Labour alternative budget ‘declaring war on child poverty’

The Government has had a decade of missed opportunity to address the wealth gap in Ireland, according to the Labour Party, who said its alternative budget is “declaring war on child poverty”.

The party’s alternative budget includes provisions like a targeted second tier of child benefit, increases in child and family supports and an extension of free GP care to children aged eight to 12.

Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash said the Government publicises a “sanitised version” of reality in Ireland, without the disparity between rich and poor.

He said: “When we zoom out, we see the real picture is very, very different and this is a rich country that’s replete with contradictions, rich and poor all at the same time.

“We’ve had a missed decade of opportunity where we could have fixed housing, we could have fixed health, we could have fixed transport.

“We could have used our unprecedented sustained economic wealth to once and for all hack away at the long tail of child poverty, but it’s to this Government’s eternal shame that they chose not to.

“The very best way to make our country fit for the future means we must declare war on child poverty, and we must mean it. This is why Labour says ‘we have to bite the bullet’.”

Labour’s proposal package in total sees 9.6 million euro in new spending measures, much of it targeting cost of living and fuel prices.

It includes 400 euro in energy credit for households earning under 80,000 euro, a 7.50 euro a week increase in the fuel allowance, a reduction in VAT on home heating oil to 9% and a pause on planned carbon tax and excise hikes on motor fuel.

To help pay for this, the party would look to bring in wealth taxes totalling 1.7 billion euro, including by increasing the bank levy.

Party leader Ivana Bacik said: “Our focus is on taxing wealth, not worth. To ensure that the revenue-raising measures we’re proposing do not harm productive economics.

“We have a real concern that this Government has been less than honest in a number of ways with their budgeting.

“We’re seeing a Government that has failed so far to engage meaningfully in public sector pay-offs, thereby triggering the sort of work-to-rules and threats of industrial action that we’ve seen.

“This is not honest budgeting. This is not honest planning for our financial futures and for an Ireland we can all afford.”