Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the second budget produced by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil together. It should carry the signature of Deputy Micheál Martin alongside that of an Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and that of Deputy Michael McGrath alongside that of the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe. It is a budget for the status quo and for continued disadvantage and inequality. Of course it is not the first budget of this nature. The lives of ordinary citizens will not be improved in any substantial way as a result of the package which the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, unveiled yesterday.

Judging by the measures which the package contains, the Minister seems to live somewhere far removed from the Ireland of 2017. On planet Paschal there is not an unprecedented housing crisis and 3,000 children are not growing up without a home. On planet Paschal our health service is not crumbling and there are not nearly 700,000 people on hospital waiting lists. On planet Paschal families are not worried about the overwhelming cost of child care and citizens with disabilities have their full rights, including those under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

On a neighbouring planet, planet Leo, it is all about building a republic for opportunists. Incidentally, in another galaxy, on planet Micheál all the worst bits of the budget are Fine Gaels and all the least worst bits are Fianna Fáils.

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