Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This budget is politically clever, but it is socially and economically foolish. It is a budget that should look to the next decade and the next generation but instead it looks to the next election. It is a triumph of incrementalism and it lacks what former US President George Bush Snr. once called "the vision thing". Where are we right now? The economy is growing, rents are soaring, people cannot afford to buy their own homes, the cost of living is rising and unexpected Exchequer revenues are coming in. This is exactly the situation Ireland was in during the bubble. The response then, from Fianna Fáil, was to cut taxes and underinvest in social infrastructure. That is exactly what we are seeing here, with the greatest benefits of the tax cuts going to the highest earning households. What is the result of this budget going to be? The cost of living will continue to rise. The tax base will be less stable. Investment in infrastructure and in public services and support for enterprise will be insufficient. Job creation will not be what it could have been with a more visionary and job-friendly budget. Inequality will continue, with less opportunity available to future generations.

There was a lot of grand talk from the two Ministers earlier on but let us take a look at the numbers, because they tell a very different story. This budget allocates €18 million to health care. That is one tenth of 1% of the health care budget. This budget allocates €24 million to education. That is one third of 1% of the education budget. To someone earning €175,000, this budget gives back €1,800, which is great for them but does not create jobs. What that does is increase the wealth of BMW shareholders. What creates jobs is investing in education and investing in infrastructure. That is what this budget should have done.

We do not know if this is a regressive budget because the Government, for four years now, has refused to provide Dáil Éireann, the body responsible for passing the budget, with incremental and distributional analysis of what is in it. We will find out afterwards. However, we do know from the ESRI that all four of the Government's budgets so far have been regressive and I would be willing to make a bet with any Government Deputy right now, before we see any analysis, that this budget will increase the gap between those who have the most and those who have the least.

What would the Social Democrats have done differently? Yesterday we set out a budget not for the next election but for the next generation. We would set Ireland on a different path from what we see today. We would see a stable revenue base, high quality public services, proper support for enterprise and local businesses, a housing approach that is stable and affordable and a republic in which every child truly has the opportunity to reach his or her potential. The Social Democrats budget proposal is tax neutral. We would maintain the existing tax base and not erode it in line with advice from a wide range of economists and institutions. We would improve the tax base. We would raise revenue through measures such as excise and pension relief and we would reduce the cost of living via progressive taxation measures, such as lower USC for lower and middle income earners, an end to the water charge and reduced local property tax for mortgage holders. We would support enterprise through a far greater tax credit for the self-employed than the Minister introduced today.

The Social Democrats have laid out a budget that has five times the additional capital investment the Government has proposed. We would invest €300 million in housing. We would invest €75 million in building out the primary-care infrastructure. We would target €1.1 billion at core sectors. In health care, for example, we would provide funding for 900 additional primary care staff, €40 million to alleviate the accident and emergency crisis next year and €35 million for mental health. In total we would provide €170 million for health care versus the Government's €18 million. We would provide ten times more money for health care than the Government is providing next year.

In education we would provide €200 million versus the Government's €24 million, again nine or ten times more. The Government had a choice: to stabilise the tax base and to invest in the future. What we have seen today is very disappointing. It is Fianna Fáil in the bubble and we are seeing it again now.

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