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

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 89, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following:"67. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann an analysis of the tax changes in this Act, and the total of tax changes and spending adjustments of Budget 2016, setting out the continuing impact on people based on their gender, income, age, marital and disability status.".

This is about equality budgeting, and we have made this proposal every year that the Government has been in office. We have also produced legislation on equality-proofing and this amendment seeks to provide for equality-proofing of Government budgets and public bodies through impact assessments. More broadly, I hope this would ensure that both the Government and public bodies, in exercising their functions, do so in a way that would reduce inequalities of outcomes resulting from social economic disadvantage. The process would involve additional sectors of society being recognised that require enhanced protection from the State with respect to policy and spending decisions, with the effects of the budget being demonstrated for each of those sections.

The Minister spoke about making tough decisions yesterday and we know times have been hard in Ireland. What some of us have failed to recognise is just how difficult times have been for some of the poorest and most vulnerable sections of our society. Not everybody felt the pain in equal measure. For the fifth year in a row we have been presented with a regressive budget and Finance Bill after the budget. As I have stated, the Bill rewards the top 14% of taxpayers, 27,996 of whom earn above €200,000. They were all rewarded with at least €902 each, at a cost of almost €190 million to the State. That is a choice made by the Minister, his Cabinet and the parties in the Government with regard to the priorities of the budget. They have favoured the wealthy five times in a row over those who are least well off. The Minister has said he made the hard choices.

Social Justice Ireland claims that budget 2016 widened the gap between the rich and poor by €506 per year. The process measured the gap between the disposable income of a single unemployed and a single person on €50,000 per annum. If we compared the circumstances of the single unemployed person with individuals on higher salaries, the rich-poor gap would widen even more.

Equality budgeting has been accepted internationally as a means to deal effectively with inequality and poverty or to point out where budgets go in such directions. We can consider worldwide examples, with over 60 countries which have adopted or are working towards equality budgeting. These include Britain, Canada and many others. Often, in order to create true equality we must put the mechanisms in place to ensure this happens. This is one of those times. By using equality budgeting, we would ensure that equality is placed well and truly at the centre of any decisions concerning public expenditure and income. This amendment is about asking the Fine Gael and Labour parties if they support equality. That is the proposal I am putting to the floor today, and I will push it to a vote if the Minister does not accept the amendment. It would follow the 60 other countries that have accepted or are working towards equality budgeting.

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