Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Instead what we have is this set piece. In the past, we would have had the publication of the update for the stability programme which was then scrutinised by the finance committee, looking at the macroprojections and risks in all of the pages that we do not have time to read here today. Instead, the Government went with an election salvo, trying to suggest to the people that the bad old days are behind them and that Fine Gael-Labour are reformed parties that now care about the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable. It is asking the people to forget about all the cuts to child benefit, young people’s social welfare benefits and the imposition of the austerity unleashed by it over the past four years.

The people are cute, however, and have learned many lessons over the past several years under this and the previous Governments. They know about false promises. They also know when an election is in the air and how political parties in government deal with the electorate. Once again all talk of political reform is out of the window. Today is the first chapter in budget 2016. Unfortunately, the next chapter will be after the decisions the Government will announce in October. This Government is not genuine when it comes to political reform.

The facts show this Government is unfair and regressive. It was unfair in recession and will be even more unfair in the recovery. We know this because we have lived under four years of this Government and have seen what it has done with resources available to the State in the last budget. The ESRI independently stated the impact of budget 2015 meant the 40% wealthiest in society benefited. The more one had, the more one got from the Government, while the 60% of others were left behind and actually lost out. The less one had, the more one lost out. The Ministers opposite can shake their heads until the cows come home but that is what the ESRI stated.

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