Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

-----today the Government has added to it.

Tá daoine ina shuí sa bhaile a thug tacaíocht do bhur gcuid páirtithe. Tá siad ag éisteacht leis an gcáinfhaisnéis seo. D'éist siad leis an méid a bhí le rá ag an Aire, an Teachta Howlin, inné. Tá said ag iarraidh cén difríocht a rinne an toghchán i mí Feabhra seo caite. Is cinnte gur tháinig athrú ar na páirtithe sa rialtas, ach níor tháinig athrú ar bith ar polasaithe an Rialtais. Nuair a chuaigh na céadta míle daoine chuig na bothanna vótaíochta, ní hamháin go raibh said ag iarraidh deireadh a chur le ré Fianna Fáil, ach bhí said ag iarraidh deireadh a chur leis na polasaithe lochtacha a bhí á chur i bhfeidhm ag Fianna Fáil freisin. Cad a chuala siad inniu agus inné? Chuala siad Fine Gael agus an Lucht Oibre ag cur na polasaithe lochtacha sin i bhfeidhm go huile is go hiomlán.

People who watched the Budget Statement will be numbed by its effect as they add up the total loss of income from the Minister's stealth charges and spending cuts. They have had two days of bad news of cuts and taxes mounted on top of one another with no regard as to how they are meant to pay for any of it. Ordinary families have been crying out for fairness. The Taoiseach and the Minister told Members repeatedly that, if anything, this budget would be fair. In his State broadcast last Sunday night the Taoiseach told the people they had not caused the crisis. Today, however, the Government is making every single person pay for it. Is this the fairness the Minister had in mind? I refer to a fairness that gives Anglo Irish Bank €3.1 billion of taxpayers' money every year while 500,000 people cry out for investment in jobs. This is a fairness that allows the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance to earn €200,000, €184,000 and €169,000, respectively, per year, while ordinary working families are struggling to make ends meet. Of course, the Government is not going after the high earners in this budget. Last year the Minister for Finance was in receipt of a ministerial pension on top of his Dáil salary. The Taoiseach is aware of this because last year, when he still was an Opposition Deputy on this side of the House, he was in receipt of a ministerial pension. Although the Government now talks about how it will change everything, its members engaged in such practises in opposition only 12 months ago.

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