LEO’S BUDGET BONANZA
»»Varadkar vows middle incomes will see tax boost »»tanaiste also says pension and benefits will rise
Deficit is needed to pay for support needed in crisis PASCHAL DONOHOE YESTERDAY
My focus is on the vulnerable & how to improve situation HEATHER HUMPHREYS YESTERDAY
That was acceptable when cost of living wasn’t rising. It is now LEO VARADKAR YESTERDAY
social welfare recipients and pensioners are set for a cash boost and middle-income earners will get a tax cut in next month’s Budget, tanaiste Leo Varadkar said yesterday.
Confirming he will lead his party into the next General Election, he added: “Absolutely, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Mr Varadkar said: “There will be a tax package to help middleincome people in particular, there will be a welfare and pensions package and also there will be a package to help businesses particularly those sectors that are not fully open and need a bit more help.
“That will be negotiated between now and Budget day. I’m not going to put figures on it yet.
“There will be additional investment in public services and infrastructure.
“The reason why Fine Gael is calling for that pensions and welfare package to be in the Budget is because there hasn’t been an increase in the State pension now for a number of years, hasn’t been an increase in the basic weekly payments on welfare for a number of years and I think that was acceptable at a time when the cost of living wasn’t rising.
“It now is. We’ve seen a return to inflation.”
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said “her focus is going to be on the vulnerable and how we can improve the situation for people reliant on social welfare payments”.
Speaking at the Fine Gael think-in in Trim, Co Meath, yesterday, she added: “The cost of living is going up so these issues will be taken into consideration when I’m doing my Budget negotiations.”
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the strategy is to aim to “get our borrowing down to such a level in 2023 that by that point we’ll no longer be borrowing for day-to-day spending”.
He added: “We are going to be recording a high deficit for this year.
“This is needed to pay for our wage subsidy scheme, PUP and the additional support needed when we were dealing with the pandemic.
“I’m well aware of the high level of debt we have... but what he [Varadkar] has talked about and what I have talked about is about simply helping our workers, helping our vulnerable and keeping up with the cost of living.”
Mr Donohoe said the Government expects the jobless rate to be halved by next year.
Speaking to RTE’S Morning Ireland, the Tanaiste said: “We believe it’s possible to make the cake bigger, to make your country richer and by doing so then you don’t need to increase taxes.”
Mrs Humphreys has also warned there are “very difficult decisions” to be made on the State pension.
A report commissioned by her recommended gradually increasing
the qualifying age by three months between 2028 and 2031 before gradually increasing to 68 by 2039.
The Pensions Commission suggested this could be achieved in part by increasing PRSI contributions from 4% to 11% for self-employed workers but Fine
Gael are not in favour of this.
Mrs Humphreys said: “At the end of the day, what we want to do is protect the State pension so young people who start a working life today will get the same benefits as those who retire today or tomorrow and that’s really at the heart of the decisions we need to make.”
Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar admitted it
“wasn’t a very flattering photo” of him at a music festival posted on Twitter.
He faced a backlash from the live events industry who said his decision to go to the UK gig on the weekend that Electric Picnic was due to be held was “tone deaf ”.
Mr Varadkar said: “Two days later, concerts, exhibitions, big matches, big events in Ireland were allowed and I was one of the people who made sure we had that plan in place for the event sector and I took the view that because it was only two days, maybe it wouldn’t matter.
“It wasn’t very flattering and if the shoe was on the other foot, it’s not a photo I would have posted of somebody else and I have never done something like that.
“But I am a public figure and, to a certain extent, it goes with the territory that if you’re out and about in public, people will take photos of you.”
He also responded to the letter his partner Matthew Barrett sent to the Irish Times in which he criticised the photo, stating it shows people will “celebrate” the violation of another person’s privacy.