Seanad debates

Thursday, 6 December 2007

10:30 am

Photo of Alex WhiteAlex White (Labour)

——but there is complacency regarding the issues Senator Fitzgerald mentioned earlier. What should be the benchmark in terms of the budget, and is it a subject for debate in this House? How do we decide whether it is or is not a great budget? I heard people say on a radio programme this morning that there was a warm welcome for the stamp duty changes, but when I listened further it was explained that they were welcomed by banks, the construction industry and estate agents. Why would those sectors not welcome the changes in stamp duty? I am not saying those changes do not have some merit but if they are good enough to introduce now, they were good enough to have been introduced when they were needed six months ago. Instead, they are being introduced now as a panic measure at the tail end of the construction boom.

We talk about a green crusade or other views or objectives of people, but the only objective we should have in terms of budgetary, economic and social policy after ten or 15 years of plenty is a full frontal attack on poverty and social injustice. Why was the budget not a social justice or poverty budget? We are told about a green budget. Let us have a budget that will address child poverty once and for all. We are supposed to be a beacon to the world in terms of our economic development. Why can we not be a beacon to the world in terms of having equity, equality and social justice in society? That is what a budget should be about and, regrettably, this one is not.

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