Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to respond to budget 2022 and I branded it the "lousy fiver" budget because that is exactly what it is. It is a lousy €3 budget, a lousy €2 budget, a lousy €5 fuel allowance budget at a time social welfare recipients are feeling the pinch because of inflation, particularly energy price inflation. These are the people who have borne the brunt of the Covid pandemic and the budget was an opportunity for this Government to repay them by putting a few bob in their pockets.

I did not make any pre-budget submission due to a lack of resources but Age Action Ireland said that social welfare payments for older people should be increased by €15 per week because the purchasing power of their pensions has been reduced by €10 due to inflation. It advocated giving them an additional €5 and also called for a €15 increase in the fuel allowance. The Government has missed an opportunity. People are saying that the additional fiver will be gone in a second. As others have said, every cent of that money will go back into the economy. It always does but it could and should have been more.

This budget was also a lost opportunity vis-à-vis low-paid workers. The Government missed an opportunity to show respect to retail workers, cleaners and those in the arts and entertainment sectors who lost a lot during the pandemic. When reference is made to low-paid workers, people immediately think of cleaners and those in retail but 20% of transport and warehouse workers are also on low pay, as are 15% of healthcare workers and 13% of manufacturing workers. These figures come from a report by Mr. Michael Taft on low pay in Ireland. Again, this was an opportunity that the Government missed.

In terms of tax cuts, there was a €50 increase in the PAYE threshold, as well as an increase in tax credits and a raising of the USC band. Workers earning more than €33,000 will benefit to the tune of approximately €450 per year while low paid workers will only gain €150 per year or €2.21 per week. These are people who worked through the pandemic; they got on buses or walked to work and faced difficult situations in their workplaces on a daily basis. They will get an extra €2.21 per week, which is just lousy. Again, this was a lost opportunity for the Government to target money in respect of what has happened to people in their communities and their workplaces, as well as to determine what was needed to back up businesses and so on. The bulk of the money should have gone into that area.

Yesterday the Tánaiste said, in the context of the 30 cent increase in the minimum wage, that the minimum wage has increased by €1.85 or 17.6% since 2015, running well ahead of the CPI rate of inflation of 3.6%. It is derogatory to say something like that to workers who are dependent on the minimum wage. We know that the CPI figures can be distorting because they do not take housing into account but do take into account many unnecessary items. Calculations should be based on minimum essential budget standards because that is what people are feeling on the ground. It was very disingenuous of the Tánaiste to make those remarks.

Finally, there was no mention of funding for the drugs task forces in the budget. There was no increase in the allocation between 2014 and 2018. In fact, funding has been cut by 35%. Funding has not increased at all for those organisations dealing with the most vulnerable in terms of drugs and alcohol. The Government missed an opportunity to show respect to people in workplaces and communities and that has not gone unnoticed.

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