Fine Gael TD Pat Deering believes that current social welfare spending is unsustainable and has urged the government to pursue a €3.1 billion budget cut in order to remove the “shackles of the Troika”.
Michael Noonan has indicated that he won’t be considering any kind of ‘wealth tax’ in Budget 2014 – but has released figures on how much it would bring in.
The Minister for Finance says he won’t comment specifically on Budget 2014 proposals, but has given three reasons why he doesn’t think a wealth tax is possible.
Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin has insisted today that the parameters of the budget adjustment in October have not yet been set.
Fianna Fáil TD Charlie McConalogue has raised concerns about spending cuts proposed by Education Minister Ruairí Quinn ahead of October’s Budget, but Labour says he’s trying to “increase his personal profile”.
With the number of older people in consistent poverty doubling over just one year, pensioner Gordon* explains what daily life is like for him – and how he fears for the future.
The campaign to pummel the public into submission with ‘strategic’ pre-Budget scaremongering has begun in earnest – and the media is lapping it up, writes Paul Allen.
Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson Michael McGrath says the Government should soften the budget adjustment this year, but Sinn Féin’s Jonathan O’Brien says the important issue is where the cuts are coming from.
Some say it is but the Minister for Finance says he has ‘no plans’ to change the VAT treatment for ice-cream parlours to bring it in line with tourism rates.
The bank has also cut its forecast for growth of the country’s economy or gross domestic product from 1.2 per cent this year to 0.07 per cent blaming the falls in the export of goods and services.
“Clearly no one wants to reduce child benefit, but there will be cuts and there will be adjustments,” Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes has said of the social welfare budget this evening.
The party’s national executive today met and agreed to hold its conference on the 29 and 30 November despite calls from party chairman Colm Keaveney for an earlier date.
The Fiscal Advisory Council recommends sticking to plans for another €5.1bn in cuts over two years – even though we’re on course to be well ahead of the EU’s deficit targets.
EU finance ministers are meeting in Brussels today to ratify proposals contained in the two-pack, a series of financial governance measures, which the Minister said would mean an earlier budget.
