Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)

I received a lot of budget feedback in the Wicklow-Wexford constituency over the weekend. The general feeling was that ordinary working people had been left behind once again. They spoke of the proverbial squeezed middle or the new working poor. A common line from people was along the lines of how they had thought before the election that the Government would look after the working people but, sadly, they would now be better off not working. That is a shocking assessment. They spoke of how there was no increase in child benefit, childcare fees were remaining at approximately €800 per month or more, there was no tax relief for workers and local property tax was going up. There was no help with the cost-of-living crisis in many ways. There were no energy credits, no cap on food price inflation, no grocery supports, no rent freeze or ban on rent increases, the dreaded USC that was brought in for a 12-month period 14 years ago remains, there was nothing for tillage farmers, student fees will be €500 more than last year, there were minimal supports for small businesses that are the beating heart of local communities, there was an increase in the carbon tax and to top it all, petrol and diesel prices went up as well. The man or woman in the Wexford-Wicklow area who gets up early in the morning to maybe fight his or her way through traffic to get to Dublin has been screwed once again. That is shocking in a country that is awash with money and has a surplus of over €10 billion. The verdict of the respected ESRI and other reputable groups was that household income across the board would be reduced by 2% and that poverty would increase. Those are the unpalatable facts. I think it was a shameful, cynical approach for the Government to buy the election last year and make the people pay for it this year. It is a shocking, cynical approach to politics.

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