Pissed off with the budget? Join the students. UCD - 20/11/08 (1 Viewer)

[Vin]

• Student registration charge which will increase from an average of about €900 to €1,500.
  
• Patients attending hospital A&E units and staying in public hospitals will face a 10% increase in charges
  
• The automatic entitlement to a medical card for those over 70 is being abolished.
  
• People will also have to pay up to €100 a month for their medicines before the State begins to reimburse them any additional costs under changes to the Drug Payment Scheme.
  
• The Budget increases the pupil teacher ratio by one in both primary and secondary schools and by two in fee-paying schools. This means that at primary level, the ratio will go from 27:1 to 28:1
  
• A number of grants to schools are also being abolished or scaled back, giving Government a savings of €26.6m.
  
• An income levy (basically just an extra tax with a new name) of 1% will be charged on all incomes (including minimum wage workers) up to just over €100,000.
  
• For all the punx - Tax on cigarettes is gong up by 50c per packet of 20, and tax on wine is also going up 50c.

ALL OUT!

 

[shin shan]

For all the punx - social welfare payments will increase in line with inflation.

grand.

 

[GO]

Fuck the student teacher ratio.
Whats gonna happen to our what.cd ratio's?

 

[Vin]

Date should be - 20/10/08

 

[falsemonkey]

Yeah the budget is bogus. But I don't have a better, viable, realistic alternative so I'd feel weird about protesting it.

Someone told me that tax on low alcohol beer is being lowered. Is that true, and what exactly is "low alcohol"? Like 4.2%, is that low?

 

[Vin]

Yeah the budget is bogus. But I don't have a better, viable, realistic alternative...

Very simply:

Tax the rich more?

 

[killy kill]

the budget was grand considering we're facing GLOBAL ECONOMIC FUCKING COLLAPSE

bloody students

 

[Vin]

GLOBAL ECONOMIC FUCKING COLLAPSE

...caused by the speculators and bankers.

why should we pay for their mess?

 

[Break Neck Speed]

Dole up by 6.50 euro p/w.

 

[Vinnie]

...caused by the speculators and bankers.

why should we pay for their mess?

Coz for

 

[DeAd_KeV]

Dole up by 6.50 euro p/w.

really? didnt hear any mention of it. its not all doom and gloom

 

[Break Neck Speed]

really? didnt hear any mention of it. its not all doom and gloom

Twas on the summary on the news last night.

 

[DeAd_KeV]

cool, i thought they would have just left it the way it was.

 

[Janer]

the budget was grand considering we're facing GLOBAL ECONOMIC FUCKING COLLAPSE

bloody students

Maybe if FF cunts didn't buy the last election!!!
I felt dirteh accepting 10 euros increase!

 

[DeAd_KeV]

you are dirty!

 

[ravishinrikrude]

don't think student registration should've been highered by 66 fucking %. that's very fucking steep for people who don't qualify for a grant and don't get a bean of their parents. i do agree with the means testing for medical cards of the over 70's but i think the starting rate cut off of 30 grand a year was a little low, they should've made it around 50.

just got back from the social welfare office there a few minutes ago and it actually is the end of the world judging by the fucking chaos i seen up there!

 

[Cormcolash]

So they're having a march for free education then?
Sure they only lost that fight about 10 years ago. Maybe if they'd kicked up a big enough stink then they wouldn't be looking at €1500 per year now.
Sure most of the students probably don't give a shit cause their ma and da are paying it for them anyway.

 

[DeAd_KeV]

yeh its been madness the past few times ive signed on alright.queues are about twice the size as they used to be

 

[killy kill]

God i 'ate fookin' students

 

[Cormcolash]

Also I agree with Ro on the means tested health card thing, what he says is spot on, it is actually a good idea if you're talking about old people sitting on big piles of cash, but the 30 grand limit on it is low, as he says should be 50 grand or something like that.
Basically get the limit right so it just means that rich people are the ones who end up paying.

As for raising education by €550, unfortunately most people who don't get a grant and don't get money off their parents can't afford to go to university anyway, whether the fees are €950 or €1500.