Cradle to grave cuts - Unemployed and elderly hit hardest

A stinging range of cuts targeting the elderly, women, and the unemployed were yesterday inflicted by the Government in what it promised would be the last budget before Ireland exits the bailout and regains control of its finances.

There were growing fears for up to 100,000 medical card holders as the Government said it would carry out an all-encompassing review to remove ineligible recipients.

Health Minister James Reilly said while €113m would be saved by improving the “accuracy of the system”, he admitted he did not know how many people would be left without them.

Maternity benefits were slashed by €32 a week for almost 46,000 mothers while social welfare payments were cut by one third for anybody under the age of 26 who signs on from January.

Opposition parties accused the Government of driving youth emigration while the Unite trade union warned dole and welfare benefits would cost 25,000 jobs.

Claims the lives of the elderly would be endangered were made after the €114 annual telephone allowance was scrapped for more than 300,000 recipients.

About 20,000 families a year will lose the €850 bereavement grant paid out when a loved one dies, prompting Fianna Fáil to claim that not even the dead were safe from the cuts.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin took the unprecedented step of overseeing all budget changes by James Reilly in the health system. The step was signed off on at the weekend to ensure that the €666m cuts in health can be delivered.

Former junior health minister Róisín Shortall predicted the health service would be in “freefall” by the middle of next year.

On the positive side, the much flagged GP medical cards for under-fives were announced, while the tourism sector could breathe a sigh of relief as the 9% Vat rate for the industry was retained in a surprise move.

Likewise, from April the €3 travel tax will be abolished.

While duty on petrol, oil, diesel, and gas remained untouched, the old reliables were hit. From midnight a packet of cigarettes increased by 10c; beer and spirits increased by 10c; and 50c was placed on a bottle of wine.

In his budget speech, Mr Noonan acknowledged the €30bn in sacrifices already made by the Irish people over the last six years.

However, he said the recovery is under way, that jobs are being created, and “we have a fair wind on our backs”.

He delivered a narrative of “the story of insolvent Ireland”, beginning with the call for help from the EU and IMF under the Fianna Fáil government, and ending with the expected exit from the bailout in December.

Once the €2.5bn in tax hikes and spending cuts come into effect in January, he said, “we will have closed this chapter of Ireland’s history”.

Mr Noonan added: “There will be no promissory notes, there will be no Anglo Irish Bank, and there will be no bank guarantee. We will have exited the programme and Ireland will have been handed back her purse.”