Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the budget, it is the Minister's view that it is easy to decide we do not need €444 million of tax money this year, next year and every other year because our services are somehow fine. This would be somehow justifiable if we did not have a crisis in health, a crisis in housing and a crisis in homelessness, and if we did not have workers out on strike and balloting for industrial action because the Government will not pay them for work they are doing. This is despite the vulnerability in the concentration of corporation tax, despite the fact Brexit has thrown up serious challenges and despite the fact that what the American Administration may do could erode a substantial part of our tax base.