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Budget cuts to hit home
13.12.11
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
BUDGET 2012 announced last week will have a severe
impact across Inishowen with several measures likely
to be keenly felt here.
Increases in VAT and carbon taxes, road tax, petrol
and diesel prices, the introduction of a €100
household charge, reductions in winter fuel
allowance, children's allowance and increases in the
threshold for the drugs payment scheme will suck
millions of euro out of the local economy in 2012.
And rural schools are also in the firing line with
many facing the prospect of forced amalgamations, as
pupil-teacher ratios in smaller schools will be
increased from September 2012. |
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Buncrana pensioner, Eithne Fullerton
who says she will struggle to heat her home due to
the six-week cut in the fuel allowance. |
One local pensioner
said the reduction in the winter fuel allowance,
which has been reduced from 32 weeks to 26 weeks,
will be hard to deal with.
“When you only get €230 a week to live on a cut of
€20 a week is a lot,” Buncrana pensioner Eithne
Fullerton said.
“I simply can’t afford to turn the heat on now. I
really don’t know what I’m going to do because there
seems to be more and more cuts coming down the line.
It’s a very worrying time for pensioners and
everyone is very annoyed about it.”
Albert Doherty, secretary of the North Inishowen
branch of the INTO, said that while the headline
pupil-teacher ratio is to be maintained, up to 20 of
Inishowen’s small primary schools may face forced
amalgamations as pupil teacher ratios in schools
with one, two, three or four teachers are increased
over the next three years.
“It seems schools are being punished for being rural
and disadvantaged,” he said.
The VAT increase from 21% to 23% will make a
difficult situation for beleaguered Inishowen
retailers even worse.
“The VAT increase will do nothing to improve
business for beleaguered Inishowen retailers, with
little encouragement to shop local,” said Philip
McGonigle of McLaughlin-McGonigle accountants in
Buncrana.
“Combined with the carbon tax increases and current
exchange rates it does little to attract Northern
visitors across the border.
“Whilst there were some positives for business, in
general there were few measures to help the small
and medium businesses on which Inishowen is heavily
reliant.”
However, reductions in stamp duty and other property
related measures, including mortgage interest
relief, have been welcomed by Moville-based estate
agent Leo McCauley.
“There has been little or no commercial activity
here for the last few years so I’m glad to see the
reduction in stamp duty and capital gains exemption.
It should provide some stimulus to the commercial
property sector.
“The reduction in stamp duty will be particularly
welcome for farm sales which are important in rural
places like Inishowen. For example, if someone
bought a farm last week for about €50,000, the stamp
duty on it would have been about €3,000. The tax
will now be more like €1,000 or so, with the stamp
duty drop, so that is a boost," he said. |
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