Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

Its elevation to a primary role in this stimulus package defies logic and belief. Where is the stimulus package? Why was there not a stimulus package as proposed by the Labour Party last week? This would have ensured that the dead weight would not be countervailing against that and there would be real, new jobs with labour intensive industries encouraged. I am a little shocked by this provision because the VAT increase is not significant enough. Even though Mr. Darling plans to take away the 2% decrease in VAT next year, it is still too wide a gap.

Money allocated for job retention and renewal is abysmal. Why not have a PRSI reduction for a defined period of time that would be a real stimulus for getting people back to work? I am worried that the 5% reduction will have an impact which will leave people earning less than the minimum wage as a result. For instance in the case of a 52-week year and working 39 hours a week, a person earning €18,000 is earning roughly €9 per hour but the 5% reduction will mean a reduction of 45 cent to €8.55 per hour which is below the minimum wage. What will be the impact of this upon a person earning €18,000, apart from the impact of the reduction in child benefit?

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