Harsh Budget Does Not Deliver on Jobs

7 Apr 2009

Congress has described the 2009 Budget as "harsh and lacking in a serious and structured response to the jobs crisis, which is the single greatest problem we face."

Accordinng to Congress General Secretary David Begg: "Protecting jobs, maximising employment and creating new opportunities should have been to the fore in this budget, but the measures were simply not commensurate with the gravity of the problem we face. Some €4.5 billion is to be injected into the banks this year, but all they could muster for helping the unemployed was €128 million.

"In addition, measures announced in relation to retraining and upskilling were simply inadequate."

According Mr Begg, the failure to "bite the bullet on the income levy and apply it fairly has meant that those on low wages will suffer. As a result, someone on just over 15,000 will pay some 6 percent of their income in increased levies. The higher levy should have kicked in at a far lower level, than the 174,000 level that was set."

Mr Begg also pointed out that the doubling of the health levy imposed an additional and "entirely unexpected burden on working families. Overall, living standards will be seriously eroded."

He described the axing of the Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients as particularly vindictive, cutting income for people precisely when they need it most.

Mr Begg also expressed doubts about the initiative to 'buy back' bad assets from the banks -the creation of the National Asset Management Agency - warning that it could result in "serious losses for the taxpayer and that it seemed to be concerned more with protecting shareholders" as opposed to wider society.

 

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