Madam, - Although the Budget is good for large businesses and direct foreign investment, small and medium businesses have received little VAT relief. The relief is less than 50 per cent of that received by small businesses in Britain. Why has Mr Cowen focused on only one element of the Irish economy and failed to help small Irish business owners?
When economic growth inevitably slows down and big foreign investors move elsewhere, it will be the small businesses that are left. With a lack of long-term planning and a concentration on getting votes Mr Cowen has failed the business sector.
With this trend of large businesses choosing to relocate in Eastern Europe where costs are minimal compared to Ireland, we must undoubtedly support indigenous small to medium businesses. As reported in your edition of December 7th, the US-owned Harris Calorific has relocated to Poland because labour costs there will be 84 per cent less than in Ireland.
The small increase in the VAT threshold for small enterprises is hardly doing enough to support enterprise and innovation in Ireland. The expectation of a regenerating budget for SMEs sadly didn't materialise. - Yours, etc,
JOHN BEHAN, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14; DARRAGH BURROWES, Naas, Co Kildare; DAVID BOCKMANN, Dublin 18; MICHAEL MALONE, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Congratulations to Brian Cowen on his Budget. He satisfied nearly everybody. But the whingeing lobby, particularly in relation to childcare, are out as always.
It was amazing to read the interview in Thursday's Budget supplement with the "working mother" expecting who would like to say to Mr Cowen "Thanks for nothing". I take it from this that she thinks €83 a month (€1,000 a year) for each of her children who are under six is "nothing". She and her partner must be on some salary!
In addition to this extra €1,000 for each child under six, she also benefits through the "individualisation" process which has already conferred a real cash benefit to a couple where both are income-earning. This fact is clearly illustrated by the table showing that, based on a €60,000 income and two children, a couple with two incomes are €390 a month (€4,680 a year) better off than a couple with one income.
I trust the total cash benefit of €473 a month (€5,680 a year), as detailed above, will be of assistance to those who need to find childcare facilities outside their home. But please, let's remember that childcare, including its cost, is first and foremost the responsibility of parents. - Yours, etc,
NIALL MURPHY, Cratloe, Co Clare.
Madam, - The childcare package in the Budget is distinctly underwhelming, but the true inadequacy of provision for mothers is obscured by the continuing use of the inaccurate term "paid" maternity leave.
In any other context of paid employment, paid leave is understood to mean time off on full pay. But in this State, unlike most European countries, there is no legal provision for paid maternity leave, with the maximum maternity benefit payable being substantially lower than many women's normal earnings.
Mr Cowen referred in his Budget speech to parents being "entitled to 56 weeks between paid and unpaid leave by 2007". It is now accepted that children should spend their first year being cared for by their parents, and many parents are trying to achieve this. Given the oppressively high cost of living in Ireland today, it takes some neck to describe as an entitlement a situation where mothers will suffer a substantial fall in their income for 26 weeks and then for 30 more weeks will receive no money at all.
This Government remains entirely out of touch with the reality of child-rearing for the average hard-working taxpayer. - Yours, etc,
PAUL CARROLL, Churchfield, Clane, Co Kildare.
Madam, - I am dismayed at the increase in paid maternity leave announced in the budget.
I suggest a better strategy would be to reduce maternity leave to a level seen as medically appropriate, perhaps eight weeks. Fathers and mothers should then have an equal entitlement to a substantial amount of paid parental leave.
This might lead to greater equality between the sexes in both the workplace and the home. - Yours, etc,
MARK LANG, Clarinbridge, Co Galway.