Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Let us get real about what the budget represented. The Government likes to present itself as a non-ideological Government but is the truth not that the Minister's budget is highly ideological? It is a highly ideological, right wing, neo-liberal budget which is about shrinking the State, whereby Ireland now has the lowest public spending to GDP ratio in the entire EU at 25.76%. It is about tackling crises, not through direct State investment, but through funnelling money to private individuals, who are landlords in the case of the housing crisis. That ideological drive to the budget comes at a serious cost, including increasing inequality, deepening crises in our public services, the horrendous figures on child poverty outlined in the SJI report and maintaining a cohort of workers on low pay and, as such, a low-paid economy.

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