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

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that what we were experiencing was the opposite of austerity. It is a bit hard to accept. There are many similarities now to what was done in 2008 when the Government responded to the crash by bailing out the banks and making ordinary workers foot the bill through cuts to public services and taxes such as this. The result was a lost decade, untold suffering for many and massive profiteering by a tiny few. Now we have the funnelling of huge amounts of money to big business with no strings attached and at the same time the hiking up of property tax for workers, cutting back on pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, supports for those who have lost their jobs, and letting landlords impose double rent hikes to drive up their profits.

We must not go back to austerity. We cannot go back to bailing out the rich. Instead, it is time that we imposed a Covid wealth tax on those who have profited from the crisis, such as Mr. Denis O'Brien whose wealth increased by €4 million every day in the pandemic. Tax the billionaires, tax the big businesses and invest in an eco-socialist green new deal.

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