Budget has left working people out in the cold – Sinn Fein

The Irish Government’s Budget has left working people “out in the cold”, Sinn Fein has said.

The party’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty accused ministers of abandoning election pledges and “giving nothing” to those impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

The Budget delivered on Tuesday by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, included 2.9 billion euro for the delivery of new-build social homes and second-hand acquisitions and 10 euro increases to weekly social protection payments.

Delivering his Budget response statement in the Dail, Mr Doherty said: “When all the clapping is done, when all the back-slapping is over and the Government benches die down, when all of the spin that we have heard, the bluster, the deluded arrogance that has come dripping from both ministers’ speeches, ordinary people, where are they?

“They are left in the cold.”

He added: “Your big message in this Budget, and people have heard it loud and clear today, is that you are on your own.

“This is a Budget which abandons workers and families to look after those at the top. No help with the cost-of-living crisis … no break from taxes, a blueprint for the continuation for the never-ending crises in our housing and health.

“Election promises one after the other, torn up and thrown in the bin.”

He said that announced increases in petrol and diesel prices was “one of the worst Government decisions we have had”.

Mr Doherty added: “I am shocked by what is in this Budget.

“I was asked by somebody in the media what do I think, and I said ‘I don’t believe it, there is something they are going to pull out, there is no way they are going to abandon workers in the way that was suggested’.

“But by god you did that, you gave them nothing.

“This Budget reads as a catalogue of handouts for those at the top.”

He added: “If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary households that is impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, if you are one of the people who is facing the avalanche of rip-off bills and struggling to make ends meet, then this Budget screws you over.

“It is empty, it is hollow and it is a dead end.”

Mr Doherty said people in Ireland wanted and needed a “cost-of-living budget”.

He said: “During the general election you told everybody that the cost of living was the number one issue, that the cost of living issue would be dealt with by your parties.

“It won’t be lost on anybody that last year’s budget, just ahead of the election, there was no problem providing a cost-of-living package.

“It is now clear that was just a sweetener bribing people with their own money for votes.”

The Sinn Fein TD said he had “never seen election promises abandoned so fast and so completely”.

He added: “You made a conscious decision in this Budget, you prioritised the landlords, the developers, the investors at the expense of ordinary workers.

“You have really shown your true colours, you have taken a calculated risk.

“You hope that people will forget this by the time the next election comes around.

“But I fear folks, the people are going to remember this one because you have shafted them royally.”

Labour Party TD Ged Nash said the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael coalition was a bigger threat to Ireland’s economy than Donald Trump’s tariffs.

He told the Dail: “The story of Ireland over the last decade has been a story of missed opportunities.

“The catastrophic failure to build the homes we need.

“A Government so crippled by caution and its own conservatism that we are only now, a decade into an unprecedented spell of uninterrupted growth, facing up to the chronic infrastructure deficits in transport, health, education and energy that puts our economic model and our society at risk.”

He added: “Fianna Fail and Fine Gael combined are the single biggest threats to Ireland’s economy, not Donald Trump and his tariffs.

“Together they have delivered a Budget of broken promises for workers and dreams that have come true for developers.”

Mr Nash said there was a “faint whiff of 2008 around the place”.

He said: “Recent history shows us you can’t keep cutting taxes and ramp up spending at the same time and expect a good outcome for our country.”

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said large corporations would benefit most from a cut in the VAT rate for food and catering businesses announced in the Budget.

He said: “Budgets are about choices and the choices made by this Government in this Budget couldn’t be any clearer – look after large corporations and developers at the expense of ordinary people and those who are struggling.

“There is no hiding it or disguising it, no way to spin it, this Government’s choice is clear.”

He added: “Your Budget awards multi-national companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks millions in extra profits while families choosing between heating and eating are denied targeted energy credits.

“More and more children sink further into poverty, it really is outrageous.

“A blanket VAT cut across the sector means large profitable chains will disproportionately benefit, raking in huge sums because you are cutting their taxes.”

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said it was a “Budget of austerity at a time of plenty”.

He added: “It is a Budget that is going to make life for ordinary people harder – while we have a very, very large budget surplus and while £1.7 billion euro is being given to corporations in various forms of corporate welfare.”