FF budget proposals focus on jobs, community services & education
Donegal Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill has called on the government to protect community services, reverse cuts to small schools and provide increased supports for small business in Budget 2014.
Fianna Fáil outlines its proposals for the Budget last week. The plan protects funding for education, reverses the attack on small rural schools, provides increased supports for children with special needs, protects funding for mental health services and supports for people with disabilities. It pledges increased supports for SMEs, offers incentives for entrepreneurs, and re-establishes the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme.
“Our proposals are about protecting communities and supporting job creation. This means providing local businesses with some much-needed breathing space, encouraging more entrepreneurs to open up shop, reversing the attack on local services like small schools, and helping families in mortgage difficulty,” explained Senator Ó Domhnaill.
“The government has a series of choices when it comes to this budget. They can chose to move away from regressive cuts that have seen local services slashed right across Donegal over the past two years; cuts that have seen ordinary families put under more pressure than ever before; measures that have reduced support for the most vulnerable children in the school system; and targeted cuts to people with disabilities.
“The Fianna Fáil plan seeks a fairer future for Ireland. We don’t think that any family should be hit with property taxes next year. We don’t think that any rural community should lose its local school. We think that the capital budget should be used in full to invest in local services. We think that far greater supports are needed for SMEs and prospective entrepreneurs so that our communities can start seeing some real evidence of job creation. We think that the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme should be reinstated, as it is the back bone of the beef industry.
“As the government gets ready to announce Budget 2014, I am urging Ministers to consider these proposals carefully and move away from the regime of highly regressive cuts that have hurt communities, businesses and families here in Donegal and across the North West over the past two years,” said Senator Ó Domhnaill.
Posted: Oct 14, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized