The Government’s budget has pushed people in Ireland’s squeezed middle to the bottom of the pile, Sinn Fein has said.
The party’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the spending package demonstrated that the coalition did not understand the scale of the cost-of-living crisis people were facing.
He said the budget contained too many instances of the Government “making the wrong choices or deciding on more of the same”.
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Responding to the measures announced, Mr Doherty claimed one-off payments and tax reliefs would be “swallowed up” by inflation and soaring rents before they could make a difference in people’s pockets.
The senior Sinn Fein TD also criticised a failure to reduce and cap electricity prices at pre-inflationary crisis levels.
He said the income tax measures had “short-changed” low and middle income families while, on the housing crisis, he accused the Government of prioritising investors over first-time buyers.
“The Government had the opportunity to give people certainty as they face into a winter of rising costs, certainty about energy costs, certainty on rents, certainty that those on fixed incomes would be shielded from the price rises that they have seen,” said Mr Doherty.
“They had an opportunity to plan for the future and deliver on housing, and on health, and on a real climate action. But they haven’t done that today.
“Time and time again, we’ve seen ministers come into this Dail and deliver budgets that promise much, but ultimately deliver little.
“And ministers opposite have come today and thrown out large numbers and announced tweaks here and there on the edges of the crisis our people face, and for many workers and for many families on middle and low incomes they will see little change in this budget.”
Mr Doherty added: “Those workers in the squeezed middle, those earning 35,000 euro or less who should have been a priority, have been pushed to the side. For many, the hopes that they had for this budget have been disappointed today.”
Addressing TDs in the Dail, Mr Doherty said: “Everything is going in the wrong direction, inflation going up, house prices going up, rents going up, interest rates going up.
“Workers and families face the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and the biggest fall in living standards since the financial crash.”
He added: “It is clear that the Government doesn’t understand the scale of the cost-of-living crisis that households face this winter with the package announced today that fails to provide the certainty and adequate help to help workers and families.
“A Sinn Fein government would have acted differently, we would have stopped the excess profits that energy companies are making as a result of government inaction.
“We would have given household certainty and support by cutting electricity prices back to their pre-crisis levels.”
Mr Doherty said the Government had handed workers a pay cut in real terms.
He said: “In times of inflation, a pay increase that fails to rise with the rate of inflation is a real-terms pay cut.
“And that is precisely what the Government has handed out.”
He added: “So many workers on middle and low incomes have been pushed to the bottom of the pile with an income tax package that leaves them short-changed.”
Mr Doherty also accused the Government of not doing enough to tackle Ireland’s housing crisis.
He said a tax credit for renters would be eclipsed by rental rises as he criticised a refusal to ban rent increases.
Mr Doherty said not enough state investment was being focused on building social and affordable homes as he accused ministers of giving private investors preferential treatment.
“The Government’s housing policy has failed, with rates of home ownership collapsing for younger generations, while developers’ profits soar,” he said.
“Sinn Fein is the party of home ownership. This Government is the government of speculators and developers. Despite all of the evidence, this budget is silent on the scandal of investment funds outbidding and outpricing struggling homebuyers.
“There will be champagne corks flying today with institutional investors because the red carpet is going to continue to be rolled out by this Government.”
Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell said there was nothing for young people in the budget.
“When young people my age say to me that there’s nothing for them here, that there’s no chance of us ever owning our own home, or I’m not sure what to do about starting a family because I just can’t afford to, it’s because of the political choices that you have made over the years,” she told ministers.
“It is because of the political choices you have made today.
“The reality is that this budget was never written with our young people in mind.
“It was written by a Government that is out of touch and it shows this is certainly no budget for young people and young families.
“We see no meaningful action to solve the housing crisis, no meaningful action on climate, too little on childcare.
“This is a budget that says to our young people that once again you are being brought up for export.”
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