Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's failure to deal with any of these emergencies is not his fault. He cannot be blamed because he is obviously not aware of the housing emergency, the crisis in health care, the real cost of living difficulties facing families or the lack of disability rights. How else could one explain a budget which does nothing to address, reverse or tackle these never-ending crises? How could anyone explain a budget which will not even deliver one additional social housing unit beyond the target set by Deputy Simon Coveney in 2016. Even worse, there is no allocation of funding or laying out of targets for genuinely affordable housing. The investment in health will barely help hospitals to survive, never mind improve.

Some people may see this as a result of ignorance and others will say that the Government does not understand the scale of the problems. Of course, there is another explanation. It is that this Government does not believe in equality and that it does not govern in the interests of struggling families, the poor or those who rely on State-led services to get by. In the part of Ireland shaped by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, when one falls behind, one is left behind. If one is struggling, homeless, sick, poor, has a disability or is unemployed or badly paid then one should not look to the Government for real answers or solutions. The message from the Minister and the Taoiseach in this republic of opportunity is "you are on your own". This budget is firmly with Deputy Leo Varadkar's vision of a mé féin society.

Last week the Taoiseach declared that no one here has a monopoly on compassion. Of course he was correct but that matter should not be judged on the eloquence with which we express our compassion or on the rhetoric we espouse. It should be judged on the action taken to match the fine words. A compassionate government would deliver a compassionate budget and budget 2018 is far from compassionate. It is a betrayal of all those whose daily lives are impacted by the nigh permanent crises which are strangling essential services.

The worst is that the Government could have made better choices. It has a choice but the narrow ideological position which Fine Gael has taken up means that it cannot even consider an alternative. There are alternatives. Sinn Féin produced a fully-costed alternative budget last week. I sent it to the Taoiseach. It is a citizen's budget because we believe that citizens have a right to a home and to access to timely, quality health care. We believe in a public health care service based on need. We believe in providing affordable housing for all. We believe that these solutions must be funded by progressive taxation. Child care, like health care and housing, should be a right for all citizens.

It should not just be a privilege for the well-off. That should be the starting point. As the Taoiseach said in his little parable about someone seeking direction, it depends on where one starts. It depends on the principle, the core values and the objective. For us, it is all about equality. It is all about the rights of citizens and a rights-based society. On this basis, we said there should be no room for tax cuts in this budget. We said all available resources should be directed towards rebuilding vital public services. We outlined a package that would make a big difference in the lives of those who currently cannot make ends meet. It includes the delivery of 10,000 social and affordable homes, serious investment to tackle the crises in the health and mental health services, halving the cost of child care, cutting students' fees by €500, increasing jobseeker's benefit for younger people and providing additional services for citizens with disabilities. We also proposed scrapping the property tax. We believe those on higher incomes should be asked to contribute extra to fund decent health services and decent public services. We do not shy away from the reality that this State needs a more progressive taxation system. We do not talk about creating quality public services one day and promise tax cuts the next. We cannot have it both ways. Our solidarity levy at 7% on the portion of incomes over €100,000 would affect only 3% of workers but the revenue generated would benefit the other 97%. Our proposals are about achieving economic equality and sustainable prosperity for everyone.

However, the Government decided to ignore these suggestions and instead implemented measures that will disproportionately benefit the better-off in society. Those struggling to get by, those living with disabilities, the poor, the vulnerable - what do they get? Crumbs - that is what they got. The concept of quality public services - a responsive system of social protections funded through progressive taxation - is a proposition the Government refuses to grasp. It is, after all, refusing to claim the €13 billion in unpaid taxes from Apple which is owed to the Irish people. It does this while standing over legislation that allows AIB to go without paying any tax on its profits for at least the next 20 years.

The Government has proven itself capable of creativity and generosity when acting in the best interests of the wealthy, corporations and banks, but where are its imaginative solutions for ordinary citizens? Where is the Government's deal for those who cannot make ends meet? Do the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael know what it is like not to know how to make ends meet? Do they not meet constituents every day who do not know where they are going to get the money to put food on the table this evening or tomorrow, or to get their kids to school? It seems that the only time conventions can be set aside is when it is done to the benefit of the rich and the powerful. The energies of the Government are channelled in the wrong direction. In the case of Apple, it protected the profits of a huge multinational company, defended again by Fianna Fáil. Where is the protection for those living in emergency accommodation, for citizens with disabilities and their carers, for those on hospital waiting lists or those who are forced onto the breadline by exorbitant rent and child care costs?

I was very taken by a little slot on "RTÉ News" outside the GPO the other evening. Some people were voluntarily giving homeless people haircuts while others were providing denture repairs and free dentures, out in the open, as well as providing food. That is the real Ireland that does not find any echo in this budget. Instead of solutions, those who are crippled by the cost of living crisis get lazy lipservice, expressions of empathy and self-absorbed sound bites. The nature of the budget reflects the mindset at the heart of the Government. Citizens' needs and rights are not seen as entitlements to be upheld and advanced but as claims. In the eyes of the Government, people do not have rights; they have claims to rights which can be undermined, ignored and set aside.

Listening to Teachta Micheál Martin a few minutes ago, I felt a bit sorry for the Taoiseach. However, I have to say that it is no surprise that this budget comes from a former Minister with responsibility for social protection who led a campaign to demonise those who avail of social welfare supports when they fall on tough times. According to this mantra, it is the poor, the unemployed, the single-parent families who are taking the State for a ride, not the greedy bankers and corporations. That is the type of ideology that has shaped this budget.

Perhaps the most farcical feature of the entire pantomime of this last period of discussions is the position of the Government's B team, Fianna Fáil. It is beyond all credibility that Deputy Micheál Martin and his spokespersons continue with the pretence of being an Opposition party. That is plainly nonsense. While Fianna Fáil, the abstentionist party, may not vote for this budget, the truth is that it is its co-author and the guarantor of its passage. In fairness, the Government gives Fianna Fáil full credit for this. The Minister and Taoiseach rightly commended it. Fianna Fáil's approach to the budget is simply an extension of the sleekit instinct that brought about its U-turns on water charges, rent certainty, bin charges and the banded hours contracts, and that causes us to see an untruthful narrative that underpins Teachta Martin's observations about the North repeated cynically here today.

This is a budget grounded in the core values of the political establishment. For hundreds of thousands of citizens, life is dominated by worries about money, getting or keeping a roof over their heads, paying hospital bills and meeting school costs. The high cost of living combined with inadequate, underfunded public services means that many families, if they are lucky to have work, work long hours and still cannot make ends meet. That is not an accident. It is a direct result of Government policy. Once again, a budget has been produced that does very little to change this.

Those of us in Sinn Féin want to build a society and a recovery in which no community or citizen will be left behind. We want to see the development of fair and more equal processes that are rooted in the reunification of our country. We watch and are part of the effort to stunt the worst effects of Brexit and the economic, political and social challenges are real and immediate. The Government is setting up a €300 million loan scheme at competitive rates to help small businesses deal with the fallout of Brexit. That is not good enough for those businesses that could go down as a result of what is happening. We think that the budget fails in vision. It could have at least started the process of turning the tide in the housing and health crises. Instead, it will only compound these catastrophes. Sadly, as was also the case 12 months ago, this budget meets the electoral aims of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and very little else. It is a do-little budget from a do-little Government, supported by its do-little partners.

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