Squandermania
The Gregory package represents the "liberation" of Charles Haughey from those forces of budgetary resstraint which were imposed on him in the second day of the election campaign by party colleagues alarmed at his perrformance at his first press conference.
At that first meet-the-press encounter Haughey spoke in dismissive terms about the obsession with foreign borrowwing but at a meeting the following day, orchestrated by Martin O'Donoghue and Albert Reynolds, he was hurrulia-
tingly forced to back down and to agree to read a script prepared for him by O'Donoghue at a party function in Skerries that evening.
At that Skerries meeting Haughey stated reluctantly that Fianna Fail recognised foreign borrowing and the current budget deficit must be eliminated as quickly as circumstannces allowed. He said that Coalition speakers were trying to suggest that Fianna Fail opposition to reducing food sub-
sidies and placing of VAT on clothing and footwear would mean that the party would simply allow government borroowing to rise in order to pay for these measures. "This is not the case. We know the cost of these measures - about £ 115 million - will have to be met".
It was discipline that prevailed throughout the cammpaign, even if the "magic" budget of Martin O'Donoghue produced on the Friday before the election and which innvolved the bringing forward of taxation revenue from next year into this, strained credulity.
The Gregory deal has changed all that. Even if the 42 commitments to additional Government expenditure are not met, the fact that Haughey was prepared to enter into this kind of arrangement suggests that he has abandoned any notion of constraint and that the spend-free days of the first half of 1981 have returned.
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The Gregory package will cost about £500m
In the time available to us, it is not possible to estimate with any level of accuracy the total cost of this package.
We have identified a certain £173 million but this excludes most of the areas of major expenditure. There is an addiitional difficulty of not knowing precisely what is intended in many of the proposals and to what extent, if any, they overlap with one another. There is then the additional prooblem of deciphering exactly what additional expenditure is involved above and beyond what was provided for in the Coalition budget.
However, a rough estimate cost suggests that the package amounts to above £500 million for a period of up to four years.
In addition to the list ou dined below, there is also a commitment to hold Dublin bus fares at their present level for a year. This will involve a further expenditure of several million pounds in further subvention to CIE.
There are two additional remarkable aspects to the deal.
One concerns taxation. There is a commitment to a 5% tax on derelict sites, increasing by 1 % per annum; a special tax on existing and future office development based on 2% of rent income (estimated) to produce an income of £Im.; bank raxation to be increased progressively; and capital taxation of unearned income to be increased.
The other concerns the establishment of an Inner City Development Authority "which will take over the duties and functions of the existing Indepartmental Committee". The chairman of this authority and five of its members will be nominated by Tony Gregory.
1. Environmental Public Works Scheme (employment of extra 500) £5m.
2. Acquisition of Port and Docks Site ?
3. Leisure Complex £O.5m.
4. Nationalisation of Clondalkin Paper Mills £lm. (minimal estimate)
5. Inner City Employment Programme (3,746 new jobs) £37.4m. (estimate)
6. Increase of IDA grant from 45% to 60%
7. Employment of 150 additional craftsmen
8. 1,350 new houses in 1982 to 2,000 in 1984.
9. Further additional 1 ,600 houses in 1982 £91m.
10. Further guarantee of construction of 197 houses
in 1983 in North City Area.
11. Additional maintenance of Corporation dwellings ?
12. Budgetary allocation to Corporation £20m.
13. Capital subvention to Dublin Corporation for housing from 1982-1984 £264.37m.
14. Acquisition and rehabilitation of residential property £1 m.
15. Re training of 300-500 inner city dwellers ?
16. Training and Placing of 300-500 young inner-city dwellers
17. Maintenance of houses and flats £4.8m.
18. Modernisation of Sub-standard Dwellings programme £1 m.
19. Free Medical Card for all Social Welfare Pensioners ?
20. Expansion of home help services ?
21. Implementation of recommendations of review body on travelling people ?
22. Pupil teacher ratio in primary schools 25 to 1 ?
23. More Remedial Teachers in primary schools ?
24. Improved psychological services ?
25. Appointment of educational family liaison officers ?
26. Pupil teacher ratio in secondary schools of 14 to 1 ?
27. The provision of a broadbased range of facilities in secondary schools ?
28. The provision of pre-employment courses in secondary schools ?
29. The re-employment of more remedial teachers ?
30. A new Community school £3m.
31. Special Family Income Educational Support ?
32. Special adult education schemes ?
33. Special pre-school facility ?
34. Specific commitment of Seville Place School ?
35. Free school books ?
36. Specific commitment to Rutland St. Primary School ?
37. Inner City Development Authority £2m.
38. Compliance with EEC directives on lead levels in petrol ?
39. Withdrawal of all rent increases in sub-standard dwellings ?
40. Lowering of interest rates on local authority SDA loans from 15.5% to 12.5% ?
41. Implementation of CIE's rapid rail scheme ?
42. Pedestrianisation in the inner city ?