October’s Budget must be about ‘ending the rip-off’, Mary Lou McDonald says

October’s Budget must be about “ending the rip-off” for working people and families, Mary Lou McDonald has told Sinn Fein.

Ms McDonald addressed her parliamentary party and staff having ruled herself out of the running for being the party’s presidential candidate after thinking “long and hard” about the prospect.

She said she wanted to focus instead on holding the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition to account and offering an alternative government to people at the next general election.

Ms McDonald also told the party faithful that she would be remaining in the Dail and “leading the fightback and building to the day when we can finally deliver a new government for working people”.

She said: “It is really important, friends, that whoever enters the Aras after this election is someone who speaks to a vision for Ireland’s future, a president who upholds Ireland’s place in the world and our proud tradition of military neutrality, who speaks up for a better future for our young people, for a society of inclusion and equality, for citizens with disabilities and the marginalised, and for an Ireland where nobody is left out or left behind.

“Building towards a united Ireland and preparing for constitutional change must be a prominent discussion in this presidential election campaign. Partition is on borrowed time.

“So, the next Uachtaran na hEireann must be a champion and a leader for Irish unity in our time.

“Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have controlled government for over a century and they’ve made a right mess of things that really, really matter to people: housing, health, the cost of living, aspirations of so many young people.

“They should not be rewarded for these failures with the presidency.”

She turned her focus on the coalition government, accusing them of having “cynically misled” the public during November’s election campaign and giving “false information to maintain their grip on power”.

She said: “The means-test for carers remains in place, childcare fees are still through the roof and student fees have been increased, not reduced.

“Ordinary households are under huge pressure just to get by and the forthcoming budget must be about ending the rip-off, getting prices under control and supporting workers and families.”

She listed grocery prices, rents, fuel, insurance, childcare and utilities as all being “sky high” and “going up and up”.

Three 150-euro energy credits should be offered to people as part of a cost-of-living package accompanying this year’s Budget, Ms McDonald said.

She then criticised Fianna Fail’s and Fine Gael’s record on health and housing, saying that needing an income of 100,000 euro to buy a starter home and there being more than 16,000 people homeless was “not normal”.

“A Minister for Health with no plan to deliver the change the health service needs and now attempting to pass the buck for the fiasco surrounding the Children’s Hospital, billions in public money, yet no opening date, not one child treated, and Minister McNeil’s response is ‘Ask BAM’. You couldn’t make that up.”

The father of Harvey Morrison, nine, who had scoliosis and spina bifida and died on July 29, is to attend the Sinn Fein think-in on Monday.

Ms McDonald told families with children waiting for treatment of scoliosis and spina bifida: “We are with you. We will never stop fighting for you.”

Fifteen-year-old disability campaigner Cara Darmody from Co Tipperary and Waterford mother Rebecca Meehan, who has campaigned for a school place for her son Jay and other children, will also attend the party’s gathering in south Dublin.