More highlights from The Bord Snip Report today –
Reductions to child benefit rate, cutting the €2.5 billion cost of the programme by 20 per cent.
A new Benchmarking of public sector pay with the possibility of pay cuts and allow comparison of pay rates in the Irish public sector with equivalent posts internationally.
6,930 jobs to go in the education system
6,168 jobs to go from the health service.
(These reduction in jobs could be achieved without compulsory redundancies)
Revise the income guidelines for the Medical Card to the basic rate of social welfare
Increase the threshold for the Drugs Payment Scheme from €100 to €125 a month .
Medical card holders to pay €5 for prescriptions
Charges for those presenting at A&E without a letter from their GP to be increased to €125 from €100 and public hospital inpatient charges be increased by 20%.