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DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN
HEALTH CUTS
A storm of protest arose following the announcement of €130 million in cuts last week and backbenchers in both parties want frontline services to be exempt. When Minister for Health James Reilly suggested pay cuts in the public sector as an alternative source of funding, this provoked a public rebuke from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin. This is an issue that won’t go away.
THE BUDGET
It is not until December but speculation and tension are already building. The bailout terms require €3.5 billion in adjustments, including €2.25 billion in cuts and new taxes amounting to €1.25 billion. The devil will be in the detail.
PROPERTY TAX
This could be the hottest issue of them all. The Revenue Commissioners have been assigned the role of collecting it but the other details have to be agreed on. Will it be based on market value or site value? Will Dublin and other urban home-owners feel they are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden?
CHILDREN'S REFERENDUM
The Government is committed to holding it on a “stand-alone” basis before the end of the year.
The inclusion of an explicit reference to children’s rights in the Constitution appears to have wide support at the moment but anything can happen in a referendum campaign.
ABORTION
The Government-appointed expert group is expected to report this month on the implications of the European Court of Human Rights decision that Ireland failed to implement existing rights to abortion where a mother’s life is at risk.
Already there has been a mini-revolt in Fine Gael on the issue and there are rumblings in Labour as well.
CROKE PARK DEAL
This expires in 2014 but there is constant tension over it, with Fine Gael and Labour Ministers sounding off on a regular basis.
With the troika seeking cuts in public expenditure, the debate on whether public sector pay should remain sacrosanct for now is likely to intensify.
Any breach of the deal could lead to major industrial strife, however.
INSOLVENCY LEGISLATION
The terms of the Personal Insolvency Bill have been queried by the European Commission on the basis that debtors can have €3 million of secured debt and an unspecified amount of unsecured debt written off. Critics say it is geared to the needs of property speculators rather than householders in mortgage difficulty. The Bill is to continue through the Oireachtas this month.
SOCIAL WELFARE
The European Commission has warned about the lack of progress on implementing major reforms under the bailout programme to provide incentives for welfare recipients to take up paid employment where it is available.
This is very uncomfortable territory for the Labour Party but the troika must be obeyed.
THE EURO
One of the biggest concerns facing the Government is largely outside its control, namely the future of the single European currency. The next few months could be decisive but there is little that Ireland can do except adhere to the terms of the bailout programme and urge the major European member states and institutions to take the right decisions on the currency and on the terms of this country’s banking debts.