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2019 No-Deal Brexit ‘The Central Hays Travel Secures

9th, Deal To Buy Thomas
Cook Stores
October Assumption’ As Donohoe travel agents has said it will
One of the UK’s largest

| Unveils Budget 2020 save thousands of jobs at
Thomas Cook after a deal to
EXAMINER he Government has increase by €50 for one person stores around the UK.
buy all 555 of the company’s
Hays Travel has already
employed 421 members of
announced a budget with a
or €150 for a couple. This will
IRISH theimpactofano-dealBrexit. benefit up to 56,000 people. Thomas Cook staff since the
T€1.2bn fund to help absorb
travel group went out of busi-
Free GP care is to be
The package includes expanded to children under the ness last month.
€650m to support the agri-food age of eight and free dental care The company now intends
and tourism sectors. for children under the age of to reopen the shops immedi-
There will also be €200m six. ately, potentially saving up to
made available to government Fuel allowance will increase 2,500 further jobs.
departments to increase by €2 a week. It also promised to create
staffing levels and upgrade air- Mr Donohoe said he could another 100 jobs at its
ports and ports. not commit to widespread tax Sunderland headquarters.
Finance Minister Paschal cuts. “It is a game-changer for us,
Donohoe said the budget was “Turning to our taxation almost trebling the number of
“without precedent”. system, I will not commit to shops we have and doubling
“This is a budget developed across-the-board personal tax our workforce – and for the
in the shadow of Brexit and the cuts at this time of economic industry, which will get to
context for Brexit has shifted to uncertainty as to do so could keep some of its most talented
no deal as our central assump- potentially undermine the sus- people,” said founder John
tion, this does not mean no tainability of our public Hays.
deal is inevitable, but equally finances,” he said. “We are looking forward to
we stand ready if it does hap- “The unfunded tax cut of welcoming many more people
pen,” he told the Dáil. today is the unwelcome tax who share our passion for the
“In preparing for no deal we eration”. He said this will support increase of tomorrow.” travel industry, into our family
can ensure the Government He said carbon tax would be people in emergency accom- Mr Donohoe confirmed the business.”
has the necessary resources to increased from €20 to €80 per modation and increase preven- payment of a 100% Christmas The 178-year-old Thomas
meet the impact of Brexit, tonne by 2030, raising an addi- tative measures, long-term sup- bonus to all social welfare Cook folded on September 23
keeping our public finances on tional €6bn. port and day services. recipients in 2019. after failing to secure a last-
the credible path they have It will be raised by €6 from A further €1.1bn of capital The Living Alone allowance minute rescue deal.
been on since 2011. midnight tonight, raising €90m funding will be allocated to will increase by €5 while the The news left around
“We must increase the level in 2020, and will be ringfenced social housing to support the One Parent Family payment 150,000 passengers stranded
and range of supports to ensure to fund new climate action building of over 11,000 new will go up by €15. abroad, the last of whom were
our economy is protected and measures. social homes next year. “The social welfare alloca- returned to the UK on
this is why we are announcing The move will see the price Mr Donohoe said that tion I am announcing today is Monday.
over €1.2bn, excluding EU of petrol and diesel rise at mid- 12,000 units will be “delivered” more moderate and targeted,” “This is an extremely posi-
funding, to respond to Brexit.” night with the cost of home in 2021. Mr Donohoe said. tive outcome, and we are
The spending plan is based heating fuel increasing in May An additional €80m will go He said he was providing delighted to have secured this
on the anticipated gloomy next year. to the Housing Assistance €13m for the Warmer Homes agreement,” said Jim Tucker, a
financial outlook if the UK Part of the funding will be Payment scheme. scheme to provide free energy KPMG partner who was
leaves with EU without an spent helping communities The department of Children efficiency upgrades to house- appointed joint special manag-
agreement on October 31. involved in the extraction of will be allocated an additional holds deemed to be or at risk of er of Thomas Cook’s retail
“A no deal is unpredictable,” peat in the Midlands, as the €94m in 2020. energy poverty. division after the failure.
said the minister. Government tries to move The allocation for Tusla, the Concluding his budget “It provides re-employment
“It will impact different sec- away from reliance on fossil child and family agency, will be speech, Mr Donohoe said: opportunities for a significant
tors in different ways. fuels. over €184m to support the “Brexit is a great challenge. But number of former Thomas
“Our response will demand The price of a packet of 20 reduction of the number of our country will grow and our Cook employees, and secures
flexibility.” cigarettes is to go up by 50c children to social worker ratio, economy will develop. the future of retail sites up and
The budget also included from midnight. and address cost pressures in “Budget 2020 aims to make down the UK high street.”
measures to tackle climate The social welfare package private residential and foster progress on much, at a time of Mr Tucker said the admin-
change, including a €6 per will increase by €690m next care. risk, but also at a time of oppor- istrators would work with
tonne hike in carbon tax. year. An Garda Síochána will see tunity. Hays to “ensure a smooth
As part of the Brexit pot, The help-to-buy scheme has its budget increased by €81m in “It aims to further improve transition of the store estate”.
€365m is also being provided been extended in its current 2020, a 4.7% increase. our national finances while the He added: “We are pleased
for extra Social Protection form for another two years to This will deliver up to 700 demands on public spending to have achieved this in a short
expenditure linked to a no-deal, the end of 2021. new Garda recruits, and extra are so many. timeframe and in the context
while €45m will provide To date, some 15,000 new civilian staff to allow for more “It marks a necessary step in of a complex liquidation
increased supports for workers homes have been purchased or frontline policing. our response to climate change process, which is testament to
in adversely affected parts of built by first-time buyers under Health expenditure is set to while conscious of the needs a lot of hard work from a num-
the country, such as the border the scheme. increase by 6.3% to €17.4bn and difficulties that this step ber of parties.”
region. Mr Donohoe said a further next year. creates. Hays was founded in
On climate change, Mr €20m will be spent on homeless The income threshold for “And it does all this while County Durham 40 years ago
Donohoe described it as the services which will bring the access to free health care continuing to get our economy and reached £1 billion in sales
“defining challenge of our gen- total funding to €166m in 2020. through a medical card will ready for Brexit.” C last year.C