The Finance Minister says the International Monetary Fund is not advising the Government on budgetary measures.
Michael Noonan’s comments come after the IMF yesterday proposed that child benefit and the medical card be means tested.
The agency’s call was contained in its latest overview of the Irish economy – which is seperate to the bailout deal.
Minister Noonan says the IMF recommendation is only advice and not a requirement to be included in December’s budget:
Sick-leave entitlements for 300,000 public servants are to be cut by half.
From September uncertified sick leave will be seven days over two years instead of twelve months currently.
And from 2014 those entitled to six months on full pay and the same on half pay will again see it cut by 50%, BUT those with critical illnesses won’t be hit.
Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes says it’s not clear yet how much of the half a billion euro cost will be saved, but there will be benefits:
The mother of a sexual abuse victim has denied as ‘utter lies’ that she told her teenage daughter the abuse ‘wasn’t too bad, he didn’t rape you’.
Ailish Smith is suing her father Gerard Smith with an address at Magenta Hill, Santry, Dublin for molesting her from 1976 when she was just a toddler.
Newstalk’s Courts Correspondent Francesca Comyn reports:
The Tánaiste’s revealed he only found out about the resignation of HSE chief Cathal Magee through the media yesterday.
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/> Eamon Gilmore’s described it as regrettable and says he’s spoken to Minister James Reilly about it.
He says he’s confident the breakdown in communication between the two government parties wont happen again:
The Government is to seek sponsorship from private companies to cover some of the costs of hosting the presidency of the EU for six months next year.
60-million euro will be spent on the presidency – but the Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton says costs will be cut significantly from the 90-million which was spent during the last presidency in 2004.
The government is to host 170 meetings – all of which will take place in state owned buildings in a bid to save money.
