Revealed: wish-list of savage Budget cutbacks
Bord Snip author rejected proposals that went too far
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Saturday September 05 2009
A WISH-list of savage cutbacks was drawn up by the Department of Finance for inclusion in the Bord Snip report.
And the spending cuts proposed by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan's mandarins were far worse than the final list of recommendations in some cases, it emerged last night.
Newly released documents revealed the bulk of the spending cuts recommended in Colm McCarthy's report came from the department itself.
The list shows that Mr Lenihan's officials approved a range of hard-hitting cuts expected to be rubber-stamped in the coming Budget.
But the author of the Bord Snip report actually rejected some of the proposals as they went too far, particularly in health and education, including:
- The closure of a number of hospitals and the halting of new projects.
- Charging the elderly the full cost of homecare and home-help packages.
- Bringing in college fees straight away for students not getting a grant already.
- Cuts to the number of teachers in primary schools and reducing the number of VECs.
And Mr McCarthy watered down some of Department of Finance's plans, including:
- Cutting subvention of fee-paying schools by a quarter, rather than half as the department recommended.
- Cutting funding to primary schools by 10pc, rather than 22pc as the department wanted.
The Department of Finance said welfare rates should be cut next year to reflect reductions in cost of living or freezing rates in 2010 and 2011.
But Mr McCarthy proposed cuts of 5pc to social welfare rates to save €850m a year.
The suggestion to get rid of double social welfare payments also came from the Department of Finance. The department also came up with a range of cutbacks directly adopted by Mr McCarthy:
- Cuts to medical cards.
- A prescription charge for medical card holders.
- Cuts to overseas aid.
- restrictions on the school transport scheme.
- Cuts to the funding for councils.
The savings of €300m from charging the full economic cost of homecare and home-help packages for the elderly was high-risk and would need new laws.
The Department of Finance questioned the reason for building new hospitals, including the National Children's Hospital and the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes recommended €5.3bn in potential savings.
The recommendations from the Department of Finance were adopted almost completely by Mr McCarthy, who added more in his report.
But their origin in the Department of Finance makes it more likely that their preferred cuts, being approved by Mr Carthy, will now be implemented in the Budget.
Undermines
And the release of the papers undermines the Government claims the Bord Snip group was completely independent.
Ministers were keen to say the report was simply a menu of recommendations, rather than proposed cutbacks.
But more than 2,000 pages submitted show most were prompted by the Department of Finance itself, raising the question as to why an independent group was needed in the first place.
The Department of Finance provided recommendations across every other department and sent them to Mr McCarthy and his staff, who were working in the same building.
Preparations are already under way for Budget 2010 that will see €4bn worth of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Mr Lenihan has already warned his fellow Cabinet ministers that he regards the Bord Snip report as the starting point for the budgetary talks.
The new documents show his Department have already assessed the planned savings as achievable strengthening the likelihood they will be carried out into practice.
- Fionnan Sheahan and Senan Molony
