Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

This is my first year as an elected representative in the Houses of the Oireachtas and it is my first time hearing the budget. All that kept going through my head when I was sitting in the Dáil listening to the budget was the song “Here we go again". This budget is yet another in a long list of missed opportunities by the Government and its predecessors of recent years. We are over a decade into an unprecedented spell of uninterrupted growth, yet we have chronic deficits in infrastructure, transport, health, education and energy. As I have said before in the House, we are a very rich country but for too many people, it feels very poor. Where are the protections today for the vulnerable? Where are the protections for low- to middle-income earners in this budget? We have the second highest energy costs in Europe, skyrocketing food prices and a housing crisis that continues to spiral, with 5,000 children living in homelessness, but homelessness was never mentioned once today in the addresses by both Ministers. Where was the commitment to eradicate child poverty? One in five children in Ireland is living in poverty.

Our public services need urgent investment. We have shown, as a party, how we would pay for them by raising revenue and restoring the bank levy to €500 million, but we are not listened to. This is another issue that we have raised today: we on the Opposition benches are not listened to.The Government has chosen to give a sweeping tax break to McDonald's and Supermacs rather than to ordinary people to support their needs. I am delighted that other parties have picked up on this. The VAT cut being given to companies such as McDonald's and Supermacs would have been able to fund a second tier of child benefit.

Families are getting no energy supports in the budget. They will see limited improvements in their childcare fees and will pay €500 more in college fees, which the Government has had the cheek to paint as a cut. The budget will really hurt those who depend on the State for their income. There is an extra €10 a week. We know our social welfare payments are targeted and an extra €10 a week will do nothing to help those families make ends meet while the prices of basic things are spiralling completely out of control. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has said €16 needs to be added to every core weekly payment. Our party agrees with this and we have it in our alternative budget. Once again, it was not listened to. Rather than this, we have tax breaks for food barons and developers. This money could have been used to target a child support payment to the poorest of families.

Where are the promises that were made to carers coming up to the election? Carers save the State €20 billion a year. The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael manifestoes made a commitment to get rid of this but there is only piecemeal progress. Why not get rid of it? The Disability Federation of Ireland has already come out today and called the budget a betrayal of disabled people. Where is the cost of disability payment that was spoken about?

We can see that energy credits papered over the cracks in the previous budget but this year they could have been targeted. We have the highest energy costs in Europe but the profiteering from the energy companies is going completely unaddressed. The Labour Party proposed extending the fuel allowance to all those on the working family payment and extending the payment period from 28 weeks to 32 weeks. We would do this by putting a 20% windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies.

As I said, one in five children are living in poverty, and we could have seen a second tier of targeted child benefit in the budget. Why is the derelict property tax being delayed until 2028? We need apartments, and we all agree with this, but why will there be a VAT cut for developers with no link to affordability? The budget harks back to the days of the Galway tent. It is disappointing and it does not do anything. It definitely favours property developers and big businesses. It could have addressed structural inequalities. People will spend another year in the cold, worried and stressed about how they will pay their energy and food bills and, if they have somewhere, their rent.