Welfare The Opposition last night claimed the Government's provisions in the Budget for social welfare, health and eduction services were completely inadequate.The former Taoiseach and former Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said little progress had been made to take those on or near the minimum wage out of the tax net.
"Because eligibility limits have not been increased, more and more low-income families are losing their medical cards. Even families whose sole income comes from social welfare pensions are now being deemed 'too well off' to keep their medical card," he said.
Labour's social welfare spokesman, Mr Willie Penrose TD, said the social welfare increases would leave people on the poverty line or just above it.
"They have been announced against the backdrop of the savage 16 cutbacks announced by the Minister for Social Welfare just three weeks ago. Those people who are on the lowest social welfare payments will be a measly €1.40 'better off' a day."
The Sinn Féin leader in the Dáil, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, said the Government had broken promises to deliver substantive increases in child benefit and old-age pensions. "An increase of €1.50 and €2 per child per week is pathetic from a Government that boasts that it is addressing child poverty."
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said that not a single additional cent had been allocated to hospitals and the general health service.
"Minister McCreevy in his wisdom has decided that our overcrowded, understaffed and overstretched hospitals and health service is already adequately funded. It is obvious that he has not had to wait for hours on end, maybe even days on a trolley in some drafty hospital corridor," she said.
The Fine Gael health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said that arguments about the recommendations in the Hanly hospital reform project were academic because the capital allocation for health in 2004 was less than the allocation this year.
Fine Gael's education spokeswoman, Ms Olwyn Enright, said the additional funding for the school building programme was merely a reallocation of funding unspent this year.
The Labour education spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said the €30 million additional funding for the School Building Programme was "a fraction" of the €1.5 billion required.
The leader of the Greens, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Government had ignored the requirement to fulfil Ireland's Kyoto commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "It's business as usual: pollute away with no regard to either international commitments or commitments to future generations."
He added: "There is an unwritten implication that the local authorities will have to 'look around' to meet the financial demands of benchmarking. This will inevitably mean more local taxes and more hardship."
Fine Gael's transport spokesman, Mr Denis Naughten, said the multi-annual funding programme for major infrastructure projects was not radical enough to surmount flaws in the planning system. Both Fine Gael and Sinn Féin welcomed the retention of the Section 481 tax relief scheme for investors in film projects.
