Groups concerned at 'Bord Snip' cuts

Health organisations and other groups have today voiced concern about proposed cuts included in the 'Bord Snip Nua' report published yesterday.

Some €5.3 billion of spending cuts, including a reduction in social welfare cuts and thousands of job losses have been recommended by report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes chaired by Colm McCarthy.

The Disability Federation of Ireland said it was "deeply concerned" with the proposed cuts and their likely impact on people with disabilities.

"The effects of recent cuts are already being felt by disabled people and their families all around the country," said Allen Dunne deputy chief executive of the group.

“Implementing the cuts proposed in addition to cuts experienced to date, threatens to undermine and damage Governments own investment in disability," he added.

Unicef Ireland said it was 'horrified' by plans to target services for children, both in Ireland and internationally.

"It’s hard to believe the report refers to cuts in child-care services, education and health care as ‘savings,’" the organisation said in a statement.

We strongly appeal to the Government not to follow these recommendations which will hurt the most vulnerable section of society - children," it added.

The Irish Dental Association said it was shocked at the possibility of abolishing the Dental Treatment Benefits Scheme (DTBS).

It said that dental services are the most underfunded section of the health services the abolition of the DTBS would remove one of the very few financial supports given to patients seeking dental treatment.

Elsewhere, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU)claimed that the less well-off in society were being asked to pay for the failings of the Celtic Tiger.

"Many welfare recipients have seen their cost of living rise over the past year, not fall as so many economic commentators keep asserting," said Brid O’Brien, head of Policy and Media with the INOU.

"“It is vitally important that the Government maintain existing social welfare rates otherwise people will find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet,” she added.

Conradh na Gaeilge said that the possibility of abolishing the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, would do untold damage to both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht regions.

It called on the Government not to transfer the Irish-language responsibilities to the Department of Education and Science.

“If the Government, and indeed the Houses of Oireachtas Éireann, feel that they have responsibility for the Irish language in the national context, and even from a European perspective, they should not create further irrevocable problems for the language community," said Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa, president of Conradh na Gaeilge.