Statistically speaking, spending cuts hit women hardest – but protecting disadvantaged groups should be at the heart of the Budget, write Orla O’Connor and Clara Fischer.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council says the government needs to cut €4 billion from its spending if the state is expected to meet its 2015 deficit target.
Comments made by the Justice Minister in the Dáil last week about proposed cuts on the way in his department have been dismissed as figures taken from a savings proposal.
The Finance Minister has said that, next month, the government will publish a broad outline of spending cuts and tax increases planned for the next three or four years.
ONE OF AMERICA’S biggest child beauty pageant organisers is set to spend €20,000 staging their first-ever Irish contest in September.
The Herald reports today that beauty bosses said it will be open to “babies, toddlers and teens” and will also include a heat with kids in swimwear.
Some parents believe that contests celebrates their children’s beauty, helps them learn about camaraderie and boosts their self-confidence. While others think that beauty pageants send out the wrong kind of message to children and that the costumes and make-up involved sexualises kids.
So, today we would like to know: Would you enter your child in a beauty pageant?
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