Irish Budget Day Arrives

It has finally arrived  – the Budget 2011  date of December 7th was announced back in September  – and at last it is here.

The minister for finance Brian Lenihan will start the Budget speech at 3.45pm today and it is expected to be the toughest Budget in the history of Ireland.  Maybe more people will be looking for some Free Cheese after this Budget?

We will be posting all the Budget 2011 details here as they are announced.

The 2011 Budget is expected to be voted through – with the support of  Gombeen Independent TD’s Jackie Healy Rae and Michael Lowry.

As mentioned here previously – cuts to the Minimum Wage and  Social Welfare are expected – as are tax increases.

Disposable Income levels of unemployed people has risen in recent years – whilst that of workers has dropped – so welfare cuts will be hard to argue against.

State Pensions may not be touched – even though CSO figures show that over  65’s seem to be faring better than the rest of the population.

There is also speculation that duties  on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol will all be raised sharply.
There was also some mention at  the weekend that  ministerial salaries could be cut by 10%-15%, and there could be pay cuts for  “semi-state” company bosses.

These are the 10 highest paid  sate or semi state employees in Ieland…

1. Head of ESB: €752,568

2. Head of Dublin Airport Authority: €568,100

3. Head of An Post: €500,000

4. Head of Coillte, the forestry commission €417,000

5. Head of Voluntary Health Insurance: €412,003

6. Head of Bord Gais: €394,000

7. Head of Bord na Mona (turf energy agency): €392,000

8. Head of RTE: (TV): €326,000

9. Head of CIE (transport): €252,416

10. Head of Health Services Executive: €335,913

Some more comparisons with the UK here

One of the big  Budget day dilemmas on Twitter is which  hash tag to use . Is it #budget11 or #budget2011 .  If that was our only worry we would be fine!