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  • Brian and Brian’s Balancing Act

    July 7, 2008 @ 11:50 pm | by Bryan

    Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan faces a tax shortfall of €1.45bn in the first six months of the year; an annual deficit forecast of €5.2bn compared to the Budget-day forecast of €1.8bn; and an annual growth forecast of 0.5% compared to the Budget-day forecast of 2.8%

    The Cabinet will tomorrow try to make cuts from the budget worth €500 million. After that meeting, the changes will be made known to the Dáil and then to the press.

    Some government officials have said that there are painful decisions that are going to have to be made. In fact, most of the country knows that something has to give. But no one wants it to affect them.

    I am personally disappointed that there isn’t going to be a more decisive reform of the health department. I know that there are tremendous costs associated with voluntary redundancies, but if they are not carried out now, will there ever be a good time? The same holds for the whole of the public sector if you believe that it is bloated. And then there is the argument that what the economy really needs is to be stimulated by greater public investment in infrastructure.

    Whatever happens tomorrow, one thing is certain. The Taoiseach and the Finance Minister especially, are going to be incredibly busy for the foreseeable future. You know the saying, ‘be careful what you ask for – you might get it’? I wonder if either Brian Cowen or Lenihan is thinking that about his current job.

    • 7 Comments »

    1.
    July 8, 2008
    12:06 pm

    Just a point: with all this shortfall in finances for the Department of Health, has anyone stopped to consider the vast amounts of money being thrown away during summer months by the Department of Education? A newly-qualified teacher might start off on a €30,000 wage and receive 18 weeks holidays. And if he / she decides to mark exam papers for two weeks of the summer, they get paid - twice - during one week, by the same Department. In France, exam marking is mandatory and results come back almost three times quicker. Would it be too much to ask that we DON’T pay teachers twice for their time?

    Comment by Rosemary
    2.
    July 8, 2008
    2:11 pm

    And perhaps some of those “teacher training days” that seem to occur only during the school week could also be rescheduled for July and August?

    Comment by Coops
    3.
    July 8, 2008
    4:24 pm

    I hear you, but at least teachers are front line staff. I’m more frustrated by layers of people who can’t tell you what they get paid to do in a sentence. Worse are managers who manage managers or have no real decision making power.

    Comment by Bryan
    4.
    July 8, 2008
    7:14 pm

    Yeah, teachers have a fairly sweet deal in this country interms of salary and holidays. Yet the government only ever pay people what they feel they absolutely have to. Teachers have these conditions because if they didn’t, they’d decide to devote their skills to other purposes. And we’d be left with a lower level of teacher and a weaker education system. It’s only a vocation for some people, plenty of others would go elsewhere if they thought it offered a better deal.

    Comment by Andrew
    5.
    July 9, 2008
    2:47 pm

    Again, I agree. But at the risk of sounding like a brocken record, what really gets me are unnecessary layers of backroom people some of whom would not be missed if theeir post was abolished.

    Comment by Bryan
    6.
    July 9, 2008
    3:57 pm

    Easy targets, the holidays teachers have! Such sniping at a noble prefession that is, actually, underpaid, is off the point here.

    As I outlined on the “Economy” section of your blog, Bryan, public service salaries (including those of teachers) actually cost the exchequer very little after tax considerations.

    We have to look elsewhere other than frontline staff salaries if we wish to find savings, as you correctly indicate, Bryan. Again, well done.

    If anyone here really believes that teaching is such a “sweet deal”, why do they not go and get their degree, post-grad and apply for the job? Then they can “enjoy” their €30K gross salary and the holidays for themselves and stop sniping.

    Could they live on that salary, I wonder?

    Comment by Tim
    7.
    July 29, 2008
    10:27 am

    Hi Bryan. Not sure if this thread is still “live”, but I had an idea on saving money for the government the other day:

    You know those days when you are walking down the street and you see soldiers standing with loaded weapons protecting an armoured car for the banks?

    Two Army 4X4s, 8 or ten army personnel and a Garda squad car with at least 2 Gardai in it.

    How many of these convoys are we paying for every week?

    How much does the bank pay towards this use of public service?

    Why should the taxpayer contribute ANYTHING to protecting the assets of a PRIVATE business with profits in the BILLIONS?

    How much money would the government save by making the bans pay for their own security? How many new nurses or teachers would this saving pay for?

    Comment by Tim

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