Chambers Ireland: Proposed cuts not enough

Chambers Ireland has said An Bord Snip Nua's recommended cuts "are not enough" for the Govt to balance the books.

According to Ian Talbot, Chief Executive, Chambers Ireland, said: "Our chief concern given the collapse in tax revenues witnessed since 2008 is that the cuts sought will not go far enough to enable the Government to balance its books in an orderly fashion.

"In light of the swingeing job losses, pay cuts and productivity enhancements delivered by the approximately 1.4 million workers and managers in the private sector, we believe the public sector must reciprocate via a specifically focussed reverse benchmarking process and, critically, productivity enhancements to ensure that current spending does not crowd out vitally important capital investments.

"We question the merits of reducing the local government fund by €100m in the absence of firm commitments to introducing a local tax. The real issue is ensuring that adequate local services are delivered and funded cost effectively for business. We need a locally derived tax now to deliver locally controlled services."

"In terms of the agenda of merging the Health and Safety Authority and the National Employment Rights Authority into one Work Place Inspectorate we fully welcome this recommendation and reiterate our call for a parallel consolidation and simplification of all HR-related legislation to enable business to deal with this legal minefield.”

"In positioning Ireland for the future there are very significant gains to be made by the State focusing seriously on the e-commerce/e-payment agenda. We welcome calls for a dramatically enhanced focus on a fully integrated e-commerce strategy."

"The Government was elected to govern. Accordingly we call for the hard decisions to be taken now to ensure Ireland’s control of its future," Talbot concluded.