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THERE HAVE BEEN calls for some doctors’ payments to be scrapped, after it emerged the government spent almost €29million last year paying physicians who issue medical certificates for social welfare.
Doctors are paid €8.25 for each medical certificate they issue. Around three million certificates were processed last year for social welfare purposes, meaning the government paid out more than €550,000 a week. The final bill came to €28.7million.
However, this figure is lower than for the last two years, both of which saw final bills to the government of more than €30million. Labour TD Kevin Humphreys, who secured the Department of Social Protection figures in a parliamentary answer, has called for these payments to be scrapped.
Mr Humphreys said one practice was paid €83,000 last year for issuing more than 180 medical certificates a week. He added:
This is an unnecessary top up payment to doctors that we can no longer afford. This payment to doctors is on top of the €50 or more a patient pays for a consultation. This payment should be scrapped and the savings used to protect social welfare payments to the most vulnerable in our society. Cuts in spending should be carried by those who can most afford it.
He continued that the medical certificate payment to doctors was “an area where the Minister can reduce expenditure whilst protecting frontline payments.”
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End the USC, help the working people
@Tony Brady: Will never happen. Pascal even admitted this on radio yesterday
With the rumoured surpluses today for this year and next, they could afford to give people the services they need and deserve. People with children awaiting assessments of need for disgracefully long periods of time. Start paying nurses, doctors, teachers properly. Cut waiting lists and treat people. I could go on, but knowing this country it will all be squandered yet again.
@Declan Moran: I’m surprised you didn’t want it all sent to Ukraine.
@west awake: go back to sleep
@Declan Moran: they won’t be used to improve public services. They will continue to run down public services until the only option left is to introduce more private services. As for Budget 2024, what about now?
Stop the eminent fuel tax increase
@David Mercedes: that’s conveniently forgotten! Will be €2 again by end of year and they’ll say “oh there’s nothing we can do” …..
I thought we owed €240,000,000,000 debt, shouldn’t we sort that out first?
A large surplus like this is a great opportunity for the government to get creative on big ticket items as suggested here, abolish the USC, invest in social housing, public transport etc. Big projects. Unfortunately, politicians live by the parish pump so it’ll be frittered away on little tokens. An extra fiver on social welfare payments, “bonus” one off payments to certain welfare recipients. All temporal that don’t get to the root of the issue. Politician need to step up and get creative and think long term.
A budget surplus of €12bn could go a long way to building a decent public transport system in Dublin, increasing hospital capacity in Limerick and Cork where there is huge overcrowding and building more affordable homes but will any of these things happen? I wouldn’t hold my breath .
Loads of cash, and not a clue what to do with it!
That should be enough to get rid of USC. Additional money in people pockets will allow more money to go into the states coffers. Also finally help the people who pay for all this. The workers. I bet they are thinking about this in next budget as an election tactic.
@Will Roche: Well said. Definitely next year we’ll be hearing about the record surplus for 2024 all over election time
Just give taxes back to working people. If you have a surplus with such bad public services, you don’t need to put those taxes brackets.
We need houses and we’ve a huge SURPLUS coming in?
D’uh, what could we do???
Unbelievable
What’s going on in this country when government ministers are saying they have billions to spend on asylum seekers, homeless people, Ukrainians etc., but will not increase the tax threshold on inheritances for children and forcing the sale of houses after the death of the parent in one child families.
Economics for dummies brought to you by the government of Ireland. Inflation still increasing. Solution. Pump more money into the economy.
@Niall English: If inflation were that simple, economics would be redundant. It’s a lot more complex than that. The recent advent of inflation has led the European Central Bank to identify excessive company profits as a bigger driver of inflation than wage demand. Many commentators are quick to try to dampen down wage demands with talk of a wage-price spiral situation. I think most working people can see through those arguments, particularly when they are exposed to obvious price-gouging. There can be no sustainable case for wage moderation or a decrease in spending while inflation continues to be driven by excessive company profits, neither in the public or private sector.
More prompt proactivity needed.
40000 as the start of the 40% tax band is crazy. Average earners are paying into this. This should be moved up to and over 50000 incrementally over the next few years. A couple need to be earning 60000 each to get a modest mortgage. They are paying highest rate of tax……crazy
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There’ll be one for everybody in the audience, before the elections.
have your say