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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Economic overview 2. Determining the necessary budget adjustment 3. Delivering jobs and growth 4. A fair adjustment of the taxation burden 5. Helping families in negative equity 6. Investing in our future 7. Reducing expenditure, protecting services 8. Ensuring fairness in public expenditure 9. Bank pay and pensions 10. Providing flexible pension options Appendix 1: Summary of adjustment Appendix 2: Taxation Measures Appendix 3: Expenditure savings 2 7 9 10 16 20 21 22 28 30 31 32 33 34
Executive Summary
The principles underpinning our budget proposals are: Education, Disability and Mental Health services must be ring fenced from any cuts in expenditure. We will reverse the cuts to home help support hours. Job creation and retention must be supported by not adding to the burden of costs for business. Those with higher incomes and wealth should bear a greater proportion of the burden of adjustment. The tax base should be broadened in a way that promotes the long term health interests of society. More demanding targets for reductions in the public sector pay bill are required with a strict deadline for their achievement. Greater investment is needed in Exchequer capital projects than proposed by government. A change in the definition of principal private residence is required to help struggling individuals and families who need to move home. A residential property tax at this time would be both socially and economically unfair. To help first time buyers we will extend on a restricted basis mortgage interest relief for a further 12 months. To support high skilled quality jobs in the domestic economy and encourage home insulation, we propose reversing the cuts in home energy grants announced last year.
Achoimre
T sl nos cothroime ag Fianna Fil i dtreo an tarnaimh.
Siad seo a leanas na prionsabail at mar bhonn ar r molta Cosnimid Oideachas, Seirbhs Mchumais agus Meabhairshlinte chiorraithe. Danfaimid malart ar chiorraithe sna huaireanta cabhrach baile. Tac le cruth post le polasathe nach gcuireann le hualach na ngntha N mr dibh sid at maoin agus ioncaim mra acu glacadh le hualach na gceartuithe de rir a n-achmhainn. Caithfear an bonn cnach a leathn ar mhaithe lenr socha go fadtarmach. Aidhmeanna nos troime maidir le laghd an ph-bhille sa tSeirbhs Phoibl le spriocdhta docht. Nos m infheistochta i gclr caipitiil an rialtais. Athr a dhanamh ar mhni an tarma it chnaithe phromhideach chun chabhr le clanna ar gh leo bogadh t. Bheadh cin t cnaithe leatromach ag an am seo. Ar mhaithe le ceannaitheoir caduaire, leanfaimid le faoiseamh cnach is ar bhonn caol ar feadh 12 mh. Ar mhaithe le fostaocht oilte intre agus le insli t a spreagadh, danfaimid malart ar na ciorraithe a chuireadh i bhfeidhm anuraidh ar an deontas fuinneamh t.
Taxation
We believe that high earners over 100,000 are in a position to pay a greater amount of tax and we propose an increase in the Universal Social Charge of 3% to achieve this. It is important to note that this increase will only apply to the portion of income above 100,000. Pension tax relief is a significant cost to the State and is unsustainable in its current form. The level of relief should be restricted to 30% and the earning cap reduced to 70,000. To balance the impact on the incentive to save for retirement, a deferred tax credit should be provided to mitigate the change to marginal rate relief. Reducing resources for enforcement activity by the Revenue has been completely counter-productive. Increased enforcement activity, including Revenue audits targeting high risk areas, will improve the tax take. Mortgage Interest Relief for First Time buyers should extended for a further 12 months. The duty on agricultural diesel should be equalised with other motor fuels. A rebate system for approved users should be introduced. This will combat the loss of revenue from fuel laundering and the consequent environmental damage.
Stimulus Measures
We are proposing an investment stimulus of at least 4.2 billion over 3 years. The governments pension fund levy should end in 2013 and be replaced with a mandatory investment by private pension funds of 1% per annum for 3 years in the Strategic Investment Fund. This would be an investment of 700 million per annum and would be supplemented with an equivalent annual investment from the NPRF. We will shortly publish legislation to bring this about.
The cuts announced to home insulation grants in December 2011 were economically and environmentally unwise. We propose reversing them and streamlining the operation of the scheme. The economy is suffering from very weak overall levels of consumer spending and a significant growth in the black economy. To tackle this we suggest that a tax credit of up to 2,500 be made available for approved home improvement works subject to engaging a registered, tax compliant contractor. We believe this measure will be revenue enhancing for the State.
Expenditure
The proposed 550m cut to the capital budget is too deep and will damage the output potential of the economy in future years while causing further job losses in a labour intensive sector of the economy in the short term. Our proposals will result in 150m extra exchequer capital spending above the level proposed by government. We believe that overall Social Protection expenditure can be reduced without cutting payment rates. We urge the government not to touch child benefit. The government has failed to make any inroads in reducing public sector pay. The entire reduction to date has been as a result of previously announced measures. A target of an extra 350m in savings needs to be set and achieved for 2013. Discussions between government, management and trade
5
BUDGET 2013 A FAIRER WAY TO RECOVERY
unions should commence immediately. The focus of the incremental adjustment should be on non-core pay areas of allowances, overtime, certain premium payments, targeted redundancy at management and administration grade, additional working hours, changes to work practices as well as increments for public servants. In addition to pay savings, Departmental managers should be instructed to target much more ambitious non-pay savings by focusing on procurement, shared services, out-sourcing and administration.
Economic Overview
A number of key reports and economic statistics have been delivered in recent months. Taken together they indicate that the Irish economy can best be described as bouncing along the bottom, a far cry from predictions from the Minister for Finance that it could take off like a rocket. The complacency of the governments approach can be seen from the manner in which the report of the Fiscal Council was discarded without a meaningful reply. The mantra is repeated that we are meeting all our targets under the programme when in fact we continue to miss a number of key targets. A confused message is being delivered to our EU partners who are questioning why we need a reduction in our bank debt if we are performing as well as we claim. Among the issues highlighted by recent reports are: Compared to 2011 the government are now projecting lower growth rates for 2013, lower job creation, higher unemployment, lower real wage growth and higher public debt, Stability Programme Update April 2012 and Medium Term Fiscal Statement November 2012. There are still significant risks to Ireland's economic outlook. GDP will grow by just 1.4% in 2013 IMF report A bank debt deal is needed for debt sustainability: Material investments in Irish banks by the ESM could transform the public debt outlook, cut the bank sovereign link, and cement a needed win for Europe, IMF report. Banks are still not supplying the needs of households and SMEs. IMF report. There is still "little appreciation" of just how bad the country's finances are and that further cuts in health, education and welfare are "inevitable, ESRI report. Unemployment will remain high at 14.8% this year while the unemployment rate will only fall slightly to 14.6% next year. (This compares to 14.3% and 13.6% in the governments Stability Programme update). ESRI report. There is a 40% chance that the debt to GDP ratio will fail to stabilise by 2015 under the current policy framework. Fiscal Council. GDP was flat for the second quarter. The economy avoided slipping back into recession by just 3m. Quarterly National Accounts.
In the last 12 months the number of people at work has fallen by 33,400. 1,200 jobs are being lost per week in 2012. Quarterly National Household Survey. Tax revenue is falling, in July, August and October it was below 2011 levels and significantly below target, Exchequer returns.
The 2012 deficit is now expected to be 8.3% of GDP. While this is within the ECOFIN limit of 8.6% the Medium Term Statement notes that the nominal level of the deficit at 13.5 billion is approximately 350 million worse than estimated at the time of the Stability Programme Update, due primarily to the higher voted current expenditure." The deficit target for 2013 remains unchanged at 7.5% of GDP. The current estimate of the 2013 Exchequer deficit is 15.2 billion assuming the promissory note payment is made. This represents a huge addition to the national debt. Ultimately, the Fiscal Treaty commits Ireland to a balanced budget and it is imperative that we continue to bring down the deficit in a managed way while maintaining frontline services. We concur with the need for an adjustment of 3.5bn but we propose a different composition in terms of the split between tax and expenditure. In addition within the expenditure programme we propose a smaller cut in the capital budget. We believe that such a composition of the adjustment will both socially fair and economically prudent. The composition of our proposed consolidation is outlined below:
Total Consolidation 2013 Expenditure Current Capital New expenditure commitments Net expenditure adjustment Tax Net New Measures Carry Forward from 2012 Additional tax audits Adjustment for full year effect in 203
The governments Jobs Initiative has failed to make any inroads into the unemployment crisis. Since the start of 2012, there has been a fall of 24,000 people at work. In terms of full-time employment, the trend is even worse with 34,000 fewer people employed than at the end of 2011 and the fall in the second quarter of 2012 was the highest since 2010. One quarter of the workforce are not working to the extent to which they would like. The core principles which underpin our proposals to create jobs are: There should be no change to our corporation tax regime. The government must avoid adding unnecessary costs to business particularly in labour intensive sectors. Irelands position as a world centre for high-technology enterprise should be maintained by investing in training and research. Our competitive advantages in the agri-food sector should be fully exploited. Targeted education and training solutions should are required to support employment opportunities for people experiencing unemployment. Capital investment in employment-intensive projects is essential to boost the competitiveness of the economy.
Supporting Enterprise
We propose the following measures to encourage enterprise and job creation: Allow businesses to appeal an assessment for commercial rates on the basis that the ratepayers economic circumstances have changed. A number of factors should be set out for guidance purposes for local authorities in determining the amount by which to reduce rates in the event of deteriorating economic circumstances. A simplified form of appeal should be allowed to the Valuation Office. Enhance the Employment and Investment Scheme (EIS) to make it more attractive. Allowing full tax relief when the investment is made in a start-up company would facilitate raising capital for SMEs.
Investigate the potential for providing access to vacant or underutilised public property for entrepreneurs or business start-ups to use as incubation centres. City and County Enterprise boards should be retained under the aegis of Enterprise Ireland and should be strengthened by providing business incubation units in each board and by the provision of a one stop shop helpdesk for business start-ups. Legal, human resources, patents, accountancy and funding advice would be available. Each Enterprise Board should be linked with a third level institution. We propose to increase their funding by 10m. Impose rigorous efficiency targets on the ESB, Bord Gis and Eirgrid. A National Energy Efficiency Action Plan should be undertaken to achieve a national energy saving of 20% by 2020 including measures to assist SMEs to lower electricity costs.
Up-skill 100,000 job seekers with ICT skills over the next four years. Establish a programme providing 1,000 internships in the Irish Financial Services Centre. Reform, strengthen and expand the JobBridge Programme by 5,000 places specifically targeting those aged under 25.
Energy Retrofitting
In Budget 2012, grants for internal and external wall insulation as well slashed as well as the grants for heating controls and boiler upgrades. SEAI's 2010 Annual Report, over 5,000 jobs were supported through home grant programmes. However, the expertise that has been built put at risk by the changes to the scheme. as attic were According to the domestic up has been
This was extremely short sighted and will cost jobs and make it extremely difficult for Ireland to meet its retrofit and energy reduction targets By developing and preserving a highly skilled workforce in this area, we can also tap into a growing export market for energy efficient goods and services. To this end we support: Reversing the cut in grants introduced last year. Green Loans on favourable terms administered through the credit union sector. The roll out of a Pay as You Save scheme. This could be extended to commercial premises as well.
The outsourcing cap on R&D expenditure should be reviewed. The scheme currently limits the outsourcing of R&D from business to research institutes to just 5%. This greatly limits the degree to which enterprise can collaborate with universities and third level institutes on R&D activity and is inconsistent with other government policy aimed at fostering linkages between these two sectors. In order to encourage the widest possible uptake of the R&D tax credit, Revenue and Enterprise Ireland should actively target the Irish SME sector with user friendly information guides on how the relief works.
creative industries and their role in supporting enterprise and innovation in the economy. The government should extend Section 481 Film Investment relief to 2016 to maintain Irelands attractiveness as a location for film production in an increasingly competitive international environment. A range of funding mechanisms should be examined for the capital development plans for the National Gallery of Ireland, the National Concert Hall, the Abbey Theatre, the National Museum at Collins Barracks and other major cultural centres.
Taxation policy has a key role to play in supporting economic activity within the State. Policy should be designed in a way that underpins growth and all revenue raising measures should be benchmarked against alternative proposals in terms of their impact on employment and economic activity.
Universal Social Charge by 3% for earnings above this amount would raise 200,000 and increase the effective tax rate paid by this group by 1% to 26.7%. It is important to emphasise that the additional tax would only be paid on the portion of earnings above 100,000 and where a married / civil partnership couple choose to be jointly assessed it would not apply to them if they both individually earn less than 100,000. We believe this represents a fair adjustment of the income tax burden.
volume of sales / square footage of the retailer. It is illogical that a large multiple is currently the same (500) for a beer license as a small independent retailer. We also propose to outlaw the practice of below cost selling of alcohol which will eliminate the loss of VAT to the State from such practices. According to industry estimates, this will raise 20m
We believe the necessary additional resources must be made available urgently. At a conservative estimate this should yield an additional 100m in 2013.
People in Ireland in their 30s and 40s hold nearly 90% of the negative equity in the country. This is a huge millstone round their necks. If they want to move to a more suitable home because of a growing family or take up better employment opportunities, they are restricted from doing so because they cannot sell their home as a result of the overhang of negative equity. If someone does choose to move out and rent their home, they will face a number of additional costs including, income tax, universal social charge, Non Principle Private Residence tax, fees to the Private Residential Tenancies Board and from 2013 PRSI will be levied on rental income. In practice, thousands of reluctant landlords have to subsidise the mortgage on their previous home. Others are making the unwise choice of not declaring their rental income and storing up huge problems for themselves for the future. We propose a simple change to the income tax code which would allow people who bought their house between 2000 and 2009, who have now moved out and are themselves renting another house, to offset this payment against the rental income for a period of 3 years. We estimate this will cost 20m in the first year. In addition, we are proposing a number of other measures to specifically assist this group. These measures include: Negotiate with banks to allow people to keep their tracker mortgages if they move house. If this is not successful, legislation should be introduced to ensure it occurs. Allow early access to pension savings in certain circumstances in a manner along the lines of the kiwi saver or a loan from defined contribution accounts (similar to US 401k).
The Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework (2012-2016) envisages a 60% reduction in Exchequer capital investment in 2014 from its peak in 2008, with the allocation in 2014 of 3.25 billion representing less than 2% of GDP. We believe this represents too deep a cut in capital expenditure. As of the end of October the government had underspent the 2012 capital budget by 336m. We know from Department of Finance and NAMA projections that 1bn of capital spend equates to 10,000-17,500 new jobs in the economy. So 336m would equate to 3,000-5,000 new jobs. The government is depriving the domestic economy of much needed spending. We propose a capital spend of 3.4bn for 2012 which is 150m greater than proposed by the government. The incremental expenditure should be focused primarily on labour intensive projects.
Ultimately the success or otherwise of the Croke Park agreement will be measured by a simple criterion how much money will be saved from the exchequer pay bill while maximising delivery of public services. The vast majority of savings achieved to date have been from measures introduced by the previous government. The pay and pensions bill fell by 1.8bn between 2008 and 2011. Recently Minister Brian Hayes claimed: A totality of 2 billion has been taken out of the public sector pay and pension bill as a result of the measures since 2008 and the measures that Brendan Howlin is introducing now. In reality the government have not introduced any significant measures to control the public sector pay bill. Minister Howlins claim that he regarded the Croke Park Agreement as an extraordinary tool for change and that most of his EU colleagues would give their right arm to have such an agreement rings hollow given the failure of the government to make progress since the last budget. We believe that certain allowances are clearly part of core pay and subject to the terms of the Croke park agreement. The constant description of all allowances as perks in certain section of the media is misleading and does not adequately reflect the range of reasons they were put in place. The review that the government has initiated covers only payments of up to 1,500 and it is inexplicable that it has taken the government so long to consider them. The government intends to take an inordinate length of time to conclude this process. We recognise the current system is unnecessarily cumbersome and inefficient and is in need of being streamlined. This will inevitably result in the reduction or elimination of some allowances with others being subsumed in to core pay. This process needs to be done quickly and in an open transparent manner.
It is unsustainable that the entire focus of incremental public sector pay savings should be on new entrants. We believe the pay and pensions bill is not falling fast enough and an additional 350m needs to be achieved in 2013. However, should agreement with the unions not be reached by March 1st 2013 the government will have to consider a range of measures to achieve this additional level of savings including: A reduction in the sick leave, including uncertified sick leave bill of 50m An average cut of 5% in actual allowances to save 75m Deferral of increments for 2013 to save 170m, with no increments payable above 100,000 salary grade. Accelerated targeted redundancy in administrative and management grade numbers to save 30m Additional working hours and a change to work practices
consequences of fraudulent activity. Consideration should be given to graduated penalties for successive fraudulent claims and removing the restriction on the recovery of debt from current social protection entitlements and other State payments. It is also important to note that as large a proportion of social protection funding is lost through administrative and customer error as fraud. Complexity within the system can give rise to genuine error amongst customers and staff. Merging and simplifying the range of schemes administered by the Department would assist in mitigating such losses without reducing entitlements.
Health
The Health Care service is very much to the forefront of the implementation of the Croke Park agreement and will benefit significantly from the delivery of targets both in respect of pay and non-pay savings. Measures to achieve savings must fully take account of the need to protect patient care. The government must not make similar mistakes to the one it made in 2012 when it decided to reduce home care support hours. The state drug bill continues to be a source of considerable concern. Over prescribing would appear to be a significant problem and the Department of Health need to engage with general practioners to make savings in this area. In addition measures agreed with the pharmaceutical manufacturers in respect of branded and generic drugs need to be rigorously implemented to ensure the maximum savings are achieved. Talks to achieve savings in relation to pay for Hospital Consultants have been shambolic. The Minister for Health needs to take firm control of the talks and ensure savings are delivered in 2013.
Private sector recruitment firms should be used to assist in finding employment opportunities for long term unemployment claimants. The incentive structure should be structured such that payment to the agency should be made following a successful six month placement. To further improve the flexibility of the social protection system, claimants should be allowed to freeze their payments for a set period of time to allow them to take up short term employment opportunities. It should be possible for individuals to view their full social protection record online as they can currently do with tax credits and Revenue correspondence. We also suggest an increase of up to 10,000 in the number of places across local employment schemes, including the Ts scheme. This can cover a wide range of ventures including community centres, rural recreation, child care, the warmer homes scheme, community enterprise, city, town and village maintenance and renewal. The ultimate goal should be to provide all people in receipt of jobseekers payments an opportunity to carry out valuable in the community. A combined saving of 200m can be achieved from control and activation measures.
Rental Schemes
The Rent Supplement and Rental Accommodation Scheme are vital State supports for those in need of both short term and long term housing support. At present, there are over 95,000 claimants in receipt of Rent Supplement and over 30,000 benefiting from the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The State needs to be both conscious of the direct cost of Rent Supplement and the indirect cost it may pose in terms of distorting the private rental market resulting in increasing costs for low income working families. We propose an increase of 4 per week in the contribution for individuals (8 couples) under the Rent Supplement Scheme and an acceleration of the rate of transfer of claimants to the Rental Accommodation Scheme. This will save 25m. Landlords not registered with the Private Residential Tenancy Board and landlords who are not tax compliant should be excluded from the scheme.
Local Government
The report on local government efficiencies published in June 2010 identified potential savings of up to 511m. The Minister for the Environment should instruct each of the City and County Managers to bring forward proposals to provide an update as to savings that are being achieved in this respect. A minimum of 50m of savings in 2013 should be achieved from this.
We believe there is a need for a number of public expenditure initiatives to address certain needs:
10m
In light of the significant hardship caused to students this year following the botched implementation of the new online system for administering student grants and the significant hardship that this continues to causes thousands of students, we believe that last years 3% cut to student maintenance grants must be reversed. The impact of the removal of maintenance grants for postgraduate students also needs to be urgently assessed.
5m
Last December Minister Quinn removed the ex-quota allocation for guidance provision. We said at the time that this would lead to the dismantling of the entire service. Since September this year, it has become clear that schools are struggling to maintain a counselling service, are offering an emergency service only and are unable to cope with mental health problems. We would like to see a gradual reinstatement of guidance provision.
10m
We absolutely reject HSE spending cuts to home help hours as a result of Minister Reilly and the HSEs mismanagement of the health budget for 2012. The Programme for government committed to additional funding each year for the delivery of more home help and other professional community care services. It is a critical support to older people in facilitating their early discharge from, and in preventing inappropriate admission to, acute hospitals.
5m
Following a three year recruitment suspension the current climate demands a review of Garda numbers. Worrying trends in rural crime, burglaries across the commuter belt and a rise in gangland violence underline the need for an end to the moratorium on Garda Recruitment. Re-opening Templemore will enable greater flexibility and movement in the force to respond to criminal threats and ensure that Garda stations across rural Ireland remain open.
2m
Earlier this year Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn admitted that it had been a mistake to target DEIS for significant cuts yet following a review he decided to only partially reverse those posts in DEIS band 1 and DEIS band 2 urban primary
schools. This review did not look at rural DEIS schools and we believe this was unfair.
5m
The government must commit to prioritising funding for special education. This must include protecting the number of Special Needs Assistants in our schools along with reinstating the cuts implemented to resource teaching hours. The government must ensure there are no further cuts to resource teaching hours which have already been cut by 5% in June 2012 and 10% in June 2011.
10m
The governments proposal for free GP care have been consistently delayed. The cost of healthcare for infants can be a major worry for families. As an immediate measure we propose the introduction of free GP care for all new born children from the beginning of 2013.
15m
We fully endorse the introduction of a new employment programme modelled on the Part Time Job Opportunities Programme that was successfully piloted in the mid1990s. We believe this would create in the region of 12,000 jobs in the public, community and voluntary sector for unemployed people. Participants would have their social welfare payments switched to their new employer and also receive a small top-up payment. Together with the additional placed under Tus and Jobridge, funding for Country Enterprise Boards and home insulation grants, the total additional expenditure measures we propose are 90m
There is widespread public concern on the subject of bank pay and pensions. The government must address the fact that over 1,700 bankers in institutions with explicit state support are currently earning basic salaries over 100,000. Over 180 of these executives are on basic salaries in excess of 200,000. There is no justification for such a large number of bank employees earning salaries of this order. Ordinary staff in the banks are living in fear that their job will be gone while the top executives continue to enjoy Celtic Tiger era mercs and perks. The banks cannot operate in a vacuum and in the context of the upcoming budgetary decisions it needs to recognise it wider social obligations. Consultant firm Mercer have been hired to look at pay at all levels in the banks. We believe that that this review must result in more realistic levels of executive pay across the banks that continue to owe the State and its citizens for their very existence. However, the lack of urgency would appear to indicate that the review is nothing more than a smokescreen and allows the Minister give the appearance that something is being done. If the Government does not act immediately when the report is published we will introduce legislation to impose a significant reduction in senior bank pay levels. Pensions AIB plugged a deficit in its pension scheme in August by transferring 1.1bn of loan assets to its pension fund. The company has since confirmed that some of this transfer is helping to pay the pensions of former senior executives. Given the failure of the Banks occurred under the stewardship of these Executives and the State support, we believe that these pensions need to be reduced. We have published legislation to achieve this and will seek support for it in the Dil. Between 100,000 and 150,000 Between 100,000 and 150,000 Above 200,000 20% 30% 40%
An OECD report stated that whilst care is required to ensure that people do not unduly threaten their retirement incomes, early access to pension savings should be considered as a policy option by governments to reduce the effect of cyclicality in the economy. An alternative that could be considered is allowing tax free withdrawals subject to a requirement to pay back the amount in full within a specified period. This would be similar to 401(k) accounts in the USA where loans are tax free but have to be paid back with interest and generally within five years to avoid a penalty payment. If the loan is taken as a down payment for a home, it may be repaid over 15 years. New Zealand also offers early access to pension savings through its Kiwi Saver model.
million
1,405 100 220 -125 -20 -20 1,560
Expenditure
Capital (Section Six Investing in our Future) Additional public sector pay savings (Section Seven Reducing Expenditure, Eliminating Waste) Non pay savings under Croke Park agreement Social Protection (Appendix Three) Health (Appendix Three) Implementation of report of review group on local authority efficiency Abolition of off the road facility for motor tax Justice (Appendix Three) State Claims Agency Rationalisation of State agencies and boards Reduction in State professional and consultancy fees Reduction in subvention to Horse and Greyhound Fund New spending commitments Net spending adjustments Saving on National Debt interest bill Total adjustment
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BUDGET 2013 A FAIRER WAY TO RECOVERY
million
400 350 350 280 265 50 40 20 25 20 20 10 -90 1740 200 3,500
million
330 200 120 100 100 100 100 100 80 45 45 35 20 20 10 1405
million
25 5 20 10
20 200
Health
Improve the efficiency of designated private beds in public hospitals Reduce the bill for hospital consultant pay from reformed work practices Increase prescription charges for medical card holders to 1.50 End practice of private patients of consultants being accommodated in public beds free of charge Obtain reimbursement of hospital charges related to treatments provided in Irish hospitals under European Union schemes Derive greater efficiencies from 1.8bn drug budget including inappropriate prescribing Reduce Agency staff costs
million
25 50 50 10 10 100 20
Justice
Reduction in Legal aid fees Streamline case management within the Courts Service, including greater use of video conferencing between prisons and Courts
million
10 10