An Bord Snip Nua: report with 4 billion of cuts

[cyberianpan]

The government set up this body with a very tight remit, and it is due to report this week admidst signs that the government is already running scared:

Tribune: Bord Snip will urge billions in 'toxic' cuts
However, the cabinet, which will make the final call on which cutbacks to authorise, is unlikely to go with all of the suggestions. "All of the proposals are unpalatable, some are toxic," one senior government figure said this weekend.

Chief among the "toxic" measures is likely to be An Bord Snip Nua's recommendations on the €21bn social-welfare budget.
...
The €18bn public-sector pay bill is also facing cuts.
...
The report from An Bord Snip Nua – formally known as the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes – will be brought to cabinet by Lenihan prior to the summer break. The recommendations are not binding on the government, with ministers having the final say on which cutbacks they authorise. However, the submission of the report to cabinet will effectively kickstart the estimates/budgetary process for 2010

However to my mind there is obviously a major spin operation underway:

Hopes that An Bord Snip Nua would be able to uncover relatively painless efficiency savings in the public sector were dismissed by a well-placed source who said: "There isn't any low-hanging fruit.

Well that directly contradicts what Colm McCarthy said in January just gone:

Comparisons with 1987…
• Far less low-hanging fruit back then
• Exchequer spending had been tightly controlled in early and mid-
1980s
[see slide 12]

If your spin doctors start telling people the easy stuff is hard ... when it's tome to do the hard stuff we'll be in trouble.

So will the government have the guts to do what is needed ? And also isn't the €4billion figure very dated by now... surely we need over €10 billion of cuts ?

cYp

[atlantic]

Bord Spin Nua,
Another load of tat ,it's called pretend your serious about doing nothing.Another quango that's pumping effluent down a blocked pipe.

[SamVimesBoots]

Quango studiously avoids calling for cuts to Quangos shocker, pictures at 11

[MsAnneThrope]

Give or take a day the release of this report is going to coincide with the IMF's latest report on the Irish economy (also due this week). According to the Tribune today the IMF report is going to be very unfavourable. I don't think the Government will be able to shirk really "tough decisions" when faced with such evidence from two sources.

You're right that €4bn won't be enough. €10bn might be too high but then again prepare for the worst and be grateful if things are better.

How much of "Snip's" report will we (the public) get to see or hear about do you think?

[atlantic]

This government are looking at borrowing 20 odd billion this year.It's getting bad they are issuing short term bonds 3mths,6mths,1year , investors are spooked ,it's only a matter of time.How are they going to roll this over ? they can't ,the paybacks are going to come to hard and to fast,it's one big ponzi ready to collapse.

Give or take a day the release of this report is going to coincide with the IMF's latest report on the Irish economy (also due this week). According to the Tribune today the IMF report is going to be very unfavourable. I don't think the Government will be able to shirk really "tough decisions" when faced with such evidence from two sources.

You're right that €4bn won't be enough. €10bn might be too high but then again prepare for the worst and be grateful if things are better.

How much of "Snip's" report will we (the public) get to see or hear about do you think?

[Scorpio]

€4bn is hardly news to anyone who's been paying any sort of attention to Ireland's fiscal problems. As Brian Lucey said, even if the government didn't pay a single cent in wages to all its civil servants, teachers, semi-state workers, etc., the Budget would only just about balance.

We're talking tens of billions here, and if €4bn is the best ABSN can do this year, get someone better to do the job next year and tell them not to come back until €10bn is cut.

This is a gigantic hole, people, and the longer everyone thinks 'This is sure going to be hard for someone else, but I shouldn't have to take the pain', the longer we'll be in a mess.

[Question R24U]

I would like to see the Governments own proposals for €6bn cuts.
Then Fine Gael's. If any of them agree, they should be implemented immediately.

Then the Labour party should weigh in with their proposed €6bn cuts - most of these will be unimplementable - but is important that they are made feel important.

[Wendy]

€4bn is hardly news to anyone who's been paying any sort of attention to Ireland's fiscal problems. As Brian Lucey said, even if the government didn't pay a single cent in wages to all its civil servants, teachers, semi-state workers, etc., the Budget would only just about balance.

We're talking tens of billions here, and if €4bn is the best ABSN can do this year, get someone better to do the job next year and tell them not to come back until €10bn is cut.

This is a gigantic hole, people, and the longer everyone thinks 'This is sure going to be hard for someone else, but I shouldn't have to take the pain', the longer we'll be in a mess.

Start by outlawing phrases such as "targeting the most vulnerable in society". If sensible cuts are stymied, that group will include everyone that depends on public money.

[kerrynorth]

The government have already given commitments to Europe to cut spending by €11billion over the next 3 years in 4 4 3 tranches.

[Clanrickard]

Start by outlawing phrases such as "targeting the most vulnerable in society". If sensible cuts are stymied, that group will include everyone that depends on public money.

Well said. It is vital the whining left and the poverty industry aren't allowed to sway this debate with emotive language. Massive cuts are necessary to the public sector bill and welfare bill and anyone who says otherwise isn't living in the real world.