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

The myth promulgated before this budget was that it was somehow a give-away one but it is far from it. The people who have been hammered by the past eight years of austerity have gained little or nothing from today's budget. I refer to the low-paid, women and those who have lost their jobs. The Minister's booklet gave the example of someone on €20,000 who will gain €4 a week from the reduction in universal social charge while somebody on €70,000 will gain €17 a week. That is 2%, so that person will gain a higher percentage. That is without saying anything about people on the average industrial wage.

Fine Gael likes to boast that its mission is to make work pay. The Minister stated it is to entice foreign direct investment and to entice back emigrants, not for the well-being of workers themselves. He stated that the three key costs on work and income are tax, wages and child care. It is amazing that he left out one of the biggest costs in society, namely, rents and mortgages, to which I will return.

Let us consider wages. A 50 cent increase in the minimum wage is an absolute insult to people who work day and night, providing key services in the economy. It is not a living wage. The Government has done nothing on child care, apart from helping a small group of parents with children aged between three and five. It has done nothing for people with babies or children over five and a half. What is being provided is three hours a day and not a full service. The Government has not given any grant, subsidy or tax credit for child care, so let us put that one to bed.

The other major cost the Government has neglected is the crying need in this society right now for housing. What has emerged from this budget? The Labour Party apparently went into battle with Fine Gael and it seems that Fine Gael won. The Labour Party was not prepared, or was not able, to take on landlords and to take on Fine Gael and has emerged from the argument with no rent controls in this budget, which is a key cost facing people right now.

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Rents have risen, on average, in Dublin by €100 per month. They have risen a lot more than that in some areas. Somebody on €25,000 per annum will gain €17.50 a month from the budget. Can the Minister not see the way ordinary, low-paid workers have gained nothing from the budget? Rents are rising outside of Dublin also. Nothing has been done to stop the spiralling and rocketing of rents. There are no rent controls at all.

The other issue is the housing crisis. I am shocked. I have checked and rechecked the documents, as have others. It is difficult to grasp the idea that in the middle of the biggest housing emergency this country has ever seen the Minister would say he was increasing the budget by €69 million to secure accommodation for people. The money is not for the building of social or affordable housing. The capital allocation has not been increased. This is purely the current allocation for social housing. How amazing that NAMA has not been brought into play by the Government, given the misery people are suffering. All that has been said is that NAMA will build 20,000 homes in the next five years and 90% of them will be starter homes. They will not be affordable homes or for people who are on the social housing list. They will not benefit in any way those who have been homeless. It is incredible that the Government would kick people in the face in this way and not make a major announcement of public home building. The other joke is that €10 million is to be allocated for affordable housing. That is about 50 houses. People who are out working morning, noon and night, who earn too much to be on the social housing list, who are paying €1,700 in rent, can expect nothing from the budget. The major cost in their lives is completely and utterly unaffected.

The Government has not done anything to tackle the wealth of the 1%. That is what is needed to build the homes and provide the jobs people desperately need. The Government has not done anything to introduce a financial transactions tax.

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