{"id":23479,"date":"2021-10-13T11:55:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T15:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23479"},"modified":"2021-10-13T11:55:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T15:55:53","slug":"ministers-take-to-the-air-to-defend-against-budget-2020-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23479","title":{"rendered":"Ministers Take To The Air To Defend Against Budget 2020 Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Minister for Expenditure Michael McGrath and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe (PA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Government defended itself on Wednesday against accusations that the budget did little to tackle the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister for Expenditure Michael McGrath and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said that most Irish people would see some kind of benefit from the \u20ac4.7 billion Budget package they announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both faced questions from the public during a phone-in on RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Today With Claire Byrne program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In call after call, listeners pointed to the spiraling cost of rent and the increased cost of fuel and childcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listeners, who included nurses, pensioners and construction workers, asked why there was little announced on Tuesday to support renters, as well as a lack of measures designed to tackle lengthening hospital waiting lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr McGrath said: \u201cTo people who make the point that we spread the money too thinly, you have to back that up by saying where we shouldn\u2019t have spent the money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both ministers stressed that, in successive budgets, the Government was trying to improve things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBudget by budget, when we\u2019re making changes in taxation it\u2019s not about division,\u201d Mr Donohoe told one listener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s trying to make progress on all the priorities we\u2019ve heard across this program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the program ministers listened to a clip from 10-year-old Adam Terry, who is still waiting for scoliosis treatment after four years and described the pain the condition leaves him in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They described his story as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe should be top of the list,\u201d Mr McGrath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that money is a constraint there. The Department of Health and the HSE had over \u20ac22 billion in the current year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have the same next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it is about prioritizing and Adam and many others in similar circumstances, are the number one priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is frustrating for us in Government. This is a relatively new Government, and we need to fix this. And we will fix this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Various listeners accused the Government of letting down parents and the childcare sector in Tuesday\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankie, a listener from Dublin, said she had two children in childcare and was currently paying more than \u20ac20,000 a year in fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She accused the Government of letting her, and people like her, down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have two good jobs. It\u2019s a second mortgage for us, and we don\u2019t have enough money at the end of the month to do anything fun for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said that she might have to leave her job due to the exorbitant cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Mr McGrath said that the Budget would be a \u201cturning point\u201d in the Government\u2019s approach to early years and the childcare sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It included a commitment to extending the universal subsidy in the National Childcare Scheme to children under 15 from next September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr McGrath conceded the measure would not make a \u201cbig dent\u201d in Frankie\u2019s bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the commercial rates relief had applied to creches, while \u20ac700 million have gone to the childcare sector through the wage subsidy scheme introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a step change in investment in childcare,\u201d Mr McGrath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that reforms were coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing we have to do is stabilize the system, because we\u2019re losing too many staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul, another listener, asked why more had not been done for renters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels to me that it\u2019s all piecemeal solutions, and they don\u2019t go to the core of the issue,\u201d he told the radio program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donohoe, referring to the Government\u2019s Housing For All plan, said that the plan was to build more homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that renters hoping to buy a home could benefit from the extension of the Help To Buy scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI absolutely recognize the frustration and the worry that it\u2019s causing so many at the moment, but the way in which we ultimately have the best chance of fixing this is by having more homes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One caller, Mary Teresa from Donegal, asked what the Government is doing on a mica redress scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr McGrath referred to plans for a revised scheme to address the concerns of homeowners whose houses are crumbling due to defective building blocks, but gave no details in Tuesday\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the Government would have a full proposal in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI made the legitimate point, in the interest of taxpayers generally, we have to ask who can assist the State in meeting this cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that this may include banks and insurance companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily all have to fall on the State,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters after the phone-in program, Mr Donohoe said that there were \u201crisks ahead\u201d for the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe may face new risks with Brexit. We may face further challenges with inflation, on top of the ones we\u2019re facing at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut all that being said, the economy is recovering very quickly at the moment. We believe we\u2019ll have an additional 400,000 jobs by the end of next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr McGrath said that deciding where to prioritize, with a limited amount of money, was a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have a certain amount of money, and it can only go so far, and you can only achieve so much,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that some challenges facing the state weren\u2019t always \u201cmoney-related\u201d.<\/p>\n

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