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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said he wants to see a sugar tax introduced next year.
Varadkar told reporters at the closing press conference of the Fine Gael think-in in Tipperary that he has always been a “long-term supporter” of the tax.
He also hinted that the price of cigarettes is set to rise in the upcoming Budget in October.
“I can’t go into specifics today but it would be typical enough for there to be an increase in cigarettes, and there are other things under consideration. As you know, I am a long-term supporter of the sugar tax, and I would like to see that introduced next year,” he said.
The introduction of a tax on soft drinks has been well flagged in the past.
The former Finance Minister Michael Noonan announced during last year’s Budget that a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks would be introduced in 2018.
Noonan said that the tax would be introduced in line with similar UK plans in April 2018.
However, the Irish Beverage Council criticised the measure last year, with Kevin McPartlan, director of the Irish Beverage Council, stating:
“We are extremely disappointed that the Minister for Finance continues to labour under the delusion that additional taxes on soft drinks will have any positive impact on obesity.”
Internationally, this thesis has been tested and has a 100% failure rate. A sugar tax will hit consumers, industry and the economy for no public health benefit.
It is always the case the level of demands for additional spending are much greater than can ever be accommodated in the budget, but I am so glad that we aren’t where we were three or four years ago when we were dividing up the cuts and deciding which government department would take the lion’s share of the cutbacks.
There will be no cuts in any government departments next year, event government department will have an increase in spending, it’s just the case of how much can we accommodate in the parameters available to us, and taking in that we want to increase public spending, but we don’t want to increase public spending too quickly, because that will actually present long-term risks for our econom
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What a negative headline!There is a lot of good news in this article,reflecting the hard work done in these DEIS schools.But of course the headline just addresses the negative part!
Headline also suggests that living in an urban area is universally detrimental to educational attainment when in fact the article only refers to urban deis schools and as ailish pointed out above, the article highlights significant improvements in English and maths within those schools.
Sorry, as Aileen pointed out.
Typo in headline
“Urban pupils are more worser* at English and maths”
A neighbour of mine would tell you he supplies food to the canteen in one of these Deis school. He tell you nothing best is supplied. No expense is spared apparently. Even fizzy drinks is supplied on occasion. Compare this to where my children go to school in a small country school. The only food they get is what we send them with them in their lunchbox. Who the worst off and there was me thinking all children are suspose to be treated equally under the constitution.
Sure when I went to school we got nothing at all, walked there barefoot at 6 in the morning. Would be lucky to grab a mouthful of chalk dust at lunch time. We got some learnin’ done
“Mouthful of chalk dust”
I cried laughing after reading that.
What’s that got to do with reading?
Parental income has much less to do with the standard of education a child recieves than parental involvement. How many of the kids struggling to read do you think have a parent that reads to them? Its time for these parents to take responsibility for their kids.
The 22:1 ratio is an error in the article. This only applies up to first or second class I believe after which the 22:1 ratio is classed as a desirable ratio but not enforceable. As such you can have classes(3rd,4th,5th,6th)in Deis I schools with 23-36 children in them.
Are Ya bleedin jokin me ?
I don’t think he is langer boyyyyyy.
That’s why so many country folk are the dubs bosses in the city.as the old saying goes …what does a dub call a country person at work????
Boss
Plenty of jobs at the Journal for the ones who have spelling difficulties in the future.
Worser…….is this a word???
Used to be in the 16th century
Think it’s supposed to be play on words Claire!!
I went to a rural DEIS primary school, our class size was 33-37.
These ratios are a new enough rule.
I went to a deis school in rural Ireland, I did ok but it was an uphill battle, the school was underfunded and understaffed. chronic unemployment/underemployment means children in disadvantaged areas are less motivated as it is unlikely they will have the money for third level even if they get the grades.
generational poverty also causes a lot of these problems, its called a poverty trap for a reason
We live in a city and drive our daughter six miles out the road to go to school. A bit of a trek and hits the pocket a bit more. But smaller classes, a higher standard or education, and you know that the child is mixing with people of good stock.
“Mixing with people of good stock” that comment says a lot about you as a person. Hopefully your children won’t grow up with such a ridiculous attitude.
All education correspondents seem to take for granted that the DES claim that literacy and numeracy levels have risen due to its campaign of recent years is valid. There is insufficient evidence supporting this claim.
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