Fionn Rogan | Deputy Opinion Editor
The worst enemy to have is a reasonable one. It’s terribly difficult to argue with a rational nemesis and today with the Budget for 2014 the Irish Government has copper fastened its role as the student activist’s worst enemy. Perhaps my reading of the budget is off-kilter or I am woefully under radicalized, but as I progressed through the data I couldn’t help but feel hopeful for the future of this country.
Apart from a small number of fatal slip-ups such as the ‘youth dole fiasco’, which I will address later, Noonan and Howlin appear to have pulled off a rather fair and balanced budget in what must be admitted are rather difficult circumstances. It could be that the anxious few weeks leading up to today had conditioned me to expect a much harsher budget but now I have been left pleasantly surprised and bewildered.
I’m quite astounded at times by the reasonableness of the proposed plans. At times I find myself thinking they were too light-handed and could honestly have taken more. I fully support the increased excise duty on cigarettes and alcohol. 10c on cigarettes, to be honest they could have made it 30c and I wouldn’t have questioned the soundness of their reasoning. The economic sensibility that they demonstrated by increasing the excise duty on cigarettes and alcohol and not touching petrol, gas or oil is admirable.
The tact with which they approached the subject of the ‘Grey Brigade’ is impressive. Whilst it may seem unusually cruel to repeal the elderly’s telephone allowance they made sure not to touch pensions and free travel thus preventing any legitimate large scale retaliation. Tourism is bolstered with the dropping of the Airport Travel Tax and the preservation of 9% VAT. VAT wasn’t touched at all for that matter, nor were carer’s allowances, respite care, normal dole payments, child benefit, student maintenance grant, income tax or the Universal Social Charge (USC).
People who have been unemployed for 15 months or more will be exempt from paying income tax for two years if they set up a new business, just one of 25 new pro-business measures included in Noonan’s budget reputedly worth €500 million to the state. This Budget has tried to market itself as a pro-business and pro-family one and so far it appears to be succeeding in its goals.
The €150 million bank levy will be welcomed by most as will the free healthcare for under 5’s. The ‘Renovation Incentive’ promising tax credits for those renovating their primary residences is a practical incentive to encourage spending and also to reinvigorate at least parts of the construction industry.
I must stress, however, that there is a danger in reasonable budgets. There is the very real concern that it will placate people to a perilous level of passivity. I could feel myself becoming less critical and evermore blasé as I delved through the data. The issue with this is that an effective government requires a critical voice so as to ensure it keeps serving the people and the country to the best of its abilities.
When the public become passive that’s when governments begin taking the piss. There is an onus on us to demonstrate to the government that whilst we are happy to a certain degree with a broad swathe of this Budget we still expect more. The government is there to serve the needs of the people not vice versa and this message needs to be fully understood by all.
The budget is let down by several crucial mistakes. The decision to cut the dole for under 25’s to €100 a week is intolerable. Whilst it may be a response to the persistent trend that is the infantilizing of modern society it is unacceptable to blatantly target a particular demographic and not anyone else. It has been described as incentivizing emigration and it will prove to be a thorn in the side of Budget 2014. The minister has also failed to tackle the pressing issue of TD’s and minister’s salaries as well as expenses. I would never suggest that TD’s should not get paid or should receive minimum wage. The fact is that they do a job that warrants some reward but at the moment they are being overpaid.
Admittedly this trend is not uncommon throughout Ireland but the Dail should act as a good example for the rest of the country by reducing the salaries for TDs and ministers to a rate that is fair and tenable.
Ultimately I believe that the 2014 Budget can be regarded as a largely fair and reasonable affair. It is flawed though and thus there is an onus on us to highlight these flaws. It is the duty of every Irish citizen to inform the government that there is always more that it can do to serve the people. Ireland is by no means a perfect society and until we achieve that we must not allow ourselves to become passive. Budget 2015 should ultimately be an improvement on this one and if it is not we will know that we have not performed our duty.
