Leadership

Taoiseach: no area immune to cuts

17.07.2009
None of the areas mentioned in the report from An Bord Snip Nua, which was published yesterday, will be immune to cuts, the Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD has said.

This would include the political hot potato of social welfare, which An Bord Snip had suggested should be cut by 5pc in line with inflation.

“You can’t begin this process – given the scale of the problem we face – by starting to suggest that various parts of expenditure can’t be considered for review or for adjustment. You have to look at everything,” the Taoiseach told reporters today.

He said the Government will carefully consider the recommendations contained in the report as it plans next year’s budget.

“The Government has to sit down and work through this process and to listen to the views of people about this report,” he said.

He also stressed that it was important “for all us to recognise it can’t be just about defending one’s individual patch, it’s about looking at the processes around and what’s in the interest of the country at this time.”

The long-awaited report from An Bord Snip Nua recommended major cuts totalling €5.3bn across all areas of the public sector, and included a recommendation to cut 17,300 public-sector workers.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said today that there are some proposals contained in the Bord Snip report that his party agrees with, such as improvements in public procurement and rationalisation of services

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme today, Gilmore said he believed it is possible to reduce numbers in the public service and that he thought a reduction of 17,000 was “doable”. However, he said he did not think it was feasible to cut staff from frontline services.