Budget speculation this morning is focused on increased prescription charges, cuts to medical cards and phone allowances for pensioners, and a decrease in dole payments for young unemployed people.
The president of the IHCA also said that the HSE’s “unsympathetic” traits have led to action like the junior doctors’ strike which has created tensions among the ranks.
This year’s adjustment will be closer to €2.5 billion than €3.1, Michael Noonan has confirmed. We ask, how concerned are you about the effects of next week’s Budget?
Focus Ireland has said that there is a feeling that NAMA tries to sell off property and if they can’t, it is then proposed as social housing, though many of the agency’s properties are not suitable.
Speaking at a reception for the new European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, he said the connection between economy, society and government is profoundly important.
Disability specific services are being cut and those with disabilities who are being refused medical cards – and people have had enough, writes John Dolan.
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”.
A letter sent to parents in Galway says that some school leavers with intellectual disabilities will be offered places that will not “fully address requirements”.
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 Irish National Teachers’ Organisationwill protest outside Leinster House next week to show members’ opposition to cuts to special needs assistants in primary school.
Children with special educational needs face a reduction in the amount of time allocated to them from next September. But Eamon Gilmore said this did not amount to a cut.
The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said that Bus Éireann would have to implement the LRC measures on 12 May unless “alternative approaches” could be found.
We have been treating nurses and gardai as equal in importance to receptionists and quango directors, they are not equal in importance, writes Aaron McKenna.
The mobility grant gave me and my husband the chance to lead independent lives, with dignity, writes Miriam Murphy, who says this government are chipping away at the help for people with disabilities.
At 38 per cent, Ireland has the highest rate of children at risk of poverty in Western Europe. But, far from protecting the vulnerable, the government has introduced austerity measures that mean the rich get richer, writes Richard Manton.
The UK budget being announced today has implications for Ireland too, writes James Kilcourse, who says as well as being a crucial trading partner, the UK is Ireland’s biggest rival for attracting foreign direct investment.
An across-the-board cut to child benefit was not a good move – but ministers on big salaries are removed from the realities of the man on the street, Nessa Toale writes.
The Garda Representative Association did not enter negotiations on the Croke Park Extensions – but if cuts are proposed, it may encourage members to begin industrial action.
AIRPORTS AND FLIGHTS are packed with people heading abroad as tourism shakes off the Covid pandemic.
Holidays have long been a time for rest, relaxation and excessive consumption – but with interest in health and fitness booming many are wont to fit exercise into their time away.
In a sure sign that many are more health conscious than in decades past, groups of runners were seen jogging around Glastonbury Festival in the UK in recent days.
So, today we’re asking, do you exercise when you’re on holiday?