Lenihan looks after the little people

So we’re there and it’s budget time. Much of the speculation is on how the ordinary citizen is going to be affected. You know it's as if deep down we’re putting a price on the recession, how much do I have to pay to take a trip back down memory lane to the land of milk and honey that was Celtic Tiger Ireland. Perhaps we’re looking at the balancing act that Brian Lenihan must perform from the wrong place. Given that he’s limited in how much revenue he can raise, maybe we should be anticipating how much we’ll miss as opposed how much we’ll have to pay. But rest assured this FF/Green government is looking after the little people. Traditionally the little people were the ones who hid the gold where it could never be found. I'm delighted to know that in these recessionary times FF core values still apply!

If you believe the newspapers, you’ll see means testing of medical cards for those over 70, a reduction in the early childcare payment for children under 6, 5,000 jobs to go in the public service (1K of these in HSE), Ministerial pay to drop 10%, introduce a scheme to kick start house sales, abolition of PRSI ceiling on salaries, standard rating of personal relief, Carbon tax, increase in excise duty, an increase of 1% in top rate of PAYE, sale of 2 army barracks, the introduction of €10 departure tax, a scheme to encourage insulation in schools and public buildings and after all that borrowing of €8B to balance the books

Lets think local on this one and ask what about the critical infrastructure Wexford needs. Our swimming pool should have started construction by now so will next week’s budget accelerate that project? Our library has had the archaeological survey done on the site but as yet the site is shuttered from view by a hoarding with a picture of the finished building. During the 2007 election our local FF candidate said that our second bridge was on schedule. The project hasn’t been mentioned in 18 months and its absence limits the chance to bring jobs to the town. Indeed when I met the Minister for Environment in February and raised the matter with him he looked puzzled! Our N25 dual carriageway to Rosslare was also promised in 2007 by someone who knows about prioritising or maybe it’s slipped Bertie Ahern’s mind, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s forgotten something important! Our local secondary school that was promised a €1M extension and all they got was a 2 room pre-fab see above.

All of these projects should have been underway in our town but in the last 12 months they’ve slid down the government’s to do list. That’s the real price of Cowenomics and those ordinary people who pay it are just as important as the bankers who were fast tracked to their guarantee. When developers were getting tax breaks to build like there was no tomorrow, the tax foregone should have been used on expanding our infrastructure and not hoping against hope that we could play catch up later.

So when you’re topping up mid week on home heating oil for the year ahead to avoid the Carbon tax, bought your alcohol early for Christmas ’08, filled up the tank on budget day to save a few bob because you’ve a pay freeze for 11 months, just remember it could have been very different if we hadn’t binged out on the bankers and builders in the last 10 years.

OECD’s Glance at Ireland? Schools need a long hard look

The annual OECD Report into our education spending came out today. It’s not a pleasant picture despite all the promised spending from Fianna Fail ministers down the years. But OECD reports in the past hardly gave this administration glowing reviews. In 2003 the OECD reported that our schools gave good value despite their under investment. 5 years on what’s new? Precious little but at least now we know how bad bad actually is. It seems that when compared with other developed countries we lag hugely the amount of wealth that our government spends in education. The figures come from 2005.

Lets look at specifics. Mexico, where the school leaving age is 15 as opposed to 16 here, still spends more of its wealth on education (6.5%) as opposed to our value of 4.6%. 2005 was the year when the newly appointed Minister Mary Hanafin who had just said that school buildings were to get more investment and that the proposal to have a PTR of 20:1 by 2007 was a noble aspiration returned €50M to the Dept of Finance unspent at the year’s end. We spent slightly more here than Greece where the school leaving age is 14½.

Lets look at another set of figures. When Niamh Breathnach was Labour’s only Education Minister ever in 1995, she spent 1.3% of total wealth on 3^rd level. Subsequent to this Niamh Breathnach introduced free fees which meant that the total payment for a smaller student body to third level went up significantly. By the time Mary Hanafin was in charge in 2005 the allocation to 3^rd level fell back to 1.2% of GDP and that includes paying student fees. Now we know why University heads want the return of fees and the suggestion that they be only for well off is a fig leaf because the level of chronic under funding which the government has presided over in the last decade will not be addressed by the €20M it is estimated they’ll raise. If its €20M you want why not auction off the Book of Kells!

You want another set of figures? OK. In 1995 % spending on primary and second level was 3.8% of GDP. Within 5 years FF had cut that back to 2.9%. In 2000 only 4 other countries surveyed by the OECD were lower, what a way to start a millennium. In 2005 we spent about 40% of what was spent in Luxembourg on each second level students. At this time only Luxembourg’s per capita income in terms of GDP earned more than Ireland’s of any other EU country.

Given the neglect and the political reality that the Greens are talking about a 5% cut in government spending and Ciaran Cuffe’s view that means testing should be used in regard to 3^rd level fees there’s no sign that this government is for turning. Cuffe’s comment is a U-turn for a party that said a month ago that university fees were not part of the programme for government. That’s a shame for the 40K kids who’re taught in draughty prefabs and the 100K who are in classes of 30 or more. Some time ago the present Minister was elected on a commitment that for children under 9 a PTR of no more than 20:1 would apply.

Labour has called for a target of 25:1 PTR and primary level, a programme of school buildings and a targeted investment to deal with disadvantage. The Green Party entered government with a ring fenced budget to deal with disadvantage. I’ve never seen so much as a bob of it spent in Wexford. Time that they started delivering. This is one subject that’s not going to go away.