Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)

Budgets are about choices, and the cruel decisions this Government has made are all over this Finance Bill. The Government had the chance to stand with struggling families, renters, carers and disabled people, but it chose instead to stand with the golden circle - developers and fast-food chains. Once again, the people who already have the most are walking away with the biggest gains while ordinary people are left behind. The Government could have sided with the people who go to bed at night worrying about the next day and how they are going to pay bills to keep their house warm and feed their children. Instead, sided with the rich who go to bed and wake up the next morning even richer as the value of their investments grows while they sleep.

The Parliamentary Budget Office showed in its independent analysis that the lowest-income households did worst under this budget. That is fact. Coming into winter, people are looking at their bills and they feel this budget has hit their pockets. This is a Government that preaches prudence yet squanders billions on tax breaks for the rich. The cost-of-living crisis did not end just because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil decided to stop talking about it. Prices are still sky-high, grocery bills are through the roof, rents are out of control and childcare can cost more than a mortgage. What do the budget and this Finance Bill do to help? Nothing.

A recent Barnardos report found that four in ten parents eat less or skip meals in order that their children can eat. This is Ireland in 2025, a country of record surpluses and growing poverty. While families are choosing between eating and heating, this Government has chosen to give McDonalds and Starbucks a VAT cut. On what planet is that a solution to the cost-of-living crisis? The Government has done nothing to ease household bills, to bring down grocery prices or to tackle sky-high rents. It has done nothing but look after those who are already on top.

This Bill represents a slap in the face to those who voted for the Minister on the back of promises this Government made during the general election. It promised it would cap childcare fees at €200 a month. Families are still paying €1,000 or more a month, and this Bill does nothing to change that.

The Government also promised to cut college fees. Students who paid €2,000 last year will be paying €2,500 next year, and Government has the cheek to call that a reduction.

The Government promised to tackle the scandal of 200,000 children living in poverty. There is clear evidence that a second tier of child benefit is the solution to this crisis, but the Government seems happy to talk about the matter but not take action.

The Government also promised to abolish the means test for carers. It could have ended that injustice today by increasing the bank levy. Section 80 of the Bill maintains the bank levy at derisory rate of 0.1%. At the same time, banks continue to avoid paying any corporation tax.

What about people with disabilities? Disabled people stand to lose €1,400 as a result of this budget because of the actions this Government has taken. Instead of introducing a cost of disability payment, the Government has left disabled people behind once again. That is not fiscal responsibility; it is cruel and unjust. The Government made promises to get elected and followed up with a budget and a Finance Bill that abandon the lot.

No expenses were spared in this Finance Bill when it came to looking after developers. There is a giveaway of millions in VAT reductions to big developers that are already making huge profits. Fianna Fail’s obsession with developer tax breaks is back, and Fine Gael have bought into it hook, line and sinker. It seems incredible that it was only in February that the Minister stated, “What I am not going to do is reintroduce or propose the very tax reliefs that did such harm to our economy.” Yet, eight months later, and he is doing exactly that with the Finance Bill. VAT for developers will be slashed at a cost of €390 million in the year ahead, with no affordability conditions, no price caps and no guarantee that a single home will be cheaper. Is the Government for real? Who benefits? It is the big developers that tell the Government they cannot make any money. The CEO of Glenveagh Properties had his salary increased by 80% in 2024 to a whopping €2.7 million a year. This is not a struggling developer in need of a taxpayer handout. There are disabled people struggling to pay their bills, pensioners afraid to turn the heating on, parents skipping meals, over 5,000 children homeless and a generation locked out of home ownership. Is the Government seriously telling people it is the big developers who need a helping hand?

This Bill reads like a developer’s wish list. To make sure nobody sees just how much they are going to pocket, the Government voted against the Social Democrats' Developer Profits Transparency Bill. If it genuinely believed that it is doing is the right thing, the Government would let the public see the numbers. It will not do so, however, because it knows they are indefensible.

Section 68 of the Bill makes for happy reading for the likes of McDonalds and Starbucks. These are not small struggling cafés on the corner; they are global giants with billionaire shareholders. The Government has just gifted them a 4.5% VAT cut worth millions. McDonald’s alone is set to pocket €20 million next year on the back of this taxpayer-funded gift. Does Government honestly believe McDonald's is going to pass that saving on to customers? This Bill is going to line the pockets of multinational corporations. That is what it does. It does nothing to address the root causes of skyrocketing costs for small businesses and households.

Section 22 shows once again where Government priorities lie. It has extended the special assignee relief programme, SARP, to 2030. SARP is a tax break for people who fly in from abroad and who earn more than €125,000 per year. It is an outrageous scheme which even includes one tax-free trip home every year and discounted private school fees. Instead of asking those on six-figure incomes to pay their fair share, the Government is now making it even easier to qualify for this ridiculous hand-out. This is a tax break for the rich, plain and simple. At a time when families cannot afford childcare, when carers are still means-tested and when 5,000 children are growing up homeless, the Minister and the Government are bending over backwards to feather the nests of those at the top.

Who is this Finance Bill supposed to help? The developers and fast-food chains are clearly delighted, but what about people who are actually struggling to get by? The withdrawal of cost-of-living measures is pushing more people into poverty. There should have been targeted cost-of-living measures. The Parliamentary Budget Office has done the math on this and has shown how people are being impacted. Income poverty rates are increasing, child poverty is increasing and elderly poverty is surging, from 13.3% last year to 19% now as a result of this budget. This is what Government is doing - creating more poverty and hardship and leaving more people behind.

There are real people behind these numbers, namely pensioners afraid to turn on the heating, parents skipping meals and disabled people struggling to keep the lights on. The Government could have lifted 40,000 children out of poverty. Instead, it lifted profits for developers and fast-food chains. That was its choice. That is what the Finance Bill represents: greed over decency.

An excellent report by Oisín Gilmore of TASC on inequality in Ireland in 2025 was recently published. It focuses on the link between poverty and loneliness. The report states that Ireland has the highest rate of loneliness in the European Union and that poverty is closely linked to loneliness. People experiencing homelessness are among the most at risk of loneliness, as are people with disabilities, people with reduced mobility, carers, and especially people who are older and who have lost a loved one. For someone suffering a bereavement, being able to afford a cup of coffee with friends can make the world of difference. It is the difference between staying at home and seeing no one or getting out and meeting people. When more older people are pushed into poverty, more older people are pushed into hardship and loneliness. That is the reality of what the Minister is doing and what he has chosen to do through the budget and the Finance Bill.

This Government, this budget and this Finance Bill have their priorities all wrong. Instead of tackling gender-based violence, the Minister has continued to fund the cruel and dying sport of greyhound racing. Women and children across the country are still being turned away from refuges because there are not enough beds. The Istanbul Convention says we need one family place for every 10,000 people but we are nowhere near that. Yet, somehow the Minister has found more money for greyhound racing than for domestic violence services. There was more money for racing dogs than for refuges. That is shameful.

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