Taoiseach denies targeting ‘soft options’ in budget

BRIAN COWEN last night denied he had targeted “soft options” in one of the state’s harshest budgets.

The Taoiseach admitted the sweeping increases in health and income tax levies would cause hardship, but claimed they had been spread fairly across social groups.

Mr Cowen insisted the budget had been fair despite the scrapping of the Christmas social welfare bonus, halving of the job seekers’ allowance for under 20s and bringing those on the minimum wage into the tax net, because the contributions of people in those categories was relatively small compared with higher earners.