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

We knew facing into this budget that we face an unprecedented series of crises – in the cost of living, in energy security and in housing, described as a disaster by our President. We knew that increasing numbers of households are facing stark choices between heating and eating and that up to half of all households are likely to be in energy poverty during the bleak winter ahead. Right now, we know Ireland is just not working for far too many people - individuals, families, households and businesses. Of course, we acknowledge the crises we face have been exacerbated deeply by Russian’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and international factors. However, many of the measures urgently needed to address the crises and to support communities are within the power of the Government at national level.

This week we needed Government to step forward with a radical budget of the scale and level of ambition to address the severe levels of hardship faced by communities throughout the country. Just as we saw urgent, ambitious and radical State-led measures rolled out to get us all through the Covid pandemic, so we needed to see the Government adopt similarly urgent, ambitious and radical measures in the budget. The Labour Party's alternative budget, published last week, put forward a clear and costed set of measures to support the building of an Ireland that would work for us all. Our budget proposals represent a creative and radical plan - a genuine pathway to ensure a more equal Ireland.

Yesterday presented the Government with an opportunity to move towards that vision of Ireland, a more equal Ireland, an Ireland that works. It was an opportunity to provide a lifeline to the tens of thousands of people for whom this country is currently not working. Unfortunately, it was an opportunity missed. This was not a budget to provide the necessary pathway or track forward to ensure households and communities would be adequately supported through this winter and beyond. Instead of providing that positive pathway forward, this might better be described as a treadmill budget, in which the Government is spending money to stand still, not to ensure any future progress or prosperity.

A considerable amount of money has been put forward for once-off and short-term measures, but ultimately there is no sense of forward momentum or progressive movement. There is no sense this budget will do anything other than provide a short-term quick fix, a sugar hit, which will wear off very quickly and likely before the new year. As my colleague Deputy Nash has said, the signs are that we may need to have another budget in the new year once the short-term measures have faded away. When speaking to the media this morning, the Tánaiste effectively acknowledged that.

With the cost-of-living crisis biting deeply, many people already feel they are on that treadmill and are running simply to stand still. They cannot see a future of prosperity for them or their children. This budget will not change that. It was simply not good enough to throw money in a short-term way at the crises like snuff at a wake, as Deputy Nash said yesterday. This was a short-term "Bertienomics" approach, as Deputy Duncan Smith pointed out, an approach that will do little for the have-nots while boosting the position of those who already have lots.

We needed a clear plan to take us through the winter and beyond, a plan with ambition and vision. That was sadly lacking in the package of measures announced yesterday. This has been recognised by many. One response I got from a constituent today accurately reflects public reaction. She said, "This winter, I will have to choose between eating properly or taking the edge off the cold in my home. I will stay in bed to stay warm. I am a worker, a grafter. I have not been helped in any way by this budget." Her reaction reflects the reality for many.

A different approach was possible. As I said, the Government could instead have adopted the approach we took in our Labour Party budget last week. We proposed a costed programme with a set of immediate cost-of-living measures and a series of longer term plans to improve public services and protect communities from market insecurities. We know households and communities are suffering currently and need to be protected and sheltered from harm. We had clear plans to protect and support communities in housing, care, climate and work.

On housing, we called for an eviction ban and rent freeze. These should have been key features of any housing measures announced by the Government. In an Ireland that works for all, massive investment would have been put in place to ramp up provision of affordable and secure homes. Instead, the tax credit for renters that was announced shows just how divorced Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are from the lived reality of renters. Rents are out of control in this country. Renters are paying an average of €24,000 annually in rent payments.

In my constituency of Dublin Bay South, which is also the constituency of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, this is a particularly serious problem. We have more than double the national average of people who are renting, with 44% of households reliant on private rental accommodation. Average rents in our area are more than €2,000 per month. For my constituents who are renting, a €500 tax credit is drop in the ocean. As Threshold put it, it amounts to just seven days' rent for anyone renting. The speculative housing market has a hidden human and social cost of insecurity that we cannot afford. Renters cannot continue to pay the price for the wasted years of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments.

The State needs to step in, freeze rents, ban evictions and commit to building more affordable homes. It is particularly disappointing to see the failure of this budget to provide any real increase for the building of social housing. Social Justice Ireland said another €1.4 billion was needed. That is what we allocated in our budget, but with construction inflation at 14%, the extra capital allocated by the Government fell far short of that, which means there will be fewer social and affordable homes built next year than last year. We called for 20,000 social and affordable homes to be built next year - homes that desperately need to be built.

Another disappointment in regard to housing in this budget is the lack of provision for households affected by construction defects. This summer in the Dáil, I raised with the Tánaiste the shocking bills facing people who are living in defective Celtic tiger-era apartments. There are many such apartments in my area and elsewhere across Dublin and beyond. I was heartened then to hear the Tánaiste say the Government would plan to provide redress for households. I welcomed that announcement but there is little substance in the proposals brought forward this week. We await to hear further about what is going to be done for those facing massive bills to address the fire safety and other defects in apartments through no fault of their owners.

What the Government has proposed in a housing crisis is a levy on concrete products to raise €80 million a year, which is likely to increase the cost of homes for buyers. Our alternative proposal was for a levy on construction profits that would not have had that effect and could have ensured adequate redress for so many apartment owners. The Government's proposal symptomises its inability to deal effectively with the housing crisis that has paralysed the lives of so many people and in particular destroyed the hopes and aspirations of younger generations.

On care, we in the Labour Party brought forward two proposals to give immediate relief to hard-pressed families. Free GP care would be immediately extended to every child and young person under 18 at a cost of €100 million was one such proposal. We believe that no parent should have to worry about the cost when their child is sick. We know that Ireland is the only country in western Europe without universal access to GPs. In spite of that, for four wasted years, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have failed to use Ireland's hard-won prosperity to introduce free-at-the-point-of-access primary healthcare. Last year's budget did commit to a welcome extension of the current scheme. It is also welcome to see that this has now, finally, been done for six- and seven-year-old children in a recycled announcement made by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath yesterday. Free GP care should have been extended to all children but that did not happen yesterday, which is a real shame.

The measures introduced on childcare were equally underwhelming. The Government states it will fund a reduction up to 25% in weekly fees for those availing of the national childcare scheme, but the proposed reduction will not amount to that level of reduction for most families. Even with the new announcement, a parent in my constituency will still have to pay approximately €250 per week per child. In contrast, under our Labour Party proposal, childcare fees would be capped at €200 per month. That is a cost of only €50 per week, which is in line with childcare fees in other European countries. Such a radical and ambitious move would have cost the Exchequer €275 million over 12 months, which is value for money and an investment in our children's future.

In our equal early years campaign, the Labour Party and Labour Women have consistently called for us to opt in the longer term for a guaranteed publicly-funded preschool place for every child because parents need affordable, accessible childcare. Early years educators deserve decent pay and conditions, and providers deserve support. Most of all, our children deserve an equal start. To realise that bigger vision for childcare, we would invest €60 million next year to provide a clear pathway toward a universal publicly-funded childcare system on a par with other European countries. We saw nothing resembling that level of ambition or vision from the Government in this year's budget.

On climate, again, we saw a lack of vision and ambition or any new initiative. Our fiscal budgets must always be seen through the lens of the climate emergency. We know that urgent action is needed to ensure a just transition to a clean, green net-zero economy. To do that, we needed real and radical action in the budget, and it did not happen. In contrast, we in the Labour Party had made a flagship proposal for a €9 monthly climate ticket for unlimited journeys countrywide on public transport, at a cost of €300 million for a six-month period. It is similar to the scheme that was trialled in Germany this year, which saved 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in three months. That scheme is now being adapted across the various German regional authorities.

The Labour Party also proposed a range of innovative measures to protect families and workers from rising energy prices and to move us towards a greener future. We proposed a doubling of the grant available to fit solar panels in houses from €2,400 to €5,000. We proposed an ambitious cycle-to-school scheme to enable parents to buy bikes for children, and a creative scheme to incentivise the scrapping of old cars in exchange for e-bikes.

We would have imposed a 30% windfall tax on energy companies, many of which we know are raking in record profits. Instead, the Government appears to have rejected that and proposed a very disappointing wait-and-see approach. It does not appear to have taken on board the very sensible proposal to nationalise the Corrib field to ensure greater security and certainty on energy prices. It is a very disappointing budget on climate. It is not good enough for the young people who demonstrate every week with Fridays for Future, who want system change not climate change. They certainly will not be getting it this year.

Finally, on work, again this is a deeply disappointing budget, which has failed to address the real concerns of so many in our low-pay, high-cost economy. Stagnating wages, the rising cost of living, and an energy crisis leading to job insecurity means that many young people are now fearful about staying in this country. They are emigrating elsewhere, bringing their skills and talents abroad and depriving communities here of their contribution because they cannot see a future in which they can aspire to own their own home. That is just not good enough. Ours should be a society where low pay is addressed and where a future is provided for young people, but that is not the case right now, nor judging the contents of budget 2023. We had a unique opportunity in this budget to build better jobs and to build a programme of jobs for good, and develop a just transition to a fairer, greener future. Instead, what we see is a derisory increase in the minimum wage, a programme of tax cuts that patently offers disproportionate benefits to those on higher incomes and an inadequate increase of only €12 per week for those on pensions and social welfare, which is well below the increase of €20 that we in the Labour Party had proposed.

The Government had a clear set of questions to answer in yesterday's budget. Will it work to keep people warm in their homes? Will it stop low and middle-income households from going under? Will it support people and businesses struggling to pay energy bills? Will it support those who cannot afford their rent or mortgage payments? Will it keep the lights on this winter? I am sad to say that looking at what is provided in the budget, it appears as though Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed those tests. A budget should draw a big picture for Ireland, in particular at this time of crisis. It should be ambitious and show vision. Yesterday, we saw no ambition and no vision. Instead, we saw a conservatism that sees every aspect of public spending as a cost, rather than an investment. Yes, there were welcome measures to reduce costs for households and businesses in yesterday's budget, and there was an important acknowledgement that supports are needed, but at its heart this is not a budget that provides equality. It is not a budget to ensure the building of an Ireland that works for all. In contrast, a Labour Party budget would have sought to achieve real equality: to provide safe and secure homes for everyone; to create quality well-paid jobs that move us towards a green economy and a cleaner environment; to reform taxation to prioritise fairness and redistribution, and to fund a health and care system for children, older people and everyone in between. That is the Ireland that the Labour Party wants to see and that we are building. That is an Ireland that would work for us all.

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