Sir, – The budget has received saturation coverage in media outlets in recent weeks. It was a budget for the expenditure of €58 billion in 2017. But all of the attention has been focused on approximately €1 billion, the so-called fiscal space. Surely budget time is about critically examining the other €57 billion. It is about asking if we are getting good value for money. And, perhaps of more importance, it is about asking what values do we subscribe to when allocating the majority of our resources. – Yours, etc,
JA O’GRADY,
Harold’s Cross,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – The posturing of Micheál Martin and Shane Ross over their assertions that they were responsible for all the goodies in the budget nauseates me. – Yours, etc,
ITA McCORMACK,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Sir, – Although Michael Noonan’s tax credit for first-time buyers has some merit, it fails to address the reality of modern life in a cosmopolitan city like Dublin. First, not all first-time buyers are couples. And not everyone wants or can have the “picket-fence, three-bed semi in the suburbs” scenario proposed by this Government. There are plenty of people who wish to buy compact, well-built one- and two-bed apartments in and around Dublin city. The same apartments we see in abundance in other European cities. Dwellings that work for both transient renters and owner occupiers. Why is this Government planning housing as if we were still the 1960s and not planning to suit 21st-century demographic trends? – Yours, etc,
PATRICK DOYLE,
Artane, Dublin 5.
A chara, – As it stands, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone’s new childcare package in Budget 2017 unfairly discriminates against childminders on whom thousands of working parents depend. Only 179 childminders are included because only 179 childminders are registered with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.
However, there are up to 2,000 more professional childminders who are registered members of Childminding Ireland, or notified to County Childcare Committees, or registered with Revenue for childcare tax relief. Most of these professional childminders have insurance, Garda vetting, training in childcare, and surveys indicate that over 50 per cent may hold a Further Education and Training Awards Council (Fetac) level five qualification in childcare. They are not registered with Tusla because they are not allowed to, since they mind three or fewer children at any one time.
Yet thousands of working parents choose professional home-based childminding because they feel it’s the best form of childcare their children. Thousands of rural parents choose a home-based childminder because there is no other option. Thousands more choose a childminder because they offer flexible, often very long hours, to parents, who may need childcare for over 12 hours a day. All these parents should be able to avail of the childcare subsidies for their professional childminders.
In 2011, the Goodbody report estimated that there were 19,000 childminders, with as many as 57,000 children attending a “hidden” childminding service . It is completely unacceptable that only 179, or 0.1 per cent of childminders, are included under Dr Zappone’s new scheme.
Ultimately, all paid childminders will need to be included in some form of registration, and all families who choose childminder care should be able to access State subsidies for childcare.
In the meantime, it is imperative that Dr Zappone find a way to include all those who have spent considerable time and money in becoming professionals and engaging with professional and State agencies. It is fundamentally unfair to exclude them because they are professionals who cannot register with Tusla. And it is fundamentally unfair to the thousands of families and children whom they serve. – Is mise,
MIRIAM O’REGAN,
Avoca, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Another budget and yet again the powerful vested interests that are the Irish drinks and the hospitality industries have their way.
The only tax increase announced in Budget 2017 is the 50 cent increase on a packet of 20 cigarettes. A tax on sugary drinks is mooted for 2018, yet alcoholic beverages continue as they have done for several budgets without one cent of an increase.
It is widely acknowledged that the steady increase in the cost of smoking has been a major factor in the reduction of the numbers of smokers over the past decade or so, yet the very products that cost Irish society vastly more in terms of lives lost, domestic and vehicle-related injuries, family dysfunction, psychological damage, serious illness and lost production are allowed to be marketed without a cent of an increase in price and without a whit of interference from a Government that seems to be in mortal terror of offering even the slightest opposition to the drinks and hospitality sectors.
Clearly, and no pun intended, these commercial interests have our politicians over a barrel. The consequences of the inaction of legislators will continue to blight people of all ages in this country into the future. – Yours, etc,
Dr MICHAEL LOFTUS,
Crossmolina, Co Mayo.
Sir , – After extensive coverage of the changes introduced in the budget, I was delighted to see that there are no changes to the one-hour adjustment to move to winter time at the end of October. Was this another missed opportunity or was it just the wrong time? – Yours, etc,
DERMOT O’ROURKE,
Lucan, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Louis McCarthy (October 12th) wonders about the VAT rate applicable to the euro he paid to put air in his car tyres recently. He should realise that it is just the cost of inflation. – Yours, etc,
PAT MULLEN,
Dundalk, Co Louth.