Estimates 2006 - Not a Budget bonanza for everyone

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen fired a muted but unmistakable election volley yesterday when he unveiled the Estimates for 2006 outlining extra Government spending in key problem areas of education, justice and health.

Under pressure to deliver long overdue promises, relieved Coalition backbenchers heard Mr Cowen announce that €48 billion, an extra €3.25bn (7%), will be spent on running the country next year.

But the minister dashed cold water on hopes that next month’s Budget would be a pre-Christmas bonanza for all.

Mindful of Fianna Fáil’s newfound image as a party of socialists, he revealed that while spending on Budget Day would be limited, it would be concentrated on welfare, childcare, care of the elderly, plus investment in research and other areas.

Hard-pressed to find issues on which to attack the Government, opposition parties were largely confined to criticising the budgetary process, claiming the Coalition’s juggernaut of waste would just trundle on and that key information was missing from the Cowen package.

Aware of the urgency of assuaging public unease over violent crime, spending will be increased in the Department of Justice by 17% to €445m.

While this increase is welcome a sceptical public is unlikely to be convinced until gun-toting criminals are rooted out.

What people want to see are more gardaí on the beat in cities like Dublin and Limerick where gangsters are turning the streets into killing areas. It will be the end of 2008 before 2,000 extra gardaí are trained.

Though millions more will go on health reform, it is questionable if waiting times for patients can be radically cut.

Thankfully, however, more generous payments will be given to carers who support people with disabilities.

In another welcome move, Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney, intends spending €9m on medical education with the aim of producing more doctors. But the bad news for many is that in order to end the two-tier nature of Ireland’s hospital service, a 10% increase will go on private beds in public hospitals.

In education, the controversy over school buses will at last be seriously tackled with the provision of seat belts in buses. Yet, despite the promised recruitment of hundreds of extra primary teachers, Ireland’s appalling teacher-pupil ratio looks set to persist.

Having witnessed the scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money on major projects, a sceptical public will give a cautious welcome to Mr Cowen’s assurance that from now on every euro will be well spent. Greater accountability is essential if the appalling wastage is to be averted.

Thanks to unacceptable Coalition practices, which saw money being taken from the pockets of elderly people in State nursing homes, an extra €400m will be allocated in 2006 towards the cost of repaying charges for long stay care in former health board-funded health institutions.

Among the key issues yet to be addressed is the vexed question of childcare support, something where Ireland still lags far behind other European nations. Parents with young children will be looking to Mr Cowen to give them a badly needed Christmas present by addressing this politically explosive question in a meaningful way on Budget Day.