Over a million people in Ireland could benefit from a windfall payment of about £11bn ($20bn) from a saving scheme set to mature at the end of May.
More than half of Ireland’s adult population own a Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA), which was launched five years ago in May 2001.
Many of those who regularly put money into the government scheme since it started could get up to $24,000 each.
For every amount placed in the special savings account, a further 25% was contributed by the exchequer and deposited directly to the recipient’s account.
In effect, this meant for every 4 euros saved each month, an additional 1 euro was deposited, making it a generous scheme.
Individuals could put in a maximum monthly subscription of about $323.
Look at the dangerous priorities of the Irish government. Here they are providing a short-term means of earning interest for the majority of the working citizens of that nation — instead of building an exploding deficit by giving back tax revenue to the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
Why won’t they follow America’s leadership of the Free World?
It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t spend $450 billion on defense. Irelands entire budget is less than $70 billion. That’s the price of being a superpower. You didn’t mention the free universal heath coverage.
“Free” universal health care? If you call getting taxed to death free…
Does this means they’re going to raise the price of whiskey? *ducks*
Looks like next month is gonna be a fun time in Ireland. I bet the car dealerships and real estate agents are getting all excited.
These SSIA accounts mature over the next year. (The scheme was open to new members for a year, and matures five years after the first payment).
It is undoubtedly going to be inflationary, in a time when inflation is becoming a real problem again, thanks in no small part to the actions of one Christian fundamentalist in the mid-east.
Our estate agents can’t get much more excited. We’ve had 10% to 25% house price inflation year-on-year for almost a decade. The SSIA money might be enough for some people to bring their savings up to a level where they can afford a deposit…
… and if you want to talk about priorities:
– our free universal health care is in such a shambles that you can spend days in an emergency room on a chair or trolley before being admitted to a ward.
– public transport in Dublin is worse than many US cities I have seen.
– several square miles of excellent farmland near the Shannon are flooded due to recent rain – an estimated 4m euro would see effective flood defenses.
Yes, I’m just jealous. I don’t have an SSIA.
Australia’s government just annonced that after 10 years of repayments the country is no govt-debt free. Future govt funds are being saved in a national Future Fund to cover superannuation for government employees.
There are other ways to manage national economies.
The fact is that Ireland currently has very high rates of personal debt so a lot of people think this SSIA money is already spent. When the payments come in they will all be going to Mr Visa.
I too am jealous as I didn’t do the SSIA.
One of the aims of this scheme was to encourage saving in a population that rarley does. It is expected that at least half the people who started saving for the SSIA will continue to do so once it has finished.
I have to wait till next year to cash in/out my SSIA account, lots of time to think of things to spend the money on.
Cost of living in ireland is pretty high compared to other places.
But yeah, no complaints from me about the scheme