Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister of State feel embarrassed about the fiasco Deputies have witnessed today? At one point, we had a Minister speaking to an empty Chamber. A three-day debate has been arranged to discuss the Government's Spring Economic Statement. In the time I have spent in this House, which is almost a year, the Government has not provided even a half a day to discuss the housing crisis or its housing strategy. This week, the House is discussing its Spring Economic Statement, although it is almost summer, which amounts to an attempted propaganda coup.

Last night, I attended a meeting of 300 people in Athlone at the invitation of a local anti-water charges group. The hotel was packed with very angry people who were well aware of what the Government is trying to do in the House this week. The decision to spend three days discussing its spring statement was made to try to shift the focus from the escalating scandal that has besieged it for the past week. People are not impressed and the decision has backfired. A virtually empty Dáil will spend three days discussing an issue that could have been debated in one hour. Many other topical issues could have been discussed this week.

I will focus on the issue of housing. Does the Government have any idea of the horrors people are experiencing? People are being placed on waiting lists for emergency accommodation, the housing departments of local authorities have become defunct as they focus on shifting people into bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels and people are sleeping in cars. Despite this, the spring statement does not make a single announcement on how the Government will deal with the housing issue. The housing strategy it has announced three or four times is a fiction rather than a reality.

The Minister informed the House yesterday that the age of austerity had come to an end and we could put a lost decade behind us. We are, he stated, in recovery mode and all has been forgotten. Austerity will remain a permanent feature for the majority unless decisive action is taken to challenge the Government and Fianna Fáil Party, both of which stand for practically the same things, and demand a change in policy. The €32 billion of austerity cuts and increased taxes cannot be undone.

This recovery is for the rich because the Minister's statement copper-fastened permanent austerity for everyone else. Water charge bills are dropping though letter boxes, loan parents will lose payments in the next month and 1,000 children are living in emergency accommodation. That is the reality of austerity for the majority in society.

Creating sustainable employment is the bedrock on which society is built. More than 344,000 people are still unemployed, with a further 86,000 people on so-called activation schemes, including the Gateway scheme whose participants are paid €1 per hour. The number of people in work is still 242,000 lower than it was at the beginning of the crash. At the current rate of employment growth, it will be another decade before we return to pre-recession employment levels. Ireland also has a serious problem of under-employment. Many of those in part-time employment would like to work more hours or secure permanent jobs, as was clear in the case of Dunnes Stores employees and workers in other companies. Approximately 128,000 people are in this position and the under-employment rate stands at 29.1%.

Employers have no intention of letting up on austerity. Wages are being driven down and working conditions weakened. There is no recovery for workers or working class people and it is clear from developments in Dunnes Stores, Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and other companies that the recovery will be built on their blood, sweat and bones.

The Labour Party is participating in a Government that has broken records. For example, the number of people on trolleys is higher than ever and currently stands at between 600 and 700. Who is benefiting from the recovery? The super-rich and wealthy have seen their wealth increase. While I am used to seeing massive disparities in wealth, I had to double-check the figures when I read recently that 13 Irish people now own €38 billion. We keep hearing from the Government side that there is not a brass farthing in the country and the nation is bankrupt. There is massive wealth and the super-rich are becoming richer. On the one hand, Dunnes Stores workers are on the bread line while, on the other, the Dunne family has seen its wealth increase substantially. The names of its members feature on every rich list published.

Last week, we had a case of double standards when the Taoiseach informed the House that the €100 million write-down that formed part of the Siteserv sale was normal business practice. While it may be normal for businesses, it is not normal for people with mortgage debts to have their debts written down. Why are their debts not written down, especially as this issue has been ongoing for seven years? Members of this House have benefited from bank and debt write-downs, whereas ordinary people are not given a hearing and receive no quarter from the Government.

5 o’clock

Last week, we found out that the same banks will not pay any corporation tax in Ireland for years because they will write their tax off against the losses they made, the very losses for which the Irish people were forced to bail them out. Amazingly, even with the Labour Party in government, the Government has said the corporate tax rate is fixed and is never to be challenged. Ireland’s status as a tax haven will remain unchallenged but there is no choice on austerity which must continue. The Government defends the rights of multinational corporations to funnel their profits through this country to avoid paying tax. The most profitable company on the planet is Apple. We have seen how it has used this country since the 1980s as a tax haven. There was not one word in the spring statement about dealing with that.

As has been mentioned by the Opposition already, what is most galling about the spring statement is that there is nothing in it to deal with the ongoing housing crisis. There is nothing in the statement that will bring any comfort to people who are plaguing us in our clinics about the horrible housing situations they are facing. Yet, the likes of Denis O’Brien and other tax exiles in this country, who pretend they do not live here but we all know they do in reality, obviously have a huge influence over this Government and can have write-downs given to themselves, as well as getting huge contracts despite having been investigated by tribunals. It really is a justification for people to take action and not to pay the water charge bills.

There are also measures the Government could have announced in its spring statement but it did not. At the bottom of all this is the debt that has been put on to the shoulders of the majority. It is an odious private bank debt made into a public debt. There is no alternative but for this country to repudiate those debt payments of €8 billion this year. Can one imagine how €1 billion of that would build 10,000 houses? The full figure of €8 billion would solve the housing crisis at a swoop. By the way, 80,000 houses were routinely built annually during the Celtic tiger years.

The Government could have introduced an emergency millionaire tax on any earnings over €1 million - is it not enough that people would have €1 million to spend - which could have brought in over €3 billion in revenue. The Government could have announced its intention to introduce an increase in effective income tax on the top 10% of earners in the next budget. It could have introduced an effective corporation tax increase. If we even came to the EU-27 average, that would come to €5 billion. I do not expect the Labour Party or Fine Gael to announce this but it does show the potential wealth that exists in this country. A financial transactions tax of 0.01%, a tax for which even the European Commission has called, meaning it is not even a radical socialist measure, will bring in at least €500 million, more than the water charges will bring in this year. Lastly, the Government could have introduced a repudiation of interest on capital payments on the debt. That money could have been invested to create real jobs not JobBridge or menial cheap labour schemes that have become the hallmark of this Government in its attempts to decrease the unemployment figures.

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