Budget 2009 has caused
uproar due to a number of its provisions including
the over-70s medical card (now revised), 1% income
levy (also revised) and the increase in classroom
sizes. Below a number of Inishowen people outline
how the Budget measures will affect them. (Compiled
by the Inishowen Independent)
The pensioner
FAHAN residents Peter Gurrie and his wife Brigid are
both over 70 and currently hold the medical card.
“Old people are worried sick about the proposals,”
Gurrie said. “In our own case, we’d probably survive
but our medical expenses would run to several
thousand euro per year and our life savings would
soon be wiped out.”
The couple have a range of medical conditions and
both receive the old age pension while Peter has a
contributory pension after a lifetime of work with
the ESB.
“We have so much medicine in the house that it would
remind you of a chemist’s shop,” Gurrie said. “It
was a great relief to get the medical card when I
turned 70, but to have it taken away now would be
very regrettable.”
“Instead of the €7 increase in the pension, the
Government should delay that for three months,” he
suggested. “The €100 million in savings they’re
trying to get through withdrawing the medical card
would be covered by that. Several more million euro
would be gained from saving all the work involved in
assessing who retains or loses their medical card.”
“Alternatively, the Government could have increased
the VAT rate by 1% instead of 0.5%,” Gurrie
concluded. “That would have earned far more money
than the €100 million they’re trying to save through
this.”
The teacher
PRIMARY school teachers may be balloted on
industrial action following a round of severe cuts
in last week’s budget.
According to the local Irish National Teachers’
Organisation (INTO) representative Gerry McGeehan
around 1,000 primary teachers will lose their jobs
under the Governments proposals and Inishowen will
be badly affected.
“Local schools that would have been expecting extra
staff next year could now actually lose teachers,”
McGeehan says. “I’ve never seen teachers as angry.”
Under the proposals, class sizes – which are already
the highest in the EU – will be increased from 27 to
28 from next September.
Some local schools have additional teachers because
they are in what are considered disadvantaged areas
but Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has
announced that these posts will be suppressed. “We
don’t have the breakdown as yet, but at least one
local school will be affected by this and there may
be more,” McGeehan said.
The withdrawal of substitute cover for uncertified
sick leave or teachers away on school business looks
likely to cause havoc in Inishowen’s small schools:
12 local schools have either two or three teachers.
“Teachers will be left with 40 or 50 pupils to
supervise,” McGeehan said. “It will just be a matter
of crowd control and there’s probably a health and
safety issue with so many children in one room.”
The bicycle man
ONE of the intriguing aspects of the budget was a
€1,000 tax exempt benefit in kind for employers who
provide their employees with bicycles.
“The scheme sounds good in theory, but with the
employer having to buy the bike for their employee
I’m not sure about how realistic it is,” said John
McEleney of McEleney’s Cycles Superstore in Clonmany.
“And much and all as I want to sell bicycles, it
doesn’t make sense to take medical cards off the
over 70s and give money for bikes. It sounds
ridiculous to me.”
The petrol retailer
THE price of petrol was increased by 8cent per litre
in the budget, with knock on effects for all drivers
and filling stations – indeed queues at the pump
were evident all across Inishowen on Tuesday evening
before the price hike took effect at midnight.
Excise on diesel was left untouched.
A number of local filling stations, including the
Burnfoot Service Station, have held their prices at
pre-budget rates.
“We had an inkling that prices might be increased so
we stocked up beforehand,” proprietor William
Tourish said last week. “Customers have been badly
hit by fuel increases in recent months, so we’re
holding the price at its pre-budget level and will
do so for as long as we can.”
While the increase saw excise duty on a litre of
petrol rise to 52 cent per litre, petrol prices in
Inishowen remain well below those in the North.
“We get a lot of cross-Border trade and we’re still
substantially cheaper than the North,” Tourish said.
“Long may it continue.” |
