Madam, - Brian Lenihan need make no apologies for introducing a tough Budget. But would it be too much to ask why the 1 per cent "levy" on all income was preferred to a simple adjustment of income tax rates? The former is no more temporary, and certainly much less equitable, than the latter.
The depressing answer is political expediency. Mr Lenihan wishes to look the nation in the eye, remind us that he did not raise income tax, and expect us to be grateful. And he is willing to use the wages of the low-paid and working poor to pay for the privilege.
The only "vulnerable" people he appears to care about are Fianna Fáil TDs and councillors. - Yours, etc,
TOM FARRELL, Glenbeigh Park, Dublin 7.
Madam, - What a pity the Minister for Finance's party neglected its patriotic duty for the past 11 years. Instead of looking after the interests of those who voted for it, it served those who bankrolled it. It was, in effect, the political handmaiden of those who have now laid waste to our environment and our economy. Those who made tens of millions over that time can continue to eat, drink and sleep comfortably while the old, the sick and the poor have been given "a call to patriotic action" to pay for the recession. - Yours, etc,
OLIVER ROGERS, Rahardrum, Virginia, Co Cavan.
Madam, - What a sad Budget from a mean-spirited Government which is now taxing the poor, the sick and the elderly. Will the last person leaving the country please remove the traditional light bulbs and replace them with energy-efficient ones, please? - Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'BYRNE, Shandon Crescent, Phibsborough, Dublin 7.
Madam, - The extension of the medical card to the over-70s has been one of the more enlightened measures of recent years. A number of studies, including the first Irish longitudinal study on ageing (HESSOP-2), have shown marked improvement in preventive healthcare uptake following this development, including 'flu vaccination, blood pressure control and cancer screening. Many of these measures will reduce the burden of stroke and heart disease, and reduce both personal suffering and societal healthcare costs.
Older people are also the most likely to suffer from chronic disease, and new thinking on chronic disease management places much emphasis on timely and frequent use of primary care, not only to improve health and well-being, but also to reduce more costly hospital use. In an era of trolley waits and crowded AEs, everyone benefits from this. There is also the issue of the wide range of services needed for staying at home with chronic illness, including therapies, medical appliances and domiciliary oxygen, which are linked to the medical card. It is challenging to maintain an official policy of maintaining older people in their own homes without these supports.
Older people are already significant contributors to their own and others' care. The first Irish longitudinal study on ageing also showed that they are currently paying for aspects of their care as it is (despite the medical card, and the second-highest risk of relative poverty among older people in Europe), and are also major providers of care for other older people. Evidence and common sense points to the efficiency of facilitating good health in this population.
Means-testing will inevitably erode the benefit of the scheme and probably cost more in global terms than the cost of providing the medical card to the relative minority of more affluent older people. In any event, along with all of the population, this minority would be entitled anyway to all medication costs of greater than €100 a month, and are also likely to have private insurance to cover the cost of big-ticket items such as surgical procedures.
The removal of the medical card entitlement for the over-70s is both a false economy and a further erosion of intergenerational solidarity. - Yours, etc,
Prof DESMOND O'NEILL, Director, Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin 24.
Madam, - Several years ago the now discredited Fianna Fáil minister, Ray Burke, had trees planted in a Dublin housing estate just before an election to help him win votes. As soon as the election was over, the trees were removed, and the story has become famous as a symbol of the "cute hoor" Fianna Fáil politician.
In recent years the Fianna Fáil government gave medical cards to the over 70s. Now, after winning two elections, the medical cards are removed.
As long as the people of this country allow themselves to be duped time and time again by this sort of stroke politics, we deserve exactly what we get. - Yours, etc,
P.J. GRIFFIN, Ardeevin, Lucan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I suppose it didn't even occur to Brian Lenihan to impose a windfall tax on the excessive bankers' bonuses that helped cause the economic collapse in the first place. - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - The Budget represents a massive failure to govern and to address the greatest cause of waste and inefficiency in our country today — the public service. By avoiding this challenge he has clearly demonstrated that the Fianna Fáil politicians who posture as political leaders are not really in charge; the public service is pulling all the strings. It has held on to benchmarking; it has grown to gross proportions and it is answerable to nobody.
I vividly recall hearing Mary Harney proclaim in Limerick at the launch of the PDs in 1985 that her top priority was reform of the public service to make it an efficient instrument of the Irish people, with an appropriate sense of mission and an ability to deliver. Since 1989, Mary Harney has served in senior government positions for 14 years over a period of unparalleled inflation of personnel, cost and inefficiency in the service.
This Budget has all the markings of public service personnel dictating that its protected status will not be up for change; that reform is a figment of the politicians' imagination and that whoever will be asked to bear the burden of the problems we face it will not be them. - Yours, etc,
LIAM MEADE, Ballyneety, Co Limerick.
A chara, - The Budget was supposed to bring radical measures to deal with severe national and global problems. Were the banks, whose irresponsible practices led to the financial crisis of two weeks ago, taxed even one teeny little bit? No. Were the speculators who have driven land prices to super-inflationary levels taxed ever so slightly? No. Was income over €120,000 put into a third tax bracket of 50 per cent? No.
So what was the Government's radical proposal? A 1 per cent levy on all income up to €100,000 and a 2 per cent levy on income above that level. Therefore a person on the minimum wage, earning €360 per week will end up paying a levy of €3.60. That's the price of two loaves of bread, which is how money is measured when you are at the bottom of the income ladder.
On the other hand, someone who earns €360 a day (€1,800 a week) will pay €18 per week, still leaving a gross salary of €1,782 per week. Fair? Equitable? Radical? Republican? - Is mise,
PADRAIG MANNION, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Instead of taking a cut, would the Government not consider taking a hike? -Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Truly we are a very docile people. The dominant political party has behaved in a profligate manner with our resources and has used our unaccustomed wealth in craven attempts to bolster its political position and its chances of re-election — videits gross favouring of developers, its ridiculous decentralisation proposals, the quangos, the consultants, the advisers and the costly Dáil committee talk-shops. That party's offhand carelessness and lack of application also precipitated the Lisbon Treaty referendum defeat, still lurking off-stage to batter us still further.
Were our rebel spirit still alive, were we to give justifiable expression to a well-grounded rage at how we have been abused and betrayed, we would opt for one of two traditional options. The real choice should be to hang them now or to give them a fair trial and then hang them. I support the more straightforward option.
The brazen, arrogant ones say they are not to blame. The schoolyard excuses abound - it wasn't me, it was the banks, it was the American subprime market, etc, etc. The craven morons should stand up and take the hit. Instead, we are now taking their hit. - Yours, etc,
COLM MULLEN, The Warren, Malahide, Do Dublin.