Laura Harmon (Labour)

The Labour Party was clear then and we are clear now that budget 2026 did little or nothing for citizens struggling to make ends meet, or communities across Ireland. After last year's pre-election giveaways, this was a budget that made it clear to ordinary families that this is a Government that has no vision when it comes to addressing the cost-of-living crisis and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for so many families and workers across the country. Amid spiralling grocery costs, energy price hikes that will leave many households choosing between heating or eating this winter, and the catastrophe of the housing disaster, the Government has made its choices. It is those choices that we see in this Bill today.

Ireland is a wealthy country, but we have one in five children living in poverty. Families struggle to pay the bills.Shamefully, there are thousands of children who will spend Christmas in homeless accommodation, but the Government chose to use the budget to put the interests of burger barons, big builders and developers first rather than using the budget to tackle those crises or to take the perhaps difficult but necessary steps to move our public finances onto a sustainable footing. The Government gave massive tax handouts to fast food companies and developers and our public services need urgent investment. The Labour Party has shown how we would pay for them, by raising revenue from restoring the bank levy to €500 million and other measures targeting wealth and assets. Nothing in this Bill shows a serious Government ready to bite the bullet and broaden the tax base that we need to face the many challenges of today and tomorrow. We know that once the veil of windfall corporation tax receipts is pulled back, Ireland is a country that is running a budget deficit. We have heard the stark warnings already from bodies like the ESRI. In that light, the Government's choices are all the more nonsensical.