Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I think everyone across the country will welcome the Tánaiste's commitment that in the budget in just five days' time, we will see from Government a response of scale, and in the Tánaiste's words, "a multibillion euro package". However, what we need to see is also an ambition of scale and a real ambition to address these crises that are confronting so many households and a real ambition to take the necessary radical measures that will be required to sustain families, households and businesses through a bleak winter. They are the sort of measures that we saw turned around swiftly by Government in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. They are the sort of measures we are going to be calling for in our budget proposals this afternoon in order to build an Ireland that works for all. Currently, there is a sense of a two-tier Ireland. There is a sense that while some people are doing well, for many and increasing numbers of households there is simply this paradox of plenty, where Exchequer figures are positive but they are not feeling it in their own pockets. What they are feeling is deeply pinched and squeezed by rising costs. That is why we are focusing on social wage elements and the need to ensure that we are bringing down costs for families and households. We are really hopeful that radical measures will be taken in this budget by the Government.

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