Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----that this measure is an option under the European Commission’s energy toolbox and has been since March of this year. It is a measure that provides households with certainty and the support they so desperately need. That is precisely why other countries throughout Europe have implemented it – from Austria to France and from Poland to the Netherlands. It was the right choice and a better choice, but one this Government has failed to take, leaving those households vulnerable to these energy companies.

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting people hard, particularly working people. Their incomes were squeezed before this crisis with rents, childcare fees, back-to-school costs and price rises eating into more of their pay packets every year under this Government. They are working hard for themselves and their families but feel the State is not working for them. They need more money in their pockets just to stand still and get by. Tá an géarchéim costais maireachtála ag dul i bhfeidhm go dian ar oibrithe. Bhí a gcuid ioncaim faoi bhrú sular thit an ghéarchéim seo amach le cíos, táillí cúraim leanaí, costais a bhaineann leis an fhilleadh ar scoil agus arduithe ar phraghsanna ag tógáil níos mó dá gcuid pá gach bliain faoin Rialtas seo.

At times of inflation, a pay increase that fails to rise with the rate of inflation is a real-terms pay cut. That is precisely what this Government has handed out to our lowest-paid workers on the minimum wage. These are the workers who kept our economy and society functioning during the pandemic. I am talking of the cleaners, the workers on the shop floors and the many others who are currently on the minimum wage. Instead of getting a pay rise, the Government has handed them a pay cut, given inflation. Under the Government’s 80 cent increase to the minimum wage, these workers will be worse off next year than they were last year. A minimum wage increase of more than €1 per hour would have been needed just to protect the spending power of these workers, and to protect them from inflation and the impact of price rises. This is why Sinn Féin would have increased the minimum wage by €1.40 per hour, boosting the take-home pay of workers up to €2,150.

Working people who have spent nights wondering how they will make ends meet were hoping for a budget that paid attention to them, supported them and treated them fairly. The income tax package announced today did not do that and left many of them out in the cold. The income tax package announced today by the Minister for Finance will benefit somebody on €135,000 to the tune of €830, while three quarters of earners will actually only benefit by €190. What message does this send out to people in the squeezed middle, whether it is the staff nurse working in our hospitals at this point in time, or the teacher or somebody working in the private sector earning €35,000, that the person on €135,000 will get a tax break at least four times more than those other workers will get? It tells them that they are an afterthought. It means that their take-home pay will get them less next year than last year. This is an income tax package that gave these working people the cold shoulder.

Sinn Féin would have had different priorities. We made it clear that there were different choices and that we would have delivered a different tax package that was fair. That could have been done by cutting the USC, by ensuring that we put money into the pockets of middle-income and low-income earners, and we would have made sure that people earning more than €100,000 were not benefiting more than four times than those people in the squeezed middle were benefiting. This, along with our cost-of-living payments would have put up to €700 into the pockets of that nurse, that teacher or that factory floor worker earning €35,000. Ghearrfadh Sinn Féin an USC agus thabharfaimis íocaíochtaí costais maireachtála d'oibrithe ar mheánioncam agus ar ioncam íseal chun tacú leo. Chuirfeadh sé seo €700 i bpóca an altra foirne, an mhúinteora nó an oibrí atá ag saothrú €35,000 in aghaidh na bliana. It would be real USC support and real relief, but the Government took a different approach, which in my view is the wrong one.

The cost-of-living crisis is not new. Runaway rents have been a feature of the rental sector for many years, with renters being fleeced by landlords and pushed to breaking point by Government failure over the past decade. The average rent is now €2,800 more per year than when the Government took office. It is even worse in Dublin where rents are now €3,600 more than when the Government took office. No matter how you dress it up, and no matter how we dice and splice this, you cannot avoid the fact that the Government’s housing crisis is crushing the living standards of renters, cutting their disposable income and harming their ability to save for the future. While Sinn Féin has called for rents to be reduced and frozen, the Government allowed them to spiral out of control. For years, Sinn Féin has called for one month's rent to be put back into renters' pockets and for a ban on rent increases. Year after year the Government has voted against this, has refused to cut rents and has refused to support renters. What the Government announced today is a poor and pale imitation of the actions Sinn Féin has called for.

The Government announced a tax credit for renters worth €500.

In my country, Donegal, however, the average rent has increased by €1,400 in the past year alone. Not only does this tax credit fail to cover the cost of rent increases in the past year, the reality is that landlords will pocket this with further rent hikes in the years ahead. A tax credit for renters can work only when you ban rent increases. The Government has failed to do this. That is why Sinn Féin has called for one month's rent to be put back into renters' pockets and a ban on rent increases in order that the benefit will go to the renter and not to the landlord. The Minister knows this and so does the Taoiseach. How do I know that? Because in February the Minister stated that a measure such as this would "be a transfer of Exchequer funding directly to landlords" and would not reduce the "cost pressure on tenants". The Minister said it would not reduce the pressure on tenants and he was right because he had to ban rent increases also.

The Taoiseach doubled down on in respect of this matter during Leaders' Questions earlier this year. In response to Deputy McDonald's call for a renters' tax credit and a ban on rent increases, the Taoiseach stated that such a measure would only add to the price of rents and be inflationary and that there was no guarantee that it would not simply be taken by landlords. The Minister has announced a measure that he knows in his heart of hearts - and as he previously informed Deputies - will result in money being pocketed by landlords at a time when renters are so desperate for real relief that will make a real difference to them. What we needed to see today was a ban on rent increases and for rents to come down. Today, the Government has once again refused to give certainty to renters and to ban rent increases. Instead, what we have is a measure that the Government told us will push up rents and lead to money going into the pockets of landlords. The Minister stated that the type of tax credit that he announced earlier would not benefit low-income workers and students, tens of thousands of whom are struggling. It will not be lost on all the people who will not benefit from this measure that the Government has announced an increase in eligible expenditure of tax relief for landlords worth ten times the amount of the tax credit that it is trying to pretend that renters will benefit from.

A Sinn Féin Government would have done things differently. We would have given certainty and real relief to renters by putting one month’s rent, up to €1,500, back into their pockets and banning further rent increases to make sure that the runaway rents we have seen under this Government would come to an end.

A younger generation has been locked out of opportunity of home ownership. These people have been faced with crippling rents and unaffordable house prices. Under this Government, house prices have broken through the Celtic tiger peak, with the average house price across the State standing at more than €310,000. This means that someone would require an income of €80,000 just to qualify for a mortgage. The Government’s housing policy has failed, with rates of home ownership collapsing for younger generations while developers’ profits soar. Sinn Féin is the party of home ownership. This Government is the Government of speculators and developers. Despite all of the evidence, the budget is silent on the silent on the scandal of investment funds outbidding and out-pricing struggling homebuyers. There will be champagne corks flying tonight among institutional investors because the Government continues to roll out the red carpet for them. They pay no tax on their rental income and no capital gains tax on asset disposals because the Government is firmly wedded to a policy that allows them to push up house prices on ordinary families and to outbid those families in respect of desperately needed homes. That is what is happening. They are snapping up new builds and second-hand homes from under the noses of people who are so desperate to get homes. This is Government policy. It has gifted them a tax advantage. As stated, they pay no corporation tax and no capital gains tax on the disposal of assets. In addition, they are the subject of light-touch regulations that are easily sidestepped. Those working and saving to buy their first homes have the cards all stacked against them. The Minister is the guy who has stacked those cards against them.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael created the housing crisis, and their policies are making it worse. The delivery of social and affordable homes continues to fall short of demand as targets continue to be missed. Despite the unavoidable reality that renters and struggling homebuyers face every day, today’s budget shows no departure from the past. It is clear that the Government has locked itself and our people into the same failed housing strategy.

This budget needed to be ambitious. It needed to provide funding for 20,000 public homes. However, the combined increase announced today for real social and affordable homes is only €68 million. That is less than the €98 million in additional money that the Government plans to spend on long-term leasing for social housing, which is more expensive for the taxpayer and less secure for tenants.

Ending the scourge of vacant and derelict properties and putting them back into use, to rent and buy, is crucial to address the housing crisis. In that context, I welcome the fact that the Minister has belatedly made an announcement about the introduction of a vacant property tax. This is long overdue. It is something that Sinn Féin has been seeking for several years. However, it will only deliver and penalise vacancy and put properties back into use if it is punitive. While we welcome the tax, we want to see the detail on how it will be implemented.

I also welcome the defective concrete products levy. It is clear, however, that the Government has not provided enough to fund the scheme that will deliver for homeowners. An additional €6 million or so has been provided. The Minister should come to Donegal and listen to the householders. We talk about an energy crisis and people trying to heat their homes, but think of trying to heat your home when you can see the curtains flapping as the wind blows through them. What we needed was a proper package. Sinn Féin would have provided €140 million. The Government has fallen way short.

Inflation and rising prices impact everybody. As we know, however, they do not impact everybody equally. Those on lower and fixed incomes are hit hardest. One of the most shameful aspects of the Government's inaction over the past year was its refusal to support those on low incomes who had to make choices that no one should have to make. We have seen families join the queues for food banks to which they once made donations. Parents and pensioners have had to choose between turning the heating off or putting less food on the table. For the past year, the Government has allowed them to wither on the vine. It is clear that the Government does not get the enormous financial pressure that has been heaped on these individuals. The €12 increase in social welfare announced today will not commence until January and is far outstripped by the rate of inflation and price rises. That means that these households will have less to get by than they did last year. This is despite soaring energy bills and higher food prices. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the two Ministers have consciously decided to do this and that some of our most vulnerable citizens will be poorer next year than they were last year. For these households, this is not a caring budget; it is a careless budget that will push them into greater hardship, making it harder for them to meet their bills or put food on the table. Sinn Féin knows that it is not possible to protect everyone from every single price increase, but protecting the most vulnerable from poverty must be the first test of any real republic. This Government has failed that test.

While Sinn Féin welcomes today's announcement of supports for various social welfare recipients in the form of lump-sum payments, our favoured approach, as we outlined in our cost-of-living package for this year, was combined cash payments, weekly increases in social welfare rates effective from October and interventions to prevent electricity prices and rents from rising further. Our approach would have offered greater certainty and security to those who were most financially vulnerable, including pensioners, people with disabilities and carers who badly need that certainty. What is being done cannot dress up the fact that the Government has failed to protect fixed incomes against rising prices and inflation. It has left those vulnerable households more exposed and worse off. As a result of inflation, those individuals with fixed incomes will be over €800 worse off next year than they were last year. A Sinn Féin Government would have acted differently. We would have increased working-age social welfare rates and pension payments for those living alone by €17.50 and we would have increased disability related payments by €20. That is what was required to shield people from the cost-of-living crisis at a time when they need most help. That has not happened today. With the increases in social welfare and pension rates falling well below inflation, we again we see the wrong priorities being pursued and the wrong decisions being made. The impact will be felt in the pockets of our most vulnerable.

The Government has weakened the foundations of our health service. It is driven by a failure in planning and shortcuts in investment and unequal access to health services. The results are clear for everyone to see. Our health service is understaffed and under pressure. Staff are very close to being burned out. More than five years on from the Sláintecare report, the Government has yet to agree a public-only consultant contract to resolve long-standing disputes with staff, from junior doctors to medical scientists. Waiting lists continue to spiral out of control. The numbers speak for themselves. There are 31,000 on waiting lists this year. Some 900,000 are waiting for appointments, including 100,000 children.

What do we see from the Government's response? There is no additional funding to deliver more hospital beds. There is only €4 million for acute services and its only solution is to fund once-off private sector outsourcing.

Across primary care, youth mental services and disability services, 210,000 people are on waiting lists. There are 20,000 children with disabilities still waiting for initial contact with a disability network team never mind follow-up therapy and intervention. They are waiting for speech and language therapy, counselling and psychology supports. These are basic services they are entitled to and which are essential to give them a fair chance and an equal chance to their peers.

However, this budget is a complete failure for people with disabilities and their families. It falls short of what is needed by about 80%. Mental health is clearly not a priority for either Minister or the Government with only €14 million extra in new funding when at least €80 million was needed according to reports. Children with scoliosis and spina bifida have been let down time and again, while at the same time hearing from the Government that they are the priority. They and their parents have been let down by the inaction and broken promises of Government and that has happened again today.

This budget was an opportunity for the Government to build for the future. It was an opportunity to tackle future hospital waiting lists. It was an opportunity to recruit and retain the healthcare staff so badly needed to provide a safe health service, but the Government wasted that opportunity today. Today's budget announced that 340,000 people will get free GP-visit cards next April. These are big promises which are to be welcomed but without planning and delivery they will be broken promises. We have been here before and the Ministers know that. Three years ago, the Government legislated for free GP care for all children up to 12 but it did not deliver it. In last year's budget the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, announced free GP care would be given to six- and seven-year-olds. I believe the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, announced that in his speech last year. One year later and none of these children has received it. Today we have another big announcement, another big promise and a vague commitment to additional support for GPs. However, there has been no discussion with GPs and no priority for the provision of additional supports. The Government has lumped this package in with other measures, making it clear that there is no real plan to support the expansion of eligibility.

People do not need promises or sound bites, but delivery. They need a plan and need investment. The Government should have learned the lesson from the recent debacle on the school transport.

The energy price shock has led to high and unsustainable energy costs for many businesses and farms across the State. Businesses support jobs and employment. Farms are the bedrock of a rural community and our economy. Sinn Féin has proposed a scheme that would provide State support to cover a portion of these businesses' energy bills to protect their viability and the jobs that they support. I welcome the measures that have been announced today to provide support for businesses and farms. However, we must ensure that this support is targeted where it is needed. During the pandemic we saw how large businesses received taxpayers' money while paying dividends to shareholders. This cannot be allowed to happen again and we look forward to details of the scheme announced today.

Time is getting better of me so I will conclude. We know that workers and families are in the grip of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. They have seen prices rise beyond what their pay packets can bear. Many of them genuinely fear how they will get through the winter. Today the Government had an opportunity to give those families certainty, to give them support and to give them assurances that they would be able to manage. There are measures announced in today's budget that we in Sinn Féin welcome and indeed many measures that we have been calling on the Government to do for many years. I am afraid that the Government has missed this opportunity. It had the wrong priorities in a number of areas and made the wrong choices. The Government made a choice not to give households price certainty this winter by reducing electricity prices to their pre-crisis levels and keeping them at that point. It made a choice not to protect the most vulnerable from the impact of inflation, leaving them worse off next year than they were last year. It made a choice to forget the squeezed middle with its unfair income tax package.

These were the wrong choices. Before today, the people faced crises in housing and health, runaway rents and unaffordable house prices. More than 900,000 people are on hospital waiting lists. Our emergency departments are overflowing beyond capacity and our healthcare staff are facing burnout. Unfortunately, when we pare back all the numbers and all the big announcements that have been announced today, for many people these crises will persist this winter and next. Indeed, for many it will worsen. A Sinn Féin government would have different priorities and make better choices. The true test of this budget is whether the most vulnerable households will be better-off or worse-off this winter compared with next year. We would have planned for the future, delivered improvements in health services and tackled the housing crisis. Unfortunately for far too many this budget has failed that test.

See this speech in context