NWCI highlights the important measures in Budget 2014
Published: Tuesday, October 22, 2013
As with the previous austerity Budgets, with Budget 2014, the devil is in the detail. See below a first analysis of some of the key measures.
Maternity Benefit
Maternity benefit was standardised as €230 a week, meaning a de-facto reduction of 32 Euros per week for the vast majority of women. The reality of this payment will be more hardship for women and their families at a time when they are already struggling. Many women will be forced to go back to work earlier than they wished, which is not in the best interest of mother, child or indeed society as a whole.
Childcare
NWCI welcomes the 4.5 million investment into increasing quality in childcare. This is a crucial step to improve childcare services in Ireland.
Older women
There have been many cuts to benefits and supports for older people. These include the lowering of the qualifying threshold for medical cards, the increase in the prescription charge to €2.50 and the scrapping of the bereavement grant. These cuts will have a disproportionate impact on older women as they are much more likely to be poor in old age, to live longer and to be dependent on State pensions only.
Young people
The proposed reductions of Jobseekers Allowance to young people will have a significant impact on the economic independence of young people. Young people are already under financial pressure and not all can be supported by their families. This measure will push more young people out of the country and into poverty and homelessness in increasing numbers. Extremely critical is also a further cut of €2m to youth work services – which are already critically stretched by cuts to date and increasing demands on services by young people, often in distress.
Free GP care for 5 year olds and under
The introduction of free GP care for 5 year olds as a first step to introducing universal healthcare in Ireland is to be welcomed. However, it is absolutely unacceptable that this measure is being introduced at the expense of people in need of medical cards. The aim must remain to increase levels of free care over time and not to replace one group with another.