Bailout exit uncertain amid losses

The Budget sidelined the bank losses for last year, which were €5.96bn between AIB and Bank of Ireland.

Next year’s losses will tell if austerity is working, or will this country crawl back to the EU for more money. The Government says it can exit the bailout programme, but it is not certain, and it could be a rocky road even if it does.

The phone allowance was an extravagance of the debt-leveraged boom and deserved to be scrapped. Let’s face it: this is a country talking itself to death. We all know there are people who should not have medical cards, given their incomes and access to occupational medical schemes.

The same could be said of the disabled permits on the cars of people who appear to be able-bodied. This is costing the country a fortune. The Government did not go far enough in taxing the old reliables, such as nicotine and alcohol, which are costing the health service billions in putting people who have an unhealthy lifestyle back together.

The abolition of the share-transfer tax on the stock market should have been kept for people making money out of share-dealing and other financial instruments, and perhaps lowered for the very many who lost big sums playing a mug’s game.

The savings tax should be applied to people who have high incomes and not the poor, as well, who will make buttons on the few euro that they have. There was also mention of the black market, or shadow economy, which the Government wants to crack down on, by giving the Revenue and attorney general more powers. This should be welcomed, as black marketeers contribute nothing to the country, but expect others to pay.

The Government said there is a culture “where employees see themselves as employees for the rest of their lives”, in never wanting to move into business themselves. The Budget generously mentioned people who are long-term unemployed through no fault of their own.

This needed to be acknowledged in a society of nepotism and cronies. However, for all the adjustments in the Budget, the banks are still in trouble and the German finance minister recently shook his head at any further bailout, until German legislation is agreed, which he intimated was not likely.

And the emergency EMS funding, which is not intended for bank bailouts, is not on the cards. It must be remembered that the banks sunk this country and can easily do so again: they are carrying huge ongoing losses.

Maurice Fitzgerald

Shanbally

Co Cork