Sir, – Thomas Ryan (December 10th) might do well to come out of his armchair and meet a lone parent whose rent allowance and child benefits have been steadily reduced since 2007; where petrol and oil prices and household utilities have alarmingly increased since 2007; whose back-to-school allowance and fuel allowance have now been reduced; who now has to leave a seven-year old child to find a hypothetical job in a devastated economy and find the money for childcare; who has no wealthy relatives or family to help in any way; who juggles all aspects of family life, on little income, alone.
Considering Mr Ryan's interest in Dickens, might I suggest a novel of the most appropriate title, Hard Times, in which the "fantasy notion" of poverty and capitalist corruption are most engagingly described. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Cuts to disadvantaged education in Budget 2012 need to be viewed in the context of the cumulative effect of this budget’s welfare cuts on the poorest children. Cuts to the lone-parent allowance, children’s allowance, back to school allowance, fuel allowance, community employment schemes and disability payments, taken with VAT and other increases will all seriously negatively impact the quality of these children’s lives.
In addition to these cuts there will be as many as eight extra children in disadvantaged primary school classes because of cuts in the teacher allocation to DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) primary schools. Furthermore, a change to the way learning support teachers are allocated will mean a reduction in the amount of learning support for literacy and numeracy for many of these children.
Budget 2012 effectively dismantles DEIS, a scheme established to support the education of the poorest children in our society. This has happened because the Government decided not to increase the pupil/teacher ratio for all primary schools nationally, as it had originally planned. This seems very much a tyranny of the majority. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If you are 75, with poor circulation, the odds are that you will feel cold all year round. Much as it is to be welcomed, the incidental heat from the Olympic Torch will will radiate only so far.
It seems it is easier to deplete a specific coupon book than it is to impose a fair form of income taxation. Better to preserve the spending power of the wealthy than keep the sick and elderly warm, I suppose. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Monalea Park,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
A chara, – Michael Tierney (December 9th) seems disingenuous in his comparison of housing tax in America with the housing tax being introduced into Ireland. Many in Ireland will, based on past experience, expect this tax to rise soon.
But there are many other reasons why it is not good to compare America with Ireland, based on my past experience as a resident in Michigan.
First, paying federal, state, and county taxes in America one still pays less than in Ireland and in America one feels that tax is an inconvenience whereas in Ireland one feels that governments have always tried to take every penny a person may have; if they could tax the air they would.
Second, in order to keep their tax bill down, there was a desire to stop house prices being over-inflated; the housing tax was paid on the value of the house (calculated, in part, by the sale price of other houses in the area) therefore, no one wanted to brag about having a house valued at over a million dollars unless it was in a rich area. The result was that house prices remained, for the want of a better word, “rational”. At the height of the Celtic Tiger, a mansion house in Grosse Point (Michigan’s Dalkey) was for sale at roughly the same price as a corporation house in Coolock!
Third, one saw where one’s taxes went. The people could, at election time, accept or decline increases in tax which were allocated towards things like libraries.
In Hartland Michigan, (a small village, comparable to Rosslare) the high school had a theatre as good as the Abbey, football pitches, baseball pitches, tennis courts, running track, etc, but because of growing population and limited space it was closed down and a new one built with the addition of a swimming and diving pool. What is the Irish equivalent? Prefabs.
I accept that one cannot compare like with like, but I would be curious if Mr Tierney and a person employed in the same area in Ireland were to compare their pay packets: after paying taxes, rent/mortgage and utilities etc, what percentage of their income is disposable? – Is mise,
DÉAGLÁN PLANT,
Bunratty Avenue,
Coolock,
Dublin 17.
Sir, – Well done on your excellent post EU summit coverage.
Two journalists mentioned that the UK is our biggest trading partner. However, CSO figures indicate that Irish exports to the rest of the EU, who have all signed up to this fiscal pact, are nearly three times larger than our exports to the UK.
This will be an important fact in the debate over the coming months. – Yours, etc,