Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Taoiseach about his prospects for engagement with outside parties in the context of framing the budget. Is it not the case that, when examining the balance struck in the past two budgets, he has been listening to some groups very seriously and not listening to others? We know from last year that the Clearing House Group, comprising banks and speculators, precisely the sorts of people who caused the crisis, has privileged and institutional access to the Government. The group is chaired by the Department of Finance and comprises Barclays, Bank of Ireland, Citigroup and a range of other financial interests. The budgetary submissions of these bodies are included in the Budget Statement almost word for word and the Taoiseach trenchantly defends their demands. He makes their demands to have no increase in corporation tax and no financial transaction tax red-line issues and fights for them trenchantly. When groups representing the less well-off, the disadvantaged, the disabled and the low-paid make representations to him asking for a different balance to be struck in the budget and taxes on wealth and profit as an alternative to attacking the poor, the less well-off, the disabled and the vulnerable, the voices that always win out with the Government are those of the financial services sector, multinationals and the super wealthy. Why does he defend so trenchantly the demands the latter make in their budget submissions and ignore the pleas of those representing the least well-off who wish for a different type of budget that focuses on protecting the vulnerable, prioritising investment in job creation and having a tax system that shifts the burden of austerity onto those who can afford it rather than those on the breadline?

See this speech in context