Madam, - Given brave Brian Lenihan's plan to cut PR services by €21 million, he may be at a loss to explain how 36 per cent of the Government's planned savings come from the Fair Deal scheme (€80 million), Overseas Development Aid (€45 million), and Fás (€10 million).
To save on further on PR cuts, may I suggest he spin it as: "The Old, The Poor and The Unemployed"? - Yours, etc,
Dr MAIT Ó FAOLÁIN, Iona Villas, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Fianna Fáil once infamously claimed that spending cuts would "hurt the old, the sick and the handicapped", before setting out to do just that. History seems destined to repeat itself.
In his Budget speech last December, Brian Cowen acknowledged the changing economic winds, but pledged the Government would "protect the incomes of the vulnerable, support ordinary working people" and "help home-buyers".
If anything, Government inaction in the interim has worsened the grim situations of ordinary workers and young homeowners, while the few actions that the Government has taken, announced this week, include direct attacks on the welfare of the vulnerable.
One third of Mr Cowen's cutbacks are in health, including an €85 million cut in nursing-home support for the elderly. This comprises nearly 60 per cent the entire cut in the health budget. Not content with attacking the needy here in Ireland, the Government is also planning a cut of €45 million in Overseas Development Aid, which will curtail the relief work of organisations working in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The bloated public service will continue to exist and HSE fat-cats will continue to get bonuses. Ministerial pay rises have merely been postponed (not cancelled), pointless junior ministers will still be paid their generous stipends, and the Cabinet will still spend millions on PR and consultants' reports.
It truly was a "black Tuesday" this week - not for investors in the stock market, but for the most vulnerable people to whom the Government has a duty of care. - Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH, Brooklawn, Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Madam, - As Dáil Éireann is a Government department (of sorts), surely it could lead the way by agreeing to a 3 per cent pay cut among its members to reduce spending as required by Messrs Lenihan and Cowen. That would be a great example to us all. - Yours, etc,
GEARÓID O'NOLAN, Ennis, Co Clare.