-deal-3million-euro-year-pay-rise.html

That might just be the breaking point.

Mr Trade In · 13-11-2011 08:06PM

Viva La Revolution time, if that is true.

kowloon · 13-11-2011 08:17PM

Sports grants and the likes should go first. Stupid things like the duplication of all state documents into Irish. A legion of smaller things that when added together will save a packet, you always hear about them but they get shrugged off with the whole' sure a million won't make a difference' argument.

El Guapo! · 13-11-2011 08:18PM

Cut TD's salaries and expenses.
Review social benefits and cut them.-social welfare for people out of work more than 5 or 6 years. Unmarried mothers, childrens allowance etc.
Slash RTE funding.
Sell percentages of state-owned assets while maintaining a majority share.
Slash pensions for people sitting on a pile of cash.
Shut down the Seanad.
Scrap the presidency.
Introduce a text message tax.
Introduce a higher tax band for people with incomes exceeding 90k.

The next 2 are somewhat controversial but should be considered in some detail but carefully regulated and monitored....
Legalize cannabis ( I don't smoke weed so this isn't for personal/selfish reasons.
Legalize prostitution. (This would have to be extensively regulated. I'm not 100% sure on this one myself but it could be considered.)

muckwarrior · 13-11-2011 08:33PM

Flood the country with poisoned heroin.

Stinicker · 13-11-2011 08:40PM

If I was minister for finance these are some of things I would do rectify the financial situation.

Hold a referendum to change the constitution permanently lowering the wages of all politicians to the average industrial wage currently somewhere around €28k, end all expenses and and add-ons, private sector people driving to work can't claim petrol money (while Public Sector workers can!)

After cutting the politicians wages now time to cut trim the excess fat.

All County Councils and Local Authorities to be scrapped and their staff laid off. These career dumping grounds for Fianna Failers should be got rid of.

No longer should there be council workers leaning on shovels all day, by getting rid of the local authorities you would save several billion, outsource all their functions saving money and delivering a far better quality product.

Privatize the HSE, end the era of staff getting 80 and 100k a year, make it work, national insurance PRSI to still insure the town idiot gets his Universal Healthcare but it can be delivered privately for alot less money to the exchequer.

Privatise Iarnrod Eireann, a state controlled board will set the fares, private trains can run at a far lower cost than the behemoth that currently exists, save the state money in rail subsides while lowering transport costs, no competition a private monoply who gets their profit from filling the trains with low cost seats and running them on time; run it efficent and cheaply while avoiding the disaster this turned into over in the UK.

Privatise RTE, abolish the TV Licence

Reform Welfare; increase welfare in the form of back to education and pay people to get educated and to make it worth their while, introduce effective wage subsidies on a sliding scale to help create new jobs and get people back to work.

100% tax on all banking profits permanetly as a part of the constitution, never again in Irish History can banks be allowed to operate unregulated or like they did.

Full public ownership of the banking sector, private competitors banned, banks to exist to make credit available to consumers and business, all profits to be returned to the exchequer and used to repay the debt and lower taxation. All wages within the banking sector set at the average industrial level. If you want to gamble and speculate widely then Ireland does not welcome you.

70% tax on all Oil and Gas drilled on Irish soil

New Motorways to be built with borrowed money, tolled until the debt is repaid and the toll then abolished, the users of the road can pay for its construction. End the current scheme of the state pays for 90% of the road cost, FFF* then gets to toll it for thirty years and keep all the profit,and get more state money if traffic falls below a set point.

Ban the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, a life time ban for all their members between 2000 - 2012 from politics.

Re-introduce the death penalty for premeditated murder and treason.

Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, and the entire former cabinet to be executed without trial for treason.

(*Friends of Fianna Fail)

Freddie59 · 13-11-2011 08:54PM

harrythehat wrote: »

I'm getting somewhat bored of people's outrage over cuts that effect their particular position in society.

Let's start a new discussion. What WOULD you cut? Now before 100 posts go up about TD's salaries and pensions etc bear in mind that fun as it would be to make them work for minimum wage, it would have a negligible effect on our national debt.

So where would you start if it was really up to you? Education, health, social welfare, arts??

The old saying 'look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' comes to mind.

You have to start at the seat of power and lead by example. Unfortunately this country is corrupt to the core (that same seat) and this is proven by the reneging of the pledge to abolish the Senate by the current Government.

The Civil Servants run this country - and have always done. They dictate to Government - not the other way round. A perpetual circuit of protectionism abounds. The ones responsible for reforming things are those responsible for enforcing it. So nothing will change.

My suggestions:

1. Cap all top Civil Servants and Government Ministers/TDs to €100k max.

2. Cap all consultants wages to €100k max. The maximum earned by a consultant in Europe's richest economies is of that nature - not the €500k they enjoy here - with rooms provided in hospitals for a return of 20% of time.

3. Cut the dole. It cannot be morally right for someone to be paid as much in net payments on the dole as the basic gross pay of some workers. It is ridiculous.

4. Investigate those on 'disability/invalidity:rolleyes:' payments. Yes there are the disabled and the invalided who genuinely need the payment, but there are thousands on it who appear to be Lourdes cases.

5. Which brings us to Bus Eireann. Many of the thousands mentioned above are eligible for free travel, costing the State millions per year in subvention to Bus Eireann.

6. Bring Public Sector pay into line with the Private Sector. This country is bankrupt and the money is not there. But the government has not - and never will have - the balls to face down the PS unions, particularly with their lackey Gilmore in power.

7. Gut the HSE. The level of incompetence, wastage, and mismanagement is truly monumental and incomprehensible.

Until we face down these stark facts we will never dig ourselves out of what we are in - and will continue to 'borrow' €400m per week (€200Bn EVERY TEN YEARS) to fund day-to-day 'expenses.

Sadly, none of the above will happen - because of political agendas, lobby groups, and the fraud which is now endemic in Irish Society. God knows where it is all leading us.

languagenerd · 13-11-2011 08:56PM

Cut the number of TDs - why do we have 1 per 27000 people when the Uk have 1 per 92000 and France have 1 per 114,000??

Cut TDs expenses/allowances etc. Give them their salary and leave it at that. Also, make them start their pension at 65 like everyone else and stop them holding onto teaching positions.

Don't build this new children's hospital at the Mater and focus on improving the ones we have instead.

Restructure social welfare - don't automatically grant housing to single mothers etc. who already have somewhere to live - and cut any fraud that they find.

Re education: any student who doesn't show up to more than 80% of their lectures (excluding due to illness etc.) or hand in the assignments should have their funding cut (fees and grants). Also stop paying so much to the university heads.

No public servant should earn over €150,000 a year (and that's pushing it as it is!)

And then there's loads of little things that won't generate billions but would eventually add up, for example:
- pay less expenses to public buildings, the amount those electricity bills must cost with lights being left on all night etc.!
- all the drug addicts who get free transport passes should only get 1 free return journey a day (it's app so they can get to their methadone clinic -so why are there so many of them on the last Luas after midnight?!) and make them pay for any other journeys they want to take.
- get rid of the extra money GPs get for writing sick-notes or prescriptions
etc.

Edit: Oh, and no more monuments to be built!

mattjack · 13-11-2011 09:02PM

WindSock wrote: »

I see punctuation is over-rated too :P

Damn you to hell , WindSock......:)

Lord TSC · 13-11-2011 09:03PM

I wouldn't cut the dole. The problem isn't the dole itself; it's with the added benefits people can get. People shouldn't be rewarded for having a load of kids they can't afford, moving out of home early, etc. There should be a basic dole and it should be the extras which are examined.

I also think saying "Cut the dole of those who are unemployed long term; the problem with that is the jobs just aren't out there at the moment. It's too late to start punishing people so harshly. Cut it a bit but you can't completly cut people off when you're setting unrealistic criteria....

I'd, personally, cut alot of our overseas aid budget; we can barely afford to keep our country going so its not fair to expect us to fork out millions to other countries.

Zebra3 · 13-11-2011 09:05PM

No politicans' pensions paid til they are 70.

Make all civil servants payslips only avalable online-this will save 2.2M euro a year.

Merge loads of the local authorities around the country.

Dublin has four? Wtf? There should be one local authority covering the GDA (Dublin and its commuter belt).

What ARE you willing to have cut?

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