Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Where, exactly, is the Government taking us and what are the social consequences of the Government's austerity policies?

The Irish League of Credit Unions revealed several months ago that the number of people who are left with €100 or less at the end of each month has risen to over 1.8 million. Where will these citizens find the money for the Taoiseach's family home tax or to deal with his decision on PRSI? What of the tens of thousands of our young Irish people who are already in Australia, Canada, the US or Britain?

While the Minister tells us the economy is growing, the reality is that growth forecasts are being continually revised downwards. It gives me no pleasure to say the domestic economy is on the floor. Retail sales have fallen by over 30% since the start of the recession and thousands of jobs have been lost. The budget will do nothing to restore confidence in the domestic economy.  

What really galls people is that, in a parody of what passed before, the Taoiseach tells people to tighten their belts. He tells us we are all in this together and patronises people by saying he understands how this hurts them. Meanwhile, the fat cats in the banks’ headquarters continue to cream it at the expense of taxpayers. The Government borrowed €67 billion from the troika and gave €64 billion of it to the banks.

How has that money been spent? Just last month Sinn Féin revealed that nearly 3,000 staff at banks that have been bailed out are still paid over €100,000 every year. The Government takes away the carer's respite allowance while allowing this to continue, despite the mess the banks have created. There are 326 bankers who receive more than €200,000, 104 receive more than €300,000, 48 receive more than €400,000 and 27 receive more than half a million euro a year. These are salaries ordinary people can only dream of.

The banking system shows no compassion for its customers or the taxpayers who bailed them out. Instead of passing on rate cuts from the ECB to mortgage holders, they hike up their fees. They massage their figures on lending to small and medium enterprises. The Government had an opportunity to tackle this in the budget. The Minister for Finance could have used the tax system to claw back some of the pay-outs and pay-offs to the bankers and politicians who wrecked our economy.

The Government has announced a 3% increase in the universal social charge on pension income over €60,000 per year for people over 70 years of age. I have no doubt that some in the Labour Party will try to spin this measure as a meaningful tax on the very wealthy in our society. It is not in the least.

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