There is a real alternative road to recovery – Ó Caoláin

Speaking  at  the  launch of Sinn Féin’s Pre-Budget 2010 Submission Sinn Féin  Dáil  leader  Caoimhghín  Ó  Caoláin  TD  said that to address the budgetary  crisis  the  party  is setting out costed proposals that will assist  those in need, protect public services and reduce the deficit by targeting under-taxed wealth and stimulating the economy.

Describing  the  Sinn  Féin  proposals  as  “a  real  alternative to the disastrous, deflationary and grossly inequitable Government strategy”, Ó   Caoláin said:   “Sinn  Féin  today  presents  our  Pre-Budget  2010 Submission as a real   alternative   road  to  recovery.  We  have  shown  with  our  carefully   considered and costed proposals that it is possible to raise the finance   needed  to  maintain  frontline  public services, protect those in need,   reduce  the  deficit  in State finances and provide an economic stimulus   package to create jobs.

“For  most  of  2009 the Government has been attempting to soften up the   public  for  a savage Budget this December. Never has a Budget been more   dreaded.  The  Government has made clear that it will base its Budget on   cuts  in  social  welfare  payments, cuts in public services and cuts in   public  sector  pay  as  well  as  axing  health,  education and capital   building projects.

“Once  again  the  poor,  the  unemployed,  the pensioners, the low paid   workers  in both private and public sectors and families struggling with   massive mortgages will bear the burden.

“With  social welfare cuts it seems that the Government is determined to   get  blood  from  the  stone.  But  when  they are challenged to tax the   super-rich we are told there isn’t even a stone!

“People  are fighting back against the disastrous policies of the Fianna   Fáil/Green  Government and we welcome that. The past few months has seen   people  on  the  streets  in  unprecedented  numbers  in demonstrations,   strikes  and  other  forms of protest. They demand a better, fairer way.   This  Submission is Sinn Féin’s contribution to that better way forward.

“It  is  not enough to denounce wrong Government policies – and they are   wrong.  It  is  not enough to point out that those policies pursued over   the  past decade are the cause of the Irish recession – and they are. We   also  have  to  set  out viable alternatives and that is what we do with   this Submission.  

“Central  to our Submission is the need for economic stimulus to protect   and  create  jobs.  Talk  of  the  beginnings of any type of recovery is   meaningless  when  we  have  well over 400,000 unemployed in this State,   half  a  million  in  Ireland  as a whole. Already growing emigration is   beginning  to  disguise  the  true  level  of  unemployment.  So we need   strategies  to  create  jobs,  strategies  glaringly  absent  from  this   Government.

“We  are  proposing  a  €3.218  billion economic stimulus package with a   range  of measures to get Ireland back to work.  We are also proposing a   €723  million  household stimulus package aimed at helping to reduce the   cost of living in this state.

“As  a people we need economic policies that are founded on fairness and   that are viable. They also need to instil confidence.

“Sinn  Féin  is  confident  that  the  Irish people can emerge from this   economic  crisis  and  that  we  can  build  a  fairer  society and more   sustainable economy.” ENDS