MORE ELECTIONEERING BY LEO
There will be no cuts to PUBLIC SECTOR PAY or increase in income TAX for “at least for the first couple of years” after the pandemic, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.
And IMMEDIATE cuts to PRE-pandemic social welfare payments have also been ruled out the Tánaiste told Miriam O’Callaghan, on RTÉ’s Prime Time.
Mr Varadkar said it was important to give people the assurance they would not face tax hikes or pay cuts in the NEAR future so they had the “confidence” to spend money and rejuvenate the economy once it reopens.
There are €14bn in savings in Irish bank accounts accrued due to a lack of spending opportunities over the last 12 months and the Tánaiste said the government “need to encourage people to spend once it’s possible to do so”.
“When the economy does open up again, we want THAT €14bn spent in the economy, we want to encourage people to avoid the paradox of thrift and not to feel bad about spending money again when they can,” the Tánaiste said.
The Tánaiste said if people had that reassurance, they would feel “more confident” about spending.
Mr Varadkar said “nobody knows for sure” when FISCAL RESTRAINS caused by borrowing during the pandemic will be enacted by government to arrest the national debt.
“We borrowed €19bn last year and it will likely be similar this year... and that CANT go on forever.”
The Tánaiste said Ireland can now borrow at cheap rates due to European Central Bank policy, adding the Government are clear they can’t withdraw the additional spending too quickly or “otherwise the economy won’t bounce back”.
“I remember 10 years ago I was a young member of a new government and at that time we had 15pc unemployment with 30pc of youth unemployed.
“The public finances were in a terrible state and a lot of people were very pessimistic then about whether we would ever recover or bounce back and we did.
“Up until the pandemic, we had almost full employment, a budget surplus and incomes were rising while inequality and deprivation were falling in Ireland. I think we can bounce back quickly and I believe we will bounce back quickly,” he said.
The Tánaiste agreed the State has a duty of care to look after people who were made unemployed due to the pandemic, saying it was “totally random” and came down to some people just being in the “wrong sectors at the wrong times”.
Mr Varadkar admitted there was a disparity among younger workers in less secure jobs and that there was a public sector and private sector divide with the private sector being “worst hit” as the public sector expanded as a result of jobs created due to the pandemic.
“We are retraining people but it is quite difficult at the moment as so much of it is done online. Tens of thousands of places are available for people to go back to education, we’re incentivising employers to take on apprentices so there are a lot of opportunities there available.
“For people on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, they can go straight on the Back to Education Allowance or the Back to Enterprise Allowance.(NO THEY FUCKING CANT I TRIED )
“I know it is difficult given the circumstances but I know an actress who is now gone back teaching and a pilot from my constituency who is now a maths teacher,” the Tánaiste said.
Mr Varadkar said the gardaí have not been in contact with him regarding the IMO-Department of Health contract he gave to GP Maitiú Ó Tuathail who was head of the NAGP, a rival organisation to the IMO.
He said he would be happy to make a statement to the gardaí should they ask for one and said his legal team are confident that he committed no offence in giving the contact to Ó Tuathail.