Madam, – A truly Irish solution to a financial crisis: make alcohol cheaper and pay the social workers, gardaí, ambulancemen, firemen, teachers, hospital staff, doctors and nurses less to deal with the consequences. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – This Budget is the most unfair, unequal and sectoral one in the history of the State. Fianna Fáil has protected their wealthy cohorts once again and have found another scapegoat, the public sector worker and social welfare recipient. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – One glaring anomaly in the Budget is the treatment of contract employees in publicly funded bodies. Almost all of the staff in Ireland’s embryonic research sector are on short-term contracts and have no prospect of a permanent public sector job.
Yet they were required to pay a pension levy for a pension they will never get and are now being subjected to a further pay cut which is justified, at least in part, on the grounds of security of employment that they don’t have. At a time when we are rightly putting increased emphasis on research as the bedrock of a sustainable economy this seems singularly unwise and unjust. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Ibec and ISME can rest assured that whatever spending I had intended over this Christmas has been cancelled.They can congratulate the Minister for doing their bidding and reducing my discretionary income and further adding to deflation. Well done to all the vested interests. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – So many sections of society have been hit hard by the Budget it is easier to identify the classes of people that have not been. Unscathed are the PELTS (political elite legal classes) where the barristers and the solicitors have not been touched in their free legal aid remuneration. Also the WHEELLIES (well-healed elderly enjoying long lunches) where the wealthy pensioners, with handsome private pensions, receive their State pension only because of their age as opposed to their need. Is there a connection where at election-time, the former rely on the votes of the latter to stay in power? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a small independent off-licence in Salthill,Galway I like to point out the major error Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has made by bringing the duty down on alcohol immediately. I and many other retailers bought alcohol at the old price on December 1st and cannot afford to pass on the reduction until such time as I buy in fresh stock. The large multiples which have a higher turnover of stock will be able to reduce their prices quicker.
The Minister talks about saving jobs in the Border areas, but what about jobs further down south that will be lost in small independent off-licences? Christmas trade can account for up to 20 per cent of a shop’s annual turnover. Again the multiples have had their way just like they did when they got off- licence closing hours changed to 10pm in July last year. They also had the Groceries Order repealed in 2006 which allowed for alcohol to be sold below cost.
This Government’s alcohol policy is totally contradictory. Where in one move they close off- licences earlier to “curb underage drinking” and in the next they make drink cheaper than ever, thus encouraging alcoholism. Finally a retailer in Galway has an advertisement in a local paper on December 10th with the post- Budget prices. How did they know about it if that paper’s deadline for ads is midday Wednesday? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In the Editorial “Time for mature reflection” (December 11th), your paper shows a neck truly worthy of Fianna Fáil. Having campaigned for months, through editorials and several “independent” columnists, for the Government to take on the unions and the social welfare constituencies, and having subsequently described Brian Lenihan’s effort as “courageous . . . and balanced” , you now have the gall to counsel these constituencies that “the best way forward is through dialogue and compromise”.
Not content with that, but obviously relaxed now that the comfortable have not been afflicted, you urge well-paid individuals to contribute some charity to those going hungry (the “deserving” hungry, I imagine).
What century are you living in? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Consider the following: a young junior public servant, with children, living in a negative equity home in a ghost estate which was built on a floodplain and who needs to commute to Dublin daily. – Yours, etc,