Climbdown III: Hanafin shows up in budget slasher movie
They’ve already endured a horror show of their own, and it was called The Budget.
It started with the medical card crisis. There was any number of brutal measures in the budget, but it was the decision to remove the over-70s’ automatic right to medical cards that became the first source of protest.
It was Tuesday, October 14, when the budget was published and the medical card move revealed. Just a week later, Taoiseach Brian Cowen was sitting at a press conference announcing a significant, if partial, U-turn. The automatic right would still be removed. But the new eligibility limits would be substantially widened, so that 95% of existing holders would retain their cards, rather than the 70% previously planned.
Later that same day, Mr Cowen announced the second major U-turn. Trade unions had reacted in fury to the budget decision to impose a 1% income levy on all those earning up to €100,000. They wanted those on low incomes to be exempted from the levy, and the Government quickly folded in face of the union pressure. Mr Cowen announced following a meeting with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions that those earning the minimum wage of €17,540 or less would not have to pay the levy.
But that was it, the Government said. No more concessions, climb downs or U-turns.
Well, that determination lasted less than a week. Yesterday, Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin announced the third significant budget climbdown, by reversing proposed cuts to the disability allowance.
The allowance is paid to those 16 and over who have a disability that will continue for at least a year and causes the person to be “substantially restricted” in doing work that would otherwise be suitable for someone of their age, experience and qualifications.
Under the original budget plan, Ms Hanafin proposed to raise the qualifying age to 18.
This meant that instead of getting the disability allowance worth €791.20 a month, the 16 and 17-year-olds affected would have received the domiciliary care allowance of just €299.60 per month, resulting in a loss of thousands of euro each year.
Disability groups and opposition parties claimed it was an indefensible cutback that targeted one of the most vulnerable groups in society.
Ms Hanafin claimed she was merely reacting to concerns expressed by some of the disability groups themselves that it made no sense to give welfare payments to someone as young as 16, as it could allow a child to fall into the dependency trap too soon.
“The Government’s motivation in making changes to the disability allowance was to address these concerns,” insisted Ms Hanafin.
Whatever the case, her argument lost its power in the face of protests by the disability groups and families of disabled children.
Yesterday, Ms Hanafin announced that the cutback would be scrapped, and that the old threshold of 16 would remain.
So three climbdowns in less than three weeks. The real risk now is that other lobby groups will take the latest U-turn as encouragement to keep up their own campaigns against cutbacks. For the Government, the horror show is in its middle act, and it promises to be a very long winter indeed.
