Rural areas are getting a raw deal

Little help for stretched students

WHILE living in a house share close to Dublin city centre, Fionn Collins was working for minimum wage in a fast food outlet, attending college and struggling to make the rent.

Now he’s back living at home, he contributes to the household bills like electricity and Wifi. Although he doesn’t have to pay towards his course because he qualifies for Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), he was hoping the Budget would give students some relief when it comes to living costs and rent.

‘I’m not surprised there weren’t any changes made to the contribution,’ he says. ‘It seems to me like they concentrated on things like housing, possibly at the cost of issues like health and education. But that’s what everyone is talking about and marching about this year, housing and homelessness, which of course have to be dealt with also.’

And although he knows it might not be a popular view, Fionn doesn’t hugely agree with the €5 a week increase in social welfare payments for the unemployed, admitting that he would have liked more help for struggling workers. THOUGH his children are grown adults, Gerry had hoped to see pay reinstated for teachers in primary and secondary schools.

‘They’re the most important people in the country as far as I’m concerned,’ he says. ‘If you treat them like second-rate citizens, the whole country suffers.’

Given his occupation, Gerry was heartened to hear that there will be an increase in support for arts and artists via the Arts Council of Ireland and the Creative Ireland Programme, as well as additional restoration and development works across heritage.

‘The Government gets bang for their buck when it comes to Arts Council money,’ says Gerry. ‘I wouldn’t benefit directly myself as I’m an independent promoter too, but I benefit from it when I go to the Bluebeard Opera in Cork, or go to see a production in the Irish National Opera. I couldn’t go to that without Arts Council funding.’

While Gerry admits that the Budget ‘went a bit better than expected’, he was nonetheless disappointed to find that rural broadband services hadn’t been acknowledged.

‘If something was done about rural broadband, you wouldn’t have to live in Dublin to get things to work,’ he reveals. ‘You could record an album from anywhere in the country. I do believe that rural Ireland has got a bit of a raw deal. The increase in VAT in tourism will definitely hit things down there. A bit of that will pass on in terms of entertainment — budgets will be cut as a result of that.’

Although he wished more had been done to tackle climate change, Gerry is heartened that more people seem to be working. ‘The general climate seems to be improving, and the spirit in the country is on the up,’ he says.