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

This April Fool's Day we are bracing ourselves for the impact of the most foolish April Fool of them all. I am talking, of course, about Trump's tariffs, the scale and scope of which we will learn tomorrow. Not content with damaging his own economy, he has now got his sights set on ours too. Reportedly, even within his own administration, there is no knowing yet what exactly he has planned. Indeed, he may not even know himself.

In that context, I was glad that the Tánaiste responded positively to my request in scheduling a briefing last week for Opposition leaders to hear from officials in his Department about the likely impact of tariffs. I thank the Tánaiste and his officials for what was a comprehensive, but deeply worrying, briefing.

Clearly, we cannot take the threat of tariffs seriously enough. We know that a significant fall in exports to the US could mean significant job losses here and we know how reliant the Exchequer is on corporation tax, a disproportionate amount of which is from the profits of US multinationals.

The place we find ourselves in today reflects the risks that the Taoiseach's party and Fine Gael have taken with the economy - first, in failing to diversify our economic base. Our economic model has clearly become over-reliant on a very small number of big American corporations and that is widely acknowledged as a risk. Second, there is a serious risk to our economy because the Government has contrived to waste what has undoubtedly been a boom.

Our eye-watering corporation tax gains have been squandered because the Government did not use the money to invest in the sustainable infrastructure we so badly need. Affordable housing, decent public transport, universal childcare, fit-for-purpose healthcare and clean energy supplies are what we should have in place here in Ireland, given the budgetary figures we have had. Instead, the Government has favoured one-off measures in recent budgets. It gave a few quid off skyrocketing electricity bills and a tiny amount towards spiralling rents but nothing meaningful for those who are in such great need in a housing and a cost-of-living crisis.

This is crunch time. Will the Taoiseach indicate that the Government's response to tariffs will prioritise public investment and targeted measures to help those who need them most? Will the Government act to safeguard jobs and livelihoods? We have welcomed the index-linking of welfare payments - that is very good to see - but now is the time to prepare for potential job losses. Since the pandemic, we in Labour have been calling for a State-backed short-term wage subsidy scheme to protect workers during periods of uncertainty. It would work like the employment wage subsidy scheme, which was introduced during the pandemic. Such schemes have long been in place in countries such as Germany. We have termed our scheme the ObairGhearr scheme. It would subsidise employees to work shorter hours when companies encounter difficulties and provide access to upskilling programmes. It is a vital type of model to protect workers' dignity and the livelihoods of families and households. Will the Taoiseach commit to looking at our proposals for this short-term working scheme and give us a commitment that the Government will respond to Trump's tariffs tomorrow with effective, targeted measures to protect not only businesses but also families and struggling households?

See this speech in context