The failure of Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton to secure any improvement to class sizes or make any meaningful reduction in back to school costs, is a major disappointment to those in the sector according to Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. “Last year, Jan O’Sullivan brought primary school class sizes back to pre-crisis level….

The Budget includes an astonishing proposal to reduce Ireland’s Debt to GDP ratio to 45% by 2025. Ireland has made great progress in bringing down our debt to GDP ratio in recent years from a peak of 120% to 76% in 2016. However Minister Noonan’s Budget speech contains an astonishingly conservative proposal to bypass the…

    Labour provided a bigger increase to pensioners in 2016 than that provided in the 2017 FG-FF Budget No increase in Child Benefit provided in Budget 2017 while all other major payments going up Social Welfare budget only increased by 1% Under 26’s getting only €2.70 extra a week Labour TD and Spokesperson on…

Labour TD and Spokesperson on the Arts, Joan Burton, has expressed her disappointment with the overall reduction of 16 per cent in the Arts Budget for 2017. The estimates show that the provision for current expenditure in the sector has fallen by a million euro on 2016 levels, while capital spending will be slashed by…

Labour Senator and Spokesperson on Rural Development, Denis Landy, says today’s Budget shows the Government is more focussed on a welfare scheme for sheep support, than a renewal of rural communities. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Pascal Donohue, allocated 25% of the Rural Development Programme to the welfare of sheep but provided no new…

The childcare package announced today is underfunded and fails to address the chronic issue of low pay in the sector, according to Labour TD and spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs, Jan O’Sullivan. “In the Budget for next year, the sum that Katherine Zappone has secured for investment in a new programme covering childcare and…

Labour Senator and Spokesperson on Labour Affairs and Workers Rights, Ged Nash, says the Government’s 10 cent increase in the National Minimum Wage outlined in Budget 2017, is a slap in the face for 70 thousand of Ireland’s lowest paid workers. “The government has failed to meet its own commitments to raise the minimum wage…

Last Friday, after the main opposition parties had published our alternative budget proposals, it was reported in the Irish Times that an “extra €200 million to expand the so-called “fiscal space”, is understood to have been found through “savings””. Following on from this report, we have sought clarifications from either Paschal Donohoe or Michael Noonan,…