FG Bill would force Govt to implement key McCarthy recommendations

Government Ministers would be given a four week deadline to cut prices of vital State items like TV licences, State exam fees, A&E charges and passports under plans being debated tonight (Tuesday) in the Dáil. Regulators would be given three months to do the same for their areas like ESB, gas, bus and train fares, tolls and airport charges.

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has prepared emergency legislation which would force the Government to impose 5% cuts on its own prices, and for Regulators to reduce their own charges. This would save the average family around €400 a year.

“Thanks to this Government, people have seen their incomes and benefits cut, and their taxes hiked upwards. Many have lost their jobs. The crisis in the real economy stems from unemployment and declining competitiveness. This crisis is doing the most damage to our society, but is being ignored by the Government. If Fianna Fáil and the Greens can use emergency financial legislation to cut pay and benefits, surely it can use the same mechanism to cut its own charges?

“Last year the Government actually increased its own charges by 6.7%, while prices across the economy fell by 5%. It’s easy to forget the extent to which the Government controls prices in the economy through direct charges, indirect taxes and through it regulators:

 

• TV licence (€160);
• Driving licence (€25);
• Passport (€80);
• A+E charge (€100);
• Inpatient charge (€75);
• Junior/Leaving Cert (roughly €100); and
• Third level registration (€1,500).

“The price of petrol, diesel and home-heating oil prices consists mainly of taxes levied by the Government including excise, VAT and the carbon tax. And the Government’s regulators set most bus and train fares, most motorway tolls, electricity and gas, telephone charges and postage, and airport charges. Despite recent reductions, our household electricity prices are above average in the Eurozone and are among the highest for medium-sized industry.

“Fine Gael’s Bill requires all Government Ministers to present to the Dáil within four weeks a plan to reduce all charges set by them by 5%. And with regard to prices set by the government’s regulators, this Bill requires that Ministers require regulators to publish their own proposals within three months.”

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesperson Leo Varadkar TD has published new laws to slash Government costs by 5%, saving the average household around €400 a year.

Deputy Varadkar has drafted the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2010 which requires the Government to reduce all of its charges to businesses and consumers by 5% within three weeks. In 2009, private sector prices fell by 2.5% but Government prices went up 6.7%.

The Bill also calls on Regulators to come up with plans to reduce prices they set and present them to the Dáil within four months. Assuming these further price cuts are also 5% across the board, the average household would stand to save a total of €400 from this measure in a full year. The savings to business would be greater still.

Speaking at the launch, Deputy Varadkar said: ‘Last year, the Government introduced emergency legislation to cut pay, benefits and fees paid to professionals and contractors. Everyone has been squeezed by falling incomes and higher taxes. The very least the Government could do to help is reduce its own charges and the prices set by its Regulators. In 2009, private sector prices fell by 2.5% but Government prices went up 6.7%’.

“People don’t realise just how many prices are set by the Government:

• The TV licence and drivers’ licence;
• Passport renewal fees; A&E charges;
• Prescription charges (DPS);
• State exam fees;
• And college registration fees, fees charged to companies for filing accounts, farm administration fees, and fees charged for making a freedom of information request.

“Through local government, agencies and Regulators the Government sets prices for electricity and gas, local authority refuse and water charges, some motorway tolls, bus and train fares, mobile telephone tariffs and airport landing fees.

“If Fianna Fáil and the Greens back this measure from Fine Gael, it will save Irish families and consumers hundreds of euros, and soften the blow of recent pay cuts, benefit cuts and tax hikes. It will also reduce the cost of doing business, improve our competitiveness and save jobs. I think it’s a no-brainer. I urge the Government parties will support it when it is debated in the Dáil.”

The Bill and Explanatory Memorandum can be accessed here.

Daft wage system needs reform

Minister Calleary’s reforms are a recipe for fudge

‘Daft’ laws which see hair stylists being paid 6c an hour more than barbers, which fix wage rates for hotel staff in Co. Dublin but not in the city centre, and which limit pay rates for beef butchers but not fishmongers, are being left intact as part of the Government’s much-hyped tinkering with minimum pay and condition orders, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned.

Deputy Varadkar was speaking today in a Dáil debate on the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill.

“Junior Minister Dara Calleary has flunked the challenge to reform the Labour Court’s outdated and cumbersome wage-setting system. This system sets minimum rates, terms, conditions and benefits in the hospitality, grocery, agricultural and security sectors (among others). But it is currently a recipe for chaos. The whole system is outmoded, unrepresentative, cumbersome and restrictive.

“It is costing us jobs in hotels, restaurants and the retail sector. It penalises honest employers and often prevents employees from working when they are willing to do so. You could not make up some of the rulings, which are just plain daft:

• The Hotel Employment Regulation Order applies to Co. Dublin but not to Dublin City, to Co. Cork and Co. Kerry but not in Cork city;

• One set of rules applies to hair salons in Cork, with another for Dublin, Dun Laoghaire and Bray. But there are no rules at all for the rest of the country;

• The Retail Employment Regulation Order applies to any shop that sells food items, but not to those that sell only bread, cakes, buns or beef, unless the beef is pressed. It applies to tobacconists but not off-licences;

• The Catering Order applies to pubs in some parts of the country but not others and only to those that sell food as well alcohol;

• Tailors, dressmakers and shirtmakers have different rates of pay;

• The minimum rate for cutting a man’s hair is 6c an hour less than for cutting a woman’s hair, but a unisex hairdresser gets the male rate for all customers.

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Electricians’ strike suspended

Small breathing space created to negotiate new Registered Employment Agreement

Fine Gael Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD, has welcomed the decision of the TEEU to suspend pickets at construction sites across the country in response to the Labour Court recommendation that the previously agreed 4.9% pay increase be paid over the next eight months.

Deputy Varadkar warned though that the dispute is not over with many pitfalls still to overcome.

“If the two employers’ bodies accept the recommendation, the dispute will formally end but this peace will be short-lived. If one of the two main employer groups does not accept the recommendation, there will be no agreement and the dispute will resume.

“NECI, the non-aligned group of employers and contractors, will continue to refuse to be bound by an agreement to which they are not party and will challenge any attempt to impose it on them. Further obstacles are certain to arise as the industry continues to become less competitive and further jobs are lost.

“While the Labour Court has recommended that the April 2008 increase be paid, the April 2009 increase remains outstanding and this could still be a flashpoint. Issues such as travelling time, analogues and enforcement have not been dealt with. …[more]

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s decision today (Thursday) to lecture EU states about the need to reduce red tape is extraordinary, given her own Government’s failure to take any concrete steps to tackle bureaucracy, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

“It is deeply ironic for the Tánaiste to lecture her European colleagues about the need to cut red tape, given her own Government’s abject failure in this area.

“Fianna Fáil has only ever paid lip service to the need to cut red tape. The Government set a target to reduce red tape costs to business by 25%, without actually having a figure for the total cost.

“The ‘Business Regulation Forum’, set up by the Government, estimated that red tape costs Irish businesses in excess of €500 million a year. Yet to date Mary Coughlan has only paid lip service to this crucial issue for business.

“Instead of lecturing to her EU colleagues, the Tánaiste would do better to take advice from them. Austria, the Netherlands and the UK are all in the process of slashing red tape according to the Standard Cost Model. And unlike the Tánaiste, all these countries have produced a benchmark figure for the red tape burden.

“Fine Gael has called for the Standard Cost Model to be applied to reducing red tape in Ireland.

“A report on red tape commissioned by the Government was produced earlier this year. It has still not been published. I would urge the Tánaiste to perhaps read and publish the contents of her own report before issuing advice on this matter from the European stage.”

Speaking after an Irish Pfizer executive called for job creation and protection measures today (Friday), Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said his Party’s proposals to waive PRSI for new jobs would encourage companies to take on extra staff and counter the unemployment crisis.

“Pfizer’s Vice President of Manufacturing in Ireland and Singapore has called on the Government to implement measures to protect existing jobs and assist companies to create new ones. Dr Duffy compared the situation in Ireland with that of Singapore, where the government’s policy of paying companies to take on extra staff encouraged Pfizer to create 250 new positions this year.

“Fine Gael’s proposal to waive PRSI for new staff positions over the next two years would allow similar job creation initiatives in Ireland. Under the current PRSI system, companies are offered no incentive to expand their workforce. However, Fine Gael’s proposal would encourage companies to recruit new employees and counter rising unemployment, without any real cost to the Exchequer.

“The Fianna Fáil Government has shown a staggering lack of imagination in addressing the recession and the unemployment crisis. It seems to believe Ireland can tax its way back to recovery, while ignoring the enormous economic and social impact of mass unemployment. Any path to recovery must involve incentives to protect jobs and create new ones.

“Fine Gael is also calling on the Government to:

Provide a Government-backed loan guarantee for SMEs, as has been done in the UK;
Reduce both rates of VAT and abolish the Travel Tax (as proposed in the Fine Gael alternative Budget);
Freeze local authority rates and charges to business.

“Unfortunately, after 12 years in power, Fianna Fáil is clearly bereft of ideas. The triumvirate of Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan and Mary Coughlan is the wrong team in the wrong place. We need new ideas, like those being proposed by Fine Gael, to bring about recovery.”

Jobs will be lost and employers will be criminalised if a new law being debated in the Dáil today (Thursday) is enacted, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned.
 
Deputy Varadkar was speaking before the debate on the second stage of the Employment Law Compliance Bill this afternoon.
 
“At a time of rising unemployment, we must oppose any measure that makes it more difficult to get a job and keep a job. If enacted, this Bill will make it much hard to create jobs and it will impact hardest on the small and medium enterprises which do not have HR and legal departments to make them up.
 
“Employers will be subject to on-the-spot fines for failing to display notices and they will even have to display them in several different languages. It also gives the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) the power to raid and secure business and to take away records and documents without even the suspicion of wrongdoing.
 
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Last week, Fine Gael devoted its Private Members time to a motion on the current unemployment crisis. My speech on the debate can be found below the fold, while the debate in full can be accessed from the Oireachtas website (the debate was over Tuesday and Wednesday).

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Cowen says ‘No’ to reviewing proposed new bodies

Brian Cowen’s promise to review almost 1,000 State agencies is dishonest and insincere because he publicly backed 19 new Bills which will set up new agencies and extend the powers of others, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said today (Tuesday).

“Both Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern have promised a review of the massive number of State agencies, which have more than doubled since the 1990s. Responding to the damning OECD report on the state of the Government sector in Ireland, the Taoiseach-elect Brian Cowen said there is a need ‘to take a hard look at the Government’s approach to agencies, how and why they were set up and their proper reporting relationship with their parent government department.’. …[more]

Last week, I launced a policy document on the subject of Streamlining Government. Essentially, over the past decade we have seen an expolosion in state agencies and quangos, with more than two hundred being created. These bodies frequently duplicate the work of other state bodies or government departments,, provide poor value for money and are largely unaccountable to the Dáil.

My initial analysis of the nature of of these agencies show there are forty such bodies that can be abolished or merged with existing structures which would result in annual savings of c.€50m to Irish tax-payers. This is an initial examination, and further research would most likely reveal far more savings.

Going forward, new Agencies should only be considered if-

1 the work carried out is of a specialised nature that cannot be doneby the civil service
2 the work cannot be carried out by an existing agency
3 there is be no duplication of functions with another agency orgovernment department
4 it will subject to a ’sundown clause’ after which its mandate will have to be renewed by the Oireachtas (eg. 4 years)

The policy document can be downloaded here.