Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no progress to be found in the budget measures for social and affordable housing. There is no increase in capital spending, no increase to the paltry targets the Government has missed time and again, and no credible action plan to stem record homelessness. In this budget the Government blatantly ignores the lived experiences of a generation locked out of affordable housing as the Government desperately attempts to dress up failure as delivery. People caught up in the housing crisis are not fooled. They see this budget for what it is, which is a blueprint for the deepening of their housing nightmare. House prices will continue to rise, exploitative rents will still go up and the number of people in housing need, including homelessness, will continue to grow. We urgently need a plan to reverse decades of bad housing policy, a plan to deliver 20,000 public homes per annum, a plan to ban rent increases and to put a month's rent back into renters' pockets by means of a refundable tax credit and a credible emergency response to homelessness.

That is what a Sinn Féin government would deliver. A Sinn Féin government would house our people.

The soaring cost of living has pushed workers and families to the brink. At the heart of this crisis is a conveyor belt of hikes in energy bills that just keep coming. The Taoiseach told hard-pressed households to wait until the budget in September for help from the Government. Now, here we are, and families do not just need help, they need the right help.

Sinn Féin called on the Government to cut electricity bills back to pre-crisis levels and to cap them at that level until the end of February. This would give two million households the certainty they need. It would help them to make it through the winter and protect them from further hikes. Instead, the Government has chosen to give energy credits, and households will only see €200 this side of Christmas. Just like its rent credit, these credits risk being swallowed up by further increases. That is what happened back in the spring, but the Government has chosen not to learn its lesson from that. Once again, it has failed to protect households from the barrage of hikes that are to come. People will pay a heavy price and many more families will be pushed into fuel poverty.

In the areas of personal taxation and social protection, the budget fails the fairness test. For all the Taoiseach had to say about pensioners, the €12 increase in welfare payments and the State pension are inadequate. Everyone on the front line has told him so. The increase will be cancelled out by runaway inflation and recipients will actually be worse off than last year. In real terms this is a welfare cut and people will be poorer and more at risk than they were before. That is why in the Sinn Féin budget we provided for an increase of €17.50 in working age welfare payments and a €15 increase in the State pension. That is what this Government should have done.

Workers are experiencing the biggest squeeze on their incomes in 40 years. They needed breathing room, and that means tax relief, a cut in personal tax, and we are agreed on that. However, it is incredible that at a time when so much has been said about the squeezed middle that 1.8 million workers will not get one cent from the Government’s main tax proposal. It has spent more than €1 billion on tax measures which will give someone on €130,000 an extra €830 while someone on €35,000 will get only €190. How can anyone call that fair? A better, fairer approach would have been to slash the USC and make cost-of-living payments to middle and low-income workers, putting €700 in the pockets of teachers, private sector workers on €35,000, and those nurses - young nurses - many of whom we are losing from this country as they seek a better chance abroad. That is what Sinn Féin would have done, and it is what the Government should have done yesterday.

The very best idea for the future of healthcare in Ireland is a single-tier, all-Ireland national health service. We needed a plan for that transformation. This budget, however, delivers more of the same. The expansion of the GP card scheme is one headline grabber, but everyone on the front line is already saying that the lack of GPs means the primary care system will now come under even more pressure. Introducing this measure without investing to increase GP capacity is a recipe for failure. We know that because it happened before. This cannot be another broken promise. We need to see delivery. Nearly one million people are on hospital waiting lists. The healthcare crisis presided over by Government has touched every family. Everybody knows someone who spent too long on a waiting list for treatment, too long on a hospital trolley and too long locked out of care, yet the investment the Government has provided does not meet the scale of the challenge. There were 508 people on trolleys yesterday, yet the Government is not providing one additional acute bed in its budget. We are still waiting for the delivery of 300 beds that were promised two years ago. How on earth are we ever going to ramp up to the capacity needed in our health service? It is another year, another budget, and another failure to tackle waiting lists or the crisis in emergency departments.

The truth is this budget cements the unequal, unfair two-tier health system. A Sinn Féin government would bring that inequality to an end. Our budget provided for 500 additional acute beds and a workforce planning strategy to retain, recruit, and train the healthcare workers to the levels needed. We would have delivered a budget to begin the transformation of public healthcare and build a health service that works for everyone.

It is a very sad truth that citizens with disabilities and those with mental health challenges are so often forgotten by the Government. Those citizens, their families and those who work in the sectors that support them have been crying out for help. The measures announced in yesterday’s budget fall far short of what is needed, with only €29 million in additional money for disability and only €14 million in additional money for mental health. Shame on the Government. It is a drop in the ocean. It means the disability and mental health sectors will remain chronically underfunded. That is the reality. Again, the Government has failed to provide the investment needed to ensure these citizens can access the supports they need and live full, inclusive lives as equal citizens.

In the coming decade, Ireland has two unique opportunities to drive our progress and prosperity. The first is the reunification of our country. The second is the securing of energy independence by fostering renewables, particularly wind energy. These opportunities should be seized with enthusiasm, energy, and determination, yet in both areas the Government’s budget demonstrates a breathtaking lack of an ambition. The momentum behind Irish unity is growing. Generational change is under way in Ireland and it is unstoppable. It is vital we plan for the future of our country in an inclusive and positive way. It is incredible there is no provision within this budget and no political will from the Government for the establishment of a citizens’ assembly on Irish unity. It is urgent and necessary that the Government shows leadership by establishing such a forum. This is the most important conversation of our generation. Any decent and responsible government would be leading on that.

The energy crisis we face today underscores the importance of securing a sustainable and affordable supply of energy. Through our abundant renewable resources, the development of our offshore capacity and green hydrogen production, Ireland has the potential to become an international hub for clean, renewable, energy and can help drive the decarbonisation of European economies. If we get this right, we can achieve energy independence for Ireland. We can transform not just energy supply and security but our whole economic model and meet the goal of a just transition to a green, clean, future. When we enjoy such natural advantages, when we have a sector ready to deliver, it is incredible this budget does so little to reduce the barriers to realise that potential and develop our wind infrastructure and green hydrogen capacity.

Budget 2023 is defined by its failure to deal with these issues which dominate the lives of ordinary people and have done for well over a decade. Government is no doubt splashing the cash but nothing is really going to change. It fails at a time when Government has the financial resources to make a real difference. The budget will not make a dent in the housing disaster. It will not even scratch the surface of what is needed to transform our health services. The cost-of-living package is big on numbers but is delivered in a way that ensures any benefit to households will be wiped out by future price hikes and inflation.

The Government's package does not give households the certainty they need. These are the real headlines from the budget, headlines that expose again the big failures of the Government. The game of musical chairs the Taoiseach intends to play with the Tánaiste before Christmas will not change this reality one bit. That cosy arrangement is a guarantee of more the same. It is not about what is best for the people but what is best for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We need more than just a change of Taoiseach; we need a change of Government. Without a shadow of a doubt, this should be the last budget delivered by this failed, directionless Government.

Time and again, in times of crisis, our young people have been forced to leave. Worse still, they have been told by those in power to go. The message given to generations deprived of opportunity was that we all cannot live on a small island. Do you remember that one, gentlemen? We were told that emigration from the home they love was a lifestyle choice. That was very wrong. Forced emigration was a failure of Government then and remains a failure of Government to this day. I believe the chapter of this generation is yet to be written. I believe we can change the story. For all the challenges we face, I do not accept our future must be a repeat of our past. I want that young man I spoke to on Monday and all our young generation to be able to build a good life here in Ireland, to have a home here, to have opportunity here and to be able to make it here. Is that not the future we all want for our children and our grandchildren?

Our people are seeking real change. They believe a new direction and new Ireland is possible. It is in our young people in particular that we find everything we need to make that Ireland a reality. The old ways and the politics of the past have had their day. Change is coming. With the right government, with the right policies and with the right ambition, we can build the future our people deserve. We can build our nation as a home for all. That is a future worth believing in. That is a future worth working for. That is the future our people will achieve together and for each other. Of that I have no doubt.

See this speech in context