It’s time to give back to people: Coveney

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has said it is time to give something back to the people, but warned that any bonuses for families and workers in the budget would be "minor".

The Fine Gael minister said the most important thing in the budget was for the Government to give tax breaks to recession-hit people. There were three choices open to the Cabinet, but it was important people’s expectations were not raised unrealistically, Mr Coveney said in an Irish Examiner interview.

Following suggestions by several ministers that there was room for manoeuvre in October’s budget, Mr Coveney outlined his preferred relief measures for workers.

“It is time to give something back to the people. Some people think this Government wants to inflict austerity — that’s how it is sold at times.

“Now, for the first time, we can afford to give a signal that things are changing for the better. The way in which people will measure that, is with what’s in their pocket at the end of the week.

“I’d certainly like to see some tax breaks through the tax system; this Government is making an effort to increase people’s take-home pay. That’s the most important thing we can do with this budget,” he said.

Three choices are open to the Government, he said. These include cutting the universal social charge, changing the tax bands, and lowering tax rates.

“We’ll be looking at all three. We’ll be taking the best advice on how to increase people’s take-home pay, while at the same time promoting job creation and supporting people on low and middle incomes.

“I’d like to see people on low and middle incomes benefiting from entering higher tax bands at a later stage.”

There have been calls in recent months to increase the €32,500 level at which workers begin to pay the higher rate of income tax. No alternative rate has yet been discussed by ministers.

Exchequer figures out next Tuesday will indicate how healthy the country’s finances are — as budget talks get underway in the first post-summer Cabinet meeting the next day.

But more will be known on the income tax intake and falls in social welfare spending, with third-quarter figures at the end of September.

However, Mr Coveney warned against any excessive optimism.

“I also think it’s important that we don’t raise expectations unrealistically either. I think we will be able to do something in terms of tax relief in this budget, but it will be a relatively minor initiative — though it will be a signal for the budgets to come over next year and, hopefully [the following years].”

Elsewhere, the agriculture minister ruled out appointing a regulator over the beef crisis, but said he expected prices for meat to rise soon. He called on farmers to give him evidence of anti-competitive behaviour or a cartel in the sector. Cattle prices had fallen significantly in recent months. Farmers had also claimed that some retailers were manipulating the market and giving farmers a raw deal.

Mr Coveney said beef output was up 15% here but prices had fallen across Europe. He said Tesco had agreed to look at a different specification for Irish beef compared to British beef.