Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Budget Statement 2022

 

2:25 pm

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This budget is a reflection on the Government that delivered it - out of touch, out of ideas and out of time. Never has so much been spent to achieve so little. There are no answers, no urgency and no leadership. Rents are out of control and the Government has done nothing. Some 1 million people are on waiting lists and there is no real step change. Energy prices are spiralling and the Government's plan is to increase them further with carbon taxes.

Budget 2022 should have responded to the major challenges we face as a society - challenges in housing, healthcare and the cost of living crisis.

It should have responded to the crisis in housing. It should never be normal or tolerated that average rents in this State are now €1,350, with the average rent in Dublin city €1,800 per month. It should never be accepted or normalised that students need to couch-surf or defer entry to college. They are queuing up for food banks in Cork, for God's sake. All of this is down to the crisis in accommodation and the sky-high rents they are faced with. It should have responded to the challenges facing patients and the staff who work in our health service, with more than 900,000 people on waiting lists, including nearly 100,000 children. It should have responded appropriately to the cost-of-living crisis, with parents facing childcare fees that amount to second mortgages and households facing rising energy bills.

Budget 2022 should have been a budget with vision, a budget that was targeted, a budget for change. We should have heard a Minister stand up today and say to renters, couples setting out to purchase their first home, parents struggling with the cost of childcare and families struggling with the cost of energy prices, "We hear you and we are responding back." However, that is not what we heard today and instead we heard more of the same. It needed to be a budget for change. It reflects a government that is out of touch and out of ideas. I will shortly evaluate some of the specific measures in the budget, but first I want to set out what could have been done, what should have been done and what would be done if Sinn Féin were in government.

Bhí gá le buiséad 2022 freagra a thabhairt ar na príomhdhúshláin atá romhainn mar shochaí, na dúshláin tithíochta agus sláinte agus an costas maireachtála atá ag ardú. Bhí gá leis an Rialtas seo freagra a thabhairt ar na dúshláin atá roimh theaghlaigh agus oibrithe. Bhí gá le freagra a thabhairt ar an ghéarchéim tithíochta agus ar an dúshlán atá roimh othair atá ag brath ar an fhoireann a oibríonn sa chóras sláinte. Bhí gá le freagra a thabhairt ar an chostas maireachtála atá ag ardú arís agus arís. Bhí gá le buiséad 2022 a bheith mar bhuiséad le tuiscint agus mar bhuiséad ar son an athraithe. Bheadh an cíosaí, an chlann atá ag iarraidh an chéad teach a cheannach, an tuismitheoir atá ag streachailt le costais arda chúram leanaí nó an teaghlach atá ag streachailt le praghsanna fuinnimh atá ag ardú in ann a bheith muiníneach gur aithin buiséad mar seo an dúshlán atá rompu agus gur fhreagair sé an fhadhb seo chun a saol agus saol a leanaí a fheabhsú. Bhí gá le buiséad ar son an athraithe. Tá easpa uaillmhéine leis an bhuiséad. Theip air dul i ngleic le scála an dúshláin atá romhainn. Is Rialtas é seo atá gan chiall agus gan smaointe a bhfuil a chuid ama istigh.

This budget presents an opportunity not just to look forward to the year ahead, but also to look back at the year that has been. I acknowledge the hardship that so many have felt over the past year and a half, whether as a result of bereavement, isolation or job loss. In particular, I pay tribute to our healthcare professionals, our carers and our essential workers without whom the country could not have come through this pandemic. I also recognise the role and efforts of our public service workers who through the introduction of measures, such as rolling out the PUP and the wage subsidy schemes, demonstrated that at times this State can innovate and respond back the needs of our citizens. We can learn from this experience in the knowledge that when great reforms and innovations are required, the State can deliver. It is a warning for the cynics who tell us that nothing can change. They can change and for the better.

We face many challenges as a society, but we also face opportunities. Noise and distraction from the British Government should not deter us from finding practical solutions to ensure that the protocol can work effectively and smoothly. I welcome allocations in the Brexit Adjustment Reserve that will help mitigate the impact of Brexit. We should build on the growth of North-South trade to develop our all-Ireland economy and benefit all the people and regions, a crucial task as we begin the great project of national unity and reconciliation.

With 136 countries and jurisdictions now signing up to the OECD agreement, we face great changes on the international tax landscape to ensure that multinationals pay their fair share in a globalised and digital age. Under this agreement, our economy can remain competitive, but only if we invest in those areas that are just as crucial for inward investment and job creation as our tax code is such as housing, childcare, infrastructure, research, education and skills. We face the great challenges of climate change, which also brings opportunities to create new and well-paying jobs while improving the quality of life for all our people. We can meet all these challenges, but it will require ambition and will require making the right choices.

The pandemic exposed weaknesses in our society, in our public services and in our economy. During the general election campaign in 2020, people voted for change. That desire for change was only strengthened during the pandemic. It is through budgets that governments can pave the way for change or consolidate the status quo. That is the measure against which we will assess this budget.

For some time, workers and families have been dealing with the rising cost of living, with unaffordable childcare costs, rip-off rents or mortgage repayments, and the cost of basic goods and services remaining stubbornly high. The cost-of-living squeeze is set to continue with a further surge in gas and electricity prices expected in the weeks and months ahead. It is now expected that the average household will see energy bills increase by €400 or €500 over the next 12 months. We know this will hit the poorer households hardest. Given this prospect, what does the Government do? It has decided in its wisdom to increase energy prices further. Anybody will say that is simply wrong. It is wrong for the Government to plough ahead with another increase in carbon taxes as people are seeing increases in energy and fuel prices. These increases will put additional financial pressure on households already struggling with utility and home heating bills.

Let me say this clearly. An increase in carbon taxes will not provide a single alternative fuel source or means of travel for already hard-pressed households. It is a con job. Over the past 12 months, the Government has increased these costs twice. According to the Central Statistics Office, home heating oil increased by 40% in the past year. According to an AA survey price, petrol and diesel increased by 25% last year. Over the 12-month period, the Government has decided in its wisdom to increase the cost of filling an oil tank by €40. Every time we fill a car petrol or diesel tank, it is another €3 and every time we buy a bag of coal, it is another €2. It is a con job. It is about penalising, not incentivising. Sinn Féin would not increase the carbon tax at a time when workers and families face an income squeeze and energy price hikes in the time ahead.

The Government claims to have responded to the rising energy prices by increasing the rate of fuel allowance by expanding the threshold. Of course, it is not telling the full story. In reality, only a small number of people get the fuel allowance. The Government has allocated just €3.4 million in the budget to expand eligibility which is not enough. In our alternative budget, we have shown how we would have allocated €30 million, nearly ten times that amount. The Government's measures are a poor compensation for its own carbon tax increases, not the wider increase in energy prices.

As I have said, it is a con job. The Minister is taking with one hand and giving with the other. As I said in the House last year, increasing this tax will simply make families poorer and increase the cost for people in rural communities to get around. It is not about dealing with the issues of climate change, which are real and need to be tackled in head on.

A Sinn Féin government would also have established a utility debt fund to help many families who are locked out of the fuel allowance and are also struggling with rising utility costs. Crucially, what we would have done, and what the Government should have done, was to increase core social welfare rates by €10, but unfortunately once again it has not adopted these proposals.

As a result of the pandemic and public health restrictions, tens of thousands of people became unemployed overnight and saw their incomes plummet. Immediately the PUP was introduced at a rate of €350 per week. This alone showed us that the basic rate of €203 was not enough to get by for the many people who rely on the social protection system. Even before the pandemic, energy and child poverty were among the greatest challenges we faced as a society.

A recent report by Social Justice Ireland found that 190,000 children currently experience poverty, with 630,000 of our citizens living below the poverty line. We must change that. Nevertheless, we tolerate a social protection system where each and every payment is below the level of the poverty line. The budget announced by our Ministers will continue that pattern.

Sinn Féin has long called for an end to the political football surrounding social welfare rates during the budget season by bringing forward social welfare rates that are above the poverty line and come to the minimum essential standard of living. This budget could and should have started that work. A Sinn Féin Government would have increased working-age payments by €10 a week as a first step in the path reform and to revitalise our social safety net for workers and families. The Government, we regret, has taken a very different approach.

It is important to put all this in context, given that core social welfare rates have seen no increase since March 2019, despite the rise in the cost of living and recent energy hikes. Instead, the Government has increased core social welfare rates by a fiver, an increase that does not even keep up with the 3% rise in prices over the past 12 months. Earlier this year we had a report from the European Disability Forum indicating that 38% of people with a disability in this State are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. We must protect and support our citizens with disabilities and ensure they do not only get by but that they thrive. Sinn Féin would have furthered that objective by increasing the disability allowance and the blind pension by €10. Again, I regret the Government did not follow our lead and implement that proposal.

We welcome the €5 increase in the State pension, which Sinn Féin has called for. This Government has committed to increasing the pension age, forcing those who have worked all their lives to work longer into the future. There is no measure in the budget to restrict the generous tax reliefs that exist for gold-plated pensions. Let me be clear and I am putting the Minister on notice in this respect. Sinn Féin will oppose tooth and nail any attempt by the Government to increase the State pension age and we will defend workers' rights to retire at 65 with access to a pension.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.