SERVICES for the country’s most vulnerable people are being strangled by Government cutbacks which will result in the loss of 5,000 jobs in the community and voluntary sectors, according to a new report.

SEVENTY Irish sporting bodies — including the GAA, FAI and IRFU — have come together to demand that the government does not impose any further cuts on the Irish Sports Council.

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams has rowed back from claims Ireland would keep its European Commissioner if the Lisbon Treaty is rejected.

A large number of angry public servants turned out in Sligo last night for the first regional meeting of a new group set up to oppose cutbacks recommended by An Bord Snip.

Sinn Féin has placed ads in today's national newspapers arguing that the Lisbon Treaty is a bad deal for Ireland.

Fine Gael is accusing Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe of being dishonest about cuts in special needs education.

ONLY five Irish international airports will be sustainable into the future and European funding will be vital, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said yesterday.

A NATIONAL strategy needs to be put in place for the Irish agri-food industry before it goes the way of the coal miners in Britain, the Agricultural Science Association annual conference was told in Dublin.

THE cost of the day- to-day running of the Oireachtas has more than doubled since 2004 while the number of civil servants has increased by more than a third.

THE Commission on Taxation is expected to recommend a crackdown on super-rich tax exiles when its report is published today.

FINE Gael TDs and senators will meet in Cavan today to plot strategy for the new Dáil term and continue preparations for a snap general election.

All Government departments have been told to prepare a list of cuts as part of a €3bn savings package to be ready by September 11.

THE farm cuts proposed in the McCarthy Report will lead to 12,300 job losses, a €430 million drop in output and a greater burden on the social welfare budget than the savings made by An Bord Snip.

THE administration of disability services within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has actively promoted the concept of independent living for people with disabilities and has delivered the necessary services on a rights-based principle.

RURAL people, mature students and the least well-off will be most affected by planned changes in how grant applications are assessed, according to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

SO, we have the suggestions of An Bord Snip Nua at last, and, as might be expected, the proposals involve kicking the remaining living daylights out of the poorer members of our “society”. That is, of course, if “society” in Ireland allowed the poor to become members.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan said Rabobank/ACC Bank’s actions in forcing Liam Carroll and John Fleming to seek court protection by resorting to examinerships for their companies with borrowings of more than €1 billion each, has highlighted the need for the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

YOU could be forgiven for calling it an Bord Snip & Tuck if the slash and burn plans for Sports, Arts & Tourism and Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs are anything to go by.

OFFICIALS at the Irish Sports Council (ISC) were last night digesting An Bord Snip’s “painful” recommendation that the body’s grant be shaved by €7.7 million, a figure which accounts for roughly 30% of its annual budget.

The cuts proposed in An Bord Snip’s report today would mean a drop in income of 30% for family carers, representative group the Carers Association said today.

An Bord Snip's long-anticipated report into cuts in public spending includes recommendations for large-scale job cuts of 17,300 in the public sector, cuts of 5% to all social welfare benefits, an increase in hospital charges and cuts of €746m in the education sector.

An Bord Snip has said that cuts in social welfare spending are inevitable, given the cost of that sector to the State.

The union representing primary school teachers has warned that the recommendations made by An Bord Snip in its report published today would cause "devastation" in the sector.

An Bord Snip has recommended swingeing cuts of 17,300 jobs in the public sector.

The Department of Finance has published An Bord Snip Nua's recommendations for around €5.3bn worth of public spending cuts.

THE Government was yesterday criticised for the lack of accountability of the membership of An Bord Snip Nua.

ALMOST 45 gardaí have retired early every month so far this year, according to new figures.

BEING asked by the editor to set out what I would do if I was taoiseach in 2009 is like a fantasy football competition.

CABINET ministers will have to factor in almost an extra €250 million into their spending estimates for next year, now that the full cost of benchmarking has at last been established.

THE Government is considering a series of drastic cost-cutting measures if the economy takes another hit next year.