Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is another year, another budget, and another finance Bill, and we have a continuity of unfairness. We have not had the levelling-out with the huge resources we have with regard to those who have and those who do not.

This is the Government's final budget. We are talking about the same two-tier income tax package we have come to expect. The cost-of-living crisis is obviously not over but the Government, through an unfair income tax package, has again chosen to short-change anyone earning the average wage or below. Workers who are hardest hit by the cost of living are also not going to benefit from what the Government is doing. We had offered a fair tax package for all workers, abolishing the USC on the first €45,000 and then we were going to do that by starting with €30,000 this year.

We know what is not being done, if we are talking about our proposal with regard to the €450 million tax on bank profits through the bank levy. We know where the Government is going on that. We know that with regard to the renter's tax credit - which was obviously, I would say, introduced on the basis of a push from us - that without the protection of a rent cap, we have through-the-roof increases in absolutely unfair rentals and a near unsustainable system right across the board. The Government has obviously gone out of its way to ensure they have primed the electorate, for want of a better term, and that is why we can all be fairly secure with regard to the timeline of the election. However, opportunities have not been taken with regard to disabilities and dealing with healthcare properly. Anyone who has been in an accident and emergency department recently will know the issues that exist and where we have not taken the action from a community point of view and all those other pieces. We know that housing is impacting on everything. We can talk to ISME, IBEC or whoever until the point in time where we can deliver affordable housing across the board, and that means rentals, purchases and council housing.

We are talking about finance, and we debated the cost of business earlier. I spoke about the fact that we need to look at some sort of commission regarding a VAT rate that will work for businesses that are under pressure. I know that even from involvement with the Louth Disability Cycling Club. I was attended an event earlier in St. John of God's earlier with Aaron McKay and the Sam Maguire Cup. It is probably the closest someone from Louth has been able to get to Sam Maguire in the last while. The fact is, it costs a huge amount for even a club like that, never mind all of these businesses that are under pressure with regard to public liability insurance. This is the sort of stuff we have to look at.

I have obviously run out of time, not for the first time but seeing as I do have the Minister of State with responsibility before me, I will follow this up with questions. I have spoken previously to him about this. There are anomalies in licensing. We have a guy who got his licence here, drove in Australia for 20-odd years and now he is being told he has to go through the full licensing system again. That does not make any sense because he was given his licence in Australia on the basis of his licence here. That is something I will follow up with the Minister of State, and also, New Zealand truck licences. I have been asked by someone who is waiting, and they said they would be happy enough if they could take the licence test tomorrow but they cannot. They would have to go through-----

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