Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned about the approach that has been taken by the Government this week. It diverts from the principles that were established by the Labour Party number of years ago, namely, that we should start by including all young people in this scheme. That is the direction of travel that we ought to pursue. We have question marks around how decisions will be made and how the GP schemes will be rolled out from here on in.

There is nobody more at risk of energy poverty than those who depend on their social welfare payments and those who work but who are on low or modest incomes. Today, the Government will present the social welfare package as one of the largest outside of the pandemic budgets. It would be right to do that, because in the round it absolutely is. That is objectively true. However, a look under the bonnet is a revealing of this point. Fr. Sean Healy said in Saturday's edition of The Irish Times that the budget "will turn on whether the increase in basic welfare rates is €20 or not”. Well, it is not, and this is to the Government’s shame. That is the real story of this budget. When we strip away all of the giddiness and excitement about the €4.1 billion in temporary measures and once-off measures, that is the real story of this budget. I would be really surprised if Fianna Fáil backbenchers in particular give this their backing. Is it any wonder that Fianna Fáil has an identity crisis? They will not even recognise themselves if they left a €12 below-inflation increase go through. There should not be any excuses whatsoever for less than a €20 increase of cover social welfare rates. I say that to Sinn Féin, too. Anything less is a real cut to incomes and to living standards and that is an undeniable fact. We know those who the worst-off are, yet we turn our backs on them and we turn our backs on all the expert advice. That, in my view, is shameful. The Government will of course point increases in the living alone allowance and to some adjustments to the working family payment, to the qualified child payments and other supports. The Government claims in the round that it is targeting money at those who need it most but it will not be able to pull the wool over the eyes of a pensioner who knows but last year’s €5 is really only worth about €4.60 when we take inflation into account. In fact, analysis by experts, such as those in Age Action, shows that spending power is likely to be down over €20 a week this year. This makes the €12 that the Government put into pensions and social welfare payments especially miserable. Fianna Fáil especially should let that sink in.That it is also, as a result, taking nearly €2 billion out of the economy as a consequence at this uncertain time is really hare-brained and quite illiterate frankly.

We note the decision to change personal income tax bands and credits as part of the wider indexation plan and we understand why that was done. That said, I have given my critique of that earlier on and it is deeply inequitable. We will be making our concerns more widely known about that and making some proposals in the context of the Finance Bill about how that can be made more equitable by, for example, reducing credits for those who are on €100,000 or more.

We need a wider conversation on tax in this country. It is a conversation that the Tánaiste, of course has decided he wants to close down. As he does not like the answer the Commission on Taxation and Welfare gave him, he has gone and taken his ball home. Not only has he taking his ball home with him but he has burst it as well. Budget 2023 has left the Government little space to fund new measures across health, education and areas requiring additional State investment. Close to half of the €6.7 billion available is to meet stand-still demands. In reality, as prices rise, spending that has been earmarked for public services will deliver less and less regardless of spin that will be put out by the Government today. What we will see next year because of a conservative framework adopted by this Government is in reality a diminution of already stretched public services. This is why we have argued that almost €3 billion could be raised from additional taxes on non-productive assets and wealth, just like the direction of travel in the Commission on Taxation and Welfare's analysis and recommendations, which were so petulantly trashed by the leader of Fine Gael and his backbenchers as soon as the report was printed.

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