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Inishowen reaction to Budget 2009 22.10.08

Budget 2009 has caused uproar due to a number of its provisions including the over-70s medical card (now revised), 1% income levy (also revised) and the increase in classroom sizes. Below a number of Inishowen people outline how the Budget measures will affect them. (Compiled by the Inishowen Independent)

The pensioner
FAHAN residents Peter Gurrie and his wife Brigid are both over 70 and currently hold the medical card. “Old people are worried sick about the proposals,” Gurrie said. “In our own case, we’d probably survive but our medical expenses would run to several thousand euro per year and our life savings would soon be wiped out.”
The couple have a range of medical conditions and both receive the old age pension while Peter has a contributory pension after a lifetime of work with the ESB.
“We have so much medicine in the house that it would remind you of a chemist’s shop,” Gurrie said. “It was a great relief to get the medical card when I turned 70, but to have it taken away now would be very regrettable.”
“Instead of the €7 increase in the pension, the Government should delay that for three months,” he suggested. “The €100 million in savings they’re trying to get through withdrawing the medical card would be covered by that. Several more million euro would be gained from saving all the work involved in assessing who retains or loses their medical card.”
“Alternatively, the Government could have increased the VAT rate by 1% instead of 0.5%,” Gurrie concluded. “That would have earned far more money than the €100 million they’re trying to save through this.”

The teacher
PRIMARY school teachers may be balloted on industrial action following a round of severe cuts in last week’s budget.
According to the local Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) representative Gerry McGeehan around 1,000 primary teachers will lose their jobs under the Governments proposals and Inishowen will be badly affected.
“Local schools that would have been expecting extra staff next year could now actually lose teachers,” McGeehan says. “I’ve never seen teachers as angry.” Under the proposals, class sizes – which are already the highest in the EU – will be increased from 27 to 28 from next September.
Some local schools have additional teachers because they are in what are considered disadvantaged areas but Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has announced that these posts will be suppressed. “We don’t have the breakdown as yet, but at least one local school will be affected by this and there may be more,” McGeehan said.
The withdrawal of substitute cover for uncertified sick leave or teachers away on school business looks likely to cause havoc in Inishowen’s small schools: 12 local schools have either two or three teachers.
“Teachers will be left with 40 or 50 pupils to supervise,” McGeehan said. “It will just be a matter of crowd control and there’s probably a health and safety issue with so many children in one room.”

The bicycle man
ONE of the intriguing aspects of the budget was a €1,000 tax exempt benefit in kind for employers who provide their employees with bicycles.
“The scheme sounds good in theory, but with the employer having to buy the bike for their employee I’m not sure about how realistic it is,” said John McEleney of McEleney’s Cycles Superstore in Clonmany. “And much and all as I want to sell bicycles, it doesn’t make sense to take medical cards off the over 70s and give money for bikes. It sounds ridiculous to me.”

The petrol retailer
THE price of petrol was increased by 8cent per litre in the budget, with knock on effects for all drivers and filling stations – indeed queues at the pump were evident all across Inishowen on Tuesday evening before the price hike took effect at midnight. Excise on diesel was left untouched.
A number of local filling stations, including the Burnfoot Service Station, have held their prices at pre-budget rates.
“We had an inkling that prices might be increased so we stocked up beforehand,” proprietor William Tourish said last week. “Customers have been badly hit by fuel increases in recent months, so we’re holding the price at its pre-budget level and will do so for as long as we can.”
While the increase saw excise duty on a litre of petrol rise to 52 cent per litre, petrol prices in Inishowen remain well below those in the North.
“We get a lot of cross-Border trade and we’re still substantially cheaper than the North,” Tourish said. “Long may it continue.”
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