Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This budget is akin to trying to put out a fire with a watering can. It is a waste of effort. There are billions being spent but spent in favour of high earners, vested interests, golden circles, vulture funds, developers and institutional landlords. It is payback for the Fine Gael core voter, with the odd crumb for the few people who will vote Fianna Fáil and the Greens in the next election. We will be told that trickle-down economics will be the rising tide that raises all boats. However, as our older people, the working poor and anyone living in rural Ireland will tell the Government, trickle-down economics does not exist. The difference between the have-yachts and the have-nots is that the have-yachts have a boat to be risen. Our older people and ordinary workers and their families are left to try to keep their heads above water. It is telling that those earning €100,000 will benefit four times more than those earning €35,000. In reality, those low-income earners and our older people will see meagre increases quickly eroded by inflation, carbon tax and spiralling rents. What is also telling is Fine Gael Deputies' defending single people earning more than €70,000 getting support from the State with their energy bills. It is a damning indictment of the Government's performance that it feels that people on relatively good incomes need support from the State.

There will be no change for teachers struggling to find affordable homes to rent. So much for the hope to reduce pupil-teacher ratios. Unless the Government has plans for robot teachers, I do not know what it is going to do. There will be no change for nurses starting at the bottom of the ladder. They want to stay to try to fix our health service but are being forced to move abroad, where they can afford to live. Of course, that suits the Government as the majority of our young people can see that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are bad for them and bad for this country.

The budget forecasts that the economy will flatline next year at 0.4%. It also predicts that inflation will rise by 16% over this year and next year. There is little in the budget to deal with the fallout from this.

Sinn Féin's fully costed alternative budget favours our older people and ordinary workers and their families. It provides targeted support to those who need it most, not a golden shower for those at the top. Sinn Féin in government will cut childcare costs by two thirds, not the quarter promised in this budget. It will value our older people, people with different abilities and those who care for those people.

Active Retirement Ireland - not Sinn Féin - stated that this budget falls short in protecting older people against the cost-of-living crisis. It stated that the winter fuel allowance will not go far enough for older people after two increases in gas and electricity costs in 2022 alone. The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, was patting himself on the back for that a few moments ago. He needs to stop. Active Retirement Ireland goes on to state that the budget does not go far enough for the most vulnerable. We need to see the charge for blood tests and prescription costs scrapped in order to make healthcare more affordable. Budget 2023 is falling short for our older people, who deserve to live with security, independence and dignity. A Sinn Féin government would support households through the winter months by reducing electricity prices, rolling out cost-of-living payments to assist with other energy costs and protecting the most vulnerable.

In 2023, we would deliver an income tax package to put money back into people's pockets, reduce the cost of fuel, support renters and shield lower-and middle-income householders from the impact of inflation. Sinn Féin would give workers and families a break.

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