Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Workers are worse off today because of the Government’s budget. They are in shock and disbelief. What the Government delivered yesterday abandons and betrays working people to look after those at the top. The Taoiseach says the Government's budget was about protecting the economy, but it has pulled the rug from under the very people who are the engine of that economy. They are the people who get up early in the morning, put in hard shifts every day and who, under incredible pressure from the cost of living, keep the show on the road. I am talking about teachers, SNAs, young electricians and carpenters, retail workers and factory workers. In the budget, they were looking for help to keep their heads above water, looking for a break, but they are shaking their heads in disbelief this morning because there was absolutely nothing for them in what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael served up yesterday.

The Government was, of course, able to find money to give tax breaks to developers and landlords, but it could not find the money to help those who keep this country going. Its raft of broken election promises means that working people are left behind. There is no help with the cost of living. There is the largest tax cuts package in the history of the State, but no break on income tax for ordinary people, no cut to USC, energy credits withdrawn as households face big electricity hikes, no increase in the renters' credit, no action to deliver affordable childcare, no increase in child benefit, petrol and diesel prices hiked up from today and student fees hiked up by €500. Working people are left scratching their heads. After a budget of €9.4 billion, they ask how they can be left worse off today than they were yesterday.

I wonder if the Taoiseach had a chance to watch "Prime Time" last night. If he did not, I urge him to watch it back. He would have heard from Erika, a secondary school teacher. Her husband is an SNA. They have a young daughter. They are renters. They are a working couple trying to build a good life and a future. However, the pressure they are under just to get by and pay the rent, keep the car on the road and meet their bills is incredible. Erika said they would love to have a second child, but they currently see no hope of that. They wonder now if they will have to leave Ireland to have any chance. Her story and circumstances are reflected right across the State. When she was told she would be down money as a result of the Government's budget, you could sense her heart break. She was close to tears. You see, how can you take money from her when she already does not have enough to get by?

These are the people Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have betrayed and abandoned in their budget. Tá stangadh bainte as oibrithe na tíre nach bhfuil in ann buiséad an Rialtais a chreidiúint. Is buiséad é a thréigeann oibrithe agus teaghlaigh atá fágtha níos measa as ná mar a bhí roimhe. Ordinary people are asking when they get rewarded and recognised for their hard work.

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