Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion has said any attempt to impose direct rule from Westminster is unacceptable.
Elisha McCallion said:
"Any attempt to impose direct rule from Westminster on the north in the absence of power-sharing is unacceptable to Sinn Féin.
"It would be bad faith, flying in the face of the St Andrew's Agreement which removed the ability of the British government to impose direct rule.
"It would also represent a complete abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement on the part of the British government at the behest of the DUP.
"In the absence of power-sharing at Stormont, there needs to be joint rule involving the Irish government in line with the St Andrew's Agreement.
"If the British government is intent on casting these agreements aside then the people of the north Ireland should be offered the chance to have their say on their future, in line with the Good Friday Agreement, in a referendum on Irish unity."
Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson will launch an independent legal report on Irish reunification in the European Parliament in Brussels this evening.
Speaking ahead of the launch of ‘The EU and Irish Unity: Planning and Preparing for Constitutional Change in Ireland,’ Martina Anderson said:
“This report, commissioned by GUE/NGL and authored by human rights law professor Colin Harvey and barrister Marc Bassett, sets out the pathway to Irish unity contained in the Good Friday Agreement and what the EU can do to support and secure it.
“I will be joined in Brussels for the launch by Sinn Féin Leas Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill and the Sinn Féin MP team, as well as representatives of sectors who will be impacted by the disastrous Tory Brexit.
“The debate on Irish unity has already begun across Ireland and this report is a timely and informative contribution to that debate, examining all aspects of Irish unity and the role of the EU.
“In their report, human rights professor Colin Harvey and barrister Marc Bassett clearly state there is no legal or constitutional barrier to the EU actively promoting Irish unity.
“It also sets out five steps the EU and Irish government can take to advance the debate on unity and, ultimately, creating a new Ireland within the EU.”
Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard has said no amount of last-minute planning can mitigate against the damage Brexit will cause to the north’s economy.
The South Down MP said:
“News that the British government has allocated £31 million to the north to prepare for a no-deal Brexit is an admission of the damage this reckless policy will do.
“But it will not even begin to cover the extent of the catastrophic damage Brexit will inflict on our economy.
“It is particularly concerning money appears to have been earmarked for borders; giving further lie to the British government’s claims that it wants to avoid any hardening of the border.
“Sector after sector has warned of the dire economic consequences of Brexit and yet the DUP and Tories are intent on ploughing ahead regardless.
“The Good Friday Agreement provides a solution to this Brexit madness through a referendum on Irish unity.
“The economic benefits of Irish unity stand in stark contrast to the economic earthquake of Brexit and the people should be allowed to have their say on the future of this island.”
Louth TD Gerry Adams has described the Government Budget as “an opportunity missed. It is short on solutions and fails to adequately invest in the priority areas of social and affordable housing, homelessness, health, education and the environment.”
Teachta Adams said:
“This budget could have been so much better for the people of Louth and across this state. The government had the opportunity to put money back into people’s pockets and improve access to public services. It could have tackled the rip-off costs confronting families in this constituency facing extortionate rents, exorbitant childcare costs, and rip-off insurance premiums. It chose not to.
"Instead of putting people first the government has protected the banks, the speculators, the vulture funds, and implemented policies that are forcing thousands of children into homelessness and are responsible for hundreds of citizens every day languishing on hospital trolleys.
"The Government pumped billions into AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Anglo and Irish Nationwide. Today that bill stands at 42 billion euro. Taxpayers will be paying over 1 billion every year on this debt for years to come. At the same time the banks are enjoying a privileged tax break which means that they will pay no corporation tax for the next 20 years.
Today there are almost 600,000 citizens on the Outpatient waiting lists. This is highest number since records began. Over ten thousand citizens are homeless and average rents have increased by twenty percent since Fine Gael took office.
"At the same time Fine Gael, supported by Fianna Fáil, is wasting taxpayers money on the National Broadband Plan and the National Children’s Hospital.
"In addition, the decision by the government and Fianna Fáil to increase carbon tax will impose a new burden on many families unable to afford it. This is a regressive tax which will hit poorer households, rural areas, and single parent families hardest.
"Sinn Féin in our costed alternative budget showed that it is possible to manage the public finances in a compassionate, fairer and more effective manner.”
Cllr Ruairí Ó Murchú commenting on the 2020 Budget said:
“Families in Louth will take little comfort from the government’s budget. There is nothing in it to offer respite to those families struggling to make ends meet.
"In our alternative budget Sinn Féin showed how it is possible to manage economic growth in a way that invests directly in living standards for families.
"More money for citizens in Louth who need respite care services and for citizens with disabilities, including investing in additional personal assistant hours; increasing the Carers Support Grant and the Carers Allowance and benefit and Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension and Blind Pension.
"Sinn Féin would also reinstate the Rehabilitative Training Allowance which was removed by the Government earlier this year.
"We would have focussed additional resources on mental health services, including toward a 24/7 crisis intervention service and 7 day week outpatient model of CAMHS services.
"The government’s budget 2020 is a missed opportunity.”
Sinn Féin MLA Seán Lynch has said the Brexit information booklet sent to every household provides little in the way of answers for people living in the north.
Seán Lynch said:
“The information document sent to households in relation to Brexit provides little in the way of answers nor does it address people’s concerns surrounding a no-deal Brexit.
“The reality is that Brexit will have disastrous implications for the north’s economy, for citizen’s rights and the Good Friday Agreement.
“The people of the north rejected Brexit yet it is being forced upon us by the Tory Brexiteers and their allies in the DUP.
“The only way to avoid a crash out no-deal Brexit is through the Withdrawal Agreement and the Irish backstop contained within it.”
Sinn Féin MLA Seán Lynch has said the Brexit information booklet sent to every household provides little in the way of answers for people living in the north.
Seán Lynch said:
“The information document sent to households in relation to Brexit provides little in the way of answers nor does it address people’s concerns surrounding a no-deal Brexit.
“The reality is that Brexit will have disastrous implications for the north’s economy, for citizen’s rights and the Good Friday Agreement.
“The people of the north rejected Brexit yet it is being forced upon us by the Tory Brexiteers and their allies in the DUP.
“The only way to avoid a crash out no-deal Brexit is through the Withdrawal Agreement and the Irish backstop contained within it.”
The upcoming Westminster election is an opportunity for the people of Newry & Armagh to reject the reckless Tory/DUP Brexit, Sinn Féin MP Mickey Brady has said.
Speaking after his selection as Sinn Féin candidate for Newry & Armagh tonight, the sitting MP said:
“As we hurtle towards a crash out Brexit spurred on by the chaos at Westminster and the reckless actions of Boris Johnson, an election looms.
“That election will be our opportunity to reject the Tory/DUP Brexit and drive forward momentum for Irish Unity.
“In June 2017, the nationalist people sent a powerful message by turning its back on Westminster and returning seven Sinn Féin MPs.
“Given the catastrophe that Westminster is attempting to force upon our island it is vital that people here in the border constituency of Newry/Armagh continue to show Dublin, Europe and the world that we still reject Brexit, borders and the DUP.
“That is the message I will be taking to the EU tomorrow - Ireland cannot be collateral damage.”
Sinn Féin Rural Affairs TD Brian Stanley has criticised the Government’s 2020 budget for failing to adequately finance its ‘Just Transition’ programme for Bord na Mona.
Despite an increase in carbon tax by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, which will bring in around €550m next year, a miserly €6m has been allocated to a Just Transition programme.
Speaking this afternoon, Deputy Stanley said:
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s budget has failed to adequately address the need for a Just Transition plan for Bord na Móna and the Midlands.
“Despite the fact that this Government has taken the cruel decision to increase the carbon tax by an additional €6 to a total of €26 per tonne, only a fraction of this will be re-invested in areas affected by climate action.
“We all accept that Bord na Móna must transition away from peat, but if we are serious about climate action then we must put in place a transition for the workers and the local communities.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil promised a Just Transition programme but what they have delivered falls well short of anything substantial.
“The carbon tax is expected to bring in around €550m next year and yet only €6m has been allocated for a Bord na Móna transition plan.
“This serves to highlight the fact that neither Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil are truly serious about climate action.
“What we should be doing is transition workers in Bord na Móna from brown jobs in peat, to green job in clean energy like biomass, biogas, solar and other renewable energy industries.
“The Government has also allocated a miserly €6m for Bog rehabilitation.
“These bogs could serve as carbon sinks, for tourism, educational purposes and horticulture. €6m just won’t cut it.
“This Governments budget represents little nothing more than a drop in the ocean when it comes to the financial investment which is needed and deserved in the midlands.”
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Disability Rights and Older People Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD has described today’s Budget measures as “hugely disappointing in the face of very obvious shortfalls and failures on the part of a succession of governments”.
Teachta Ó Caoláin said;
“I am struck by the lack of measures aimed at improving the daily reality of people with disabilities and the absence of detail regarding the meagre provisions contained in Budget 2020 that may apply to people with a disability and their families. The lack of any serious address of the needs of people with a disability will precipitate a growing crisis for many individuals and their loved ones.
“That an Autism Plan is only referred to by way of a terse reference, is a disgrace. There have been years of engagement from advocacy groups and families on the need for an Autism Plan. Nobody in Government can be in any doubt that what we needed today was the detail of how this would be structured, funded and timeframed and how quickly it could be actioned to impact positively on the lives of people with autism and their families.
“The allocation of 1 million extra home care hours has been advanced by Government as a major step forward. This will not even clear the current waiting list which stands at 7,300 people.
"Sinn Féin sought and received costings from Minister Donohoe’s own Department for clearing the Home Support Services waiting lists. We were told that close to 2.5 million hours were required. €59 million was set aside in our Alternative Budget to achieve this. The Government and Fianna Fáil’s 1 million extra hours won’t even address the current backlog never mind the additional demand that will present in 2020.
“The crisis in recruitment and retention of frontline healthcare staff has impacted on the needs of people with disabilities. Today’s budget provides no commitment to recruiting any extra frontline staff.
"Sinn Féin identified the need for 600 extra frontline staff such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists and provided for their recruitment in our Alternative Budget.
“Sinn Féin has consistently called for the reinstatement of the Rehabilitative Training Allowance only recently axed by this Government.
"Today’s Budget contains non-specific references to continuing to assist school leavers with supports and services as they transition into adulthood. Some 400 school leavers with a disability are now suffering from the withdrawal of the RTA which many had factored into their further education and training plans.
“Today’s Budget has barely even acknowledged the ongoing and ever growing crises being forced upon people with disabilities. This is not good enough.
"It is time to allow those who are serious about providing for the needs of our disabled citizens, and our elderly, to do what this Government has always failed to do. The next General Election will hopefully return a more in-touch and caring Government than we have experienced over these many years.”
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs Kathleen Funchion TD has said that budget 2020 fails to tackle the cost of childcare, and that the Government has once again completely ignored Early Years/Childcare workers.
No measures were introduced to address low pay or poor working conditions in the sector or to address the ongoing staffing crisis for service providers.
Deputy Funchion said;
"We have seen little by way of tackling rocketing childcare costs for the majority of parents paying extortionate fees. Working families will continue to be squeezed through unaffordable rents and mortgages, high costs of living, and ludicrous childcare costs that amount to a second mortgage.
"The new National Childcare Scheme will leave many vulnerable children and single parent families in a worse position than before. There is little evidence of any poverty proofing of Minister Zappone’s new scheme.
"A recent survey conducted by the ACP found that out of 1,127 childcare services involving 34,261 children availing of targeted subsidies, 50% of school aged children will have no entitlement to term time after school or school aged childcare supports under the National Childcare Scheme. This is hugely worrying.
"No detail has been given today on how many social workers or support staff will be provided and which are urgently needed.
"A radical new approach is needed. Sinn Féin would commence a 5 year transformational programme of reform that ensures Childcare and Early Years staff are properly paid and fees are slashed for parents.
"This would be €28m in the first year, we would also significantly reduce fees across the State for parents over a 5 year period starting with a reduction of 13% in the first full year increasing to a 66% reduction by end of year 5.
"This would amount to a cut on average of €100 per month on a monthly crèche fee of €800 initially increasing year upon year. We would achieve this through direct financial support for all centre-based providers that choose to opt- in to a new Early Years/Childcare system.
"The Government cannot continue to ignore workers who are the bedrock of this sector. With Budget 2020 we see a clear dismissal of their invaluable contribution, but it has not gone unnoticed by the thousands working in it.
"Sinn Féin has consistently called in our previous Alternative Budgets for the introduction of pay scales, funded by the State, that reflect years of service and qualifications – whether that be through university degrees or through continued professional development.
"We would introduce a proper a pay scale for all workers in the sector regardless of level starting with the current Living Wage of €12.30 upon entry level. This would increase year upon year over a 5 year period for all staff at all levels.
"Early Years and Childcare workers need to be financially supported and encouraged to upskill and remain in the sector, not burn out.
"Unfortunately, Budget 2020 is a lost opportunity in giving hope to those working in the sector, or indeed, parents once again."
Sinn Féin Seanad spokesperson on Education Paul Gavan has strongly criticised the Governments failure to increase the core funding to Third Level Institutions.
Senator Gavan said;
“The current funding crisis in Higher Level institutions has been well flagged in last few years.
“Our Higher Education system needs significant investment of core funding to stand still, and catch up on years of underinvestment.
“This budget has failed both staff and students that are the key stakeholders of Third Level education in this state.
“The Break the Barriers campaign by the USI demonstrated students are at their wits end.
“The Institutions themselves have pointed to this impending crisis.
“It was reported only last week that Trinity are considering reducing the numbers of students coming through the CAO system by 25% over the next couple of years; further relying on income taken in from international students.
“If sustained and significant investment in third level education does not happen, then this will be replicated elsewhere, and more and more students will have the door shut to third level shut on them.
“The issue at play for most colleges is that they are chronically underfunded, and that higher education in this state requires substantial investment.
“Access to education is already an issue for many, and a failure to fund it will only impact future generations.
Sinn Féin would invest €36 million in core funding next year and reduce the student contribution by €500 next year."
Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD has said that the housing crisis "will continue as Budget 2020 ignores renters, social housing applicants and those in need of affordable housing".
Deputy Ó Broin said:
“Budget 2020 is a status quo budget. Given that the status quo in housing is an escalating crisis, the budget means that the housing emergency will continue into 2020.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s budget ignores renters, social housing applicants and those in need of social housing.
“Just 8,500 real social housing homes will be delivered in 2020. Four years into Rebuilding Ireland and Government has still not met the key target of 10,000 real social homes recommended by the 2016 Dáil Housing and Homeless Committee Report.
“Meanwhile, the Government continues to pump taxpayers' money into subsidising social housing tenants in the private rental sector.
"The Government has committed to creating 19,000 new subsidised rental tenancies in 2020 at a cost of over €800m.
“This will dramatically increase demand in the rental market pushing up prices and locking out an even greater number of renters not eligible for social housing support.
“Indeed renters can feel particularly aggrieved as the Government has done nothing to reduce the cost of rents or to protect tenants from further rent increases.
“There is no additional investment in affordable rental or purchase homes above what was announced last year.
"Given that this Government has done nothing to speed up the delivery of public housing, none of these homes will be delivered until 2021 or 2022 at the earliest.
“The Help to Buy scheme isn’t helping the first-time buyers who need it most. A report by the Parliamentary Budget office supports this with over 40% those approved to date needing no help with a deposit. Yet, the Government has seen fit to spend €100m next year.
“Housing is the single biggest issue of public concern according to recent opinion polls. This Government has ignored the needs of renters, those on social housing waiting lists and those in need of affordable homes.
“Sinn Féin’s alternative housing budget would have invested an additional €1bn in public housing to deliver 17,000 social, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes and introduced a rent freeze and refundable tax credit for renters.
"This would have given workers and families a real break. Instead, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael chose to ignore these people in a budget without ambition, ideas or much needed investment.”
Sinn Féin’s Dublin spokesperson Denise Mitchell TD has described Budget 2020 as “all style and no substance”.
The Dublin Bay North TD said Dublin has become one of the most expensive cities in the world to have a child in and the Government seem to have no clue as to how to give families a break.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon Teachta Mitchell said;
“Another year, another Fine Gael Budget that is all style and no substance.
“The government has shown that it cannot properly budget for our vital public services or give struggling families a break.
“The good people of the Northside, who I have the honour of representing, will not be taken in by the Minister for Finance standing in this chamber and saying that things are going swimmingly and what a great job Fine Gael are doing for the country.
“Meanwhile, the city is choking. Nearly 3,000 children are growing up in hotel rooms. Parents are at their wits end just trying to make ends meet and Fine Gael cannot bring themselves to do right by the honest, hardworking people of this country.
“Meanwhile Fianna Fáil sit on the sidelines and offer only token opposition, as they have done for the past three years. Fianna Fáil have let down the people of Dublin just as much as their co-conspirators on the Government benches.
“They’ll pass another Fine Gael budget that is dead set on maintaining the status quo of the haves and have nots, of the elite and the struggling.
“A few bob to cover the astronomical cost of childcare will not convince a single family that this Government is on their side because they are not and they never have been.
“Dublin has become one of the most expensive cities in the world to have a child in and the Government seem to have no clue as to give families a break.
“Sinn Féin have a plan to radically transform the entire childcare sector, while Fine Gael and Minister Zappone are content to just grant another meagre concession that will be swallowed up within a year when prices just go up again.
“There is nothing in this Budget for renters while the real winners are the landlords and those profiteering from the housing crisis, just as it has been for every Fine Gael Budget we have seen.
“The people of Crumlin, Cabra, and Coolock are all united by the dread of a year passing and the rents going up. The Rent Pressure Zones have not worked and there is no hope on the horizon for anyone stuck in the rent trap. Not under this Government.
“Sinn Féin would help renters by introducing an emergency freeze on rents and bringing in rent relief which would save them the equivalent of one month’s rent each year.
“Budgets are about choices and Sinn Féin choose to invest in services that will make a real difference to ordinary families by reducing the cost of living and allowing those families the benefit of knowing that a parent will not have to give up work to mind a child or children; that if that child falls sick, that there is a bed for them in a hospital and not a trolley or a never ending waiting list; that they need not panic that the next time the car has a fault or schoolbooks need buying.
“The Budget cannot be about just getting by, it must be about ensuring people can have a decent life.
“We need to give working families a break, not talk down to them and tell them that we know best and that they are not working hard enough.
“People are working hard, harder than this government and their Fianna Fáil stooges and that’s for sure.”
ENDS
Sinn Féin Leas Uachtarán Michelle O'Neill will meet senior EU officials in Brussels tomorrow to call on them to remain firm to protect the north's economy from the catastrophic impacts of Brexit.
Michelle O'Neill said:
"Today I led a Sinn Féin delegation which met with business representatives across retail, manufacturing, communications, hospitality and the food and drink industry and others concerned with the disastrous impact of Brexit on our economy.
"The consistent message from all of the meetings is that the consequences of Brexit will be dire for the north.
“They cannot plan for the future and are desperately worried about the prospect of job losses and economic collapse.
"That is the reality for the economy in the north regardless of what the DUP or any other delusional Brexit cheerleaders may say.
"This evening I will be travelling to Brussels for a series of meetings with EU diplomats. I will be making it clear to them that they have to remain firm on the need to avoid any hardening of the border, protect the Good Friday Agreement and protect our economy.
"The north's economy cannot withstand being excluded from the customs union and the single market and that is the message we will be bringing loud and clear to the EU."
Responding to Budget 2020 today Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said the government has failed to give workers and families a break.
He said the budget is short on ideas, short on policies and short on solutions.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon Teachta Doherty said;
“This Budget could and should have given workers and families a break. It hasn’t.
“With the political will and the right ideas, this budget could put money back in people’s pockets and improved their access to public services.
“It could have begun to broaden our horizons, making sure that work pays and delivers security and the chance to plan for the future.
“It could have begun to build a fair tax system, making sure that those who benefit most from our economy pay their fair share – the banks, multinationals and international property investors who have enjoyed a free ride for far too long.
“This budget has failed to deliver on these modest demands. It is a budget short on ideas, short on policies, short on solutions. It is a budget that lacks ambition, lacks direction, and lacks hope.
“This is not the budget Sinn Féin would have delivered.
“Sinn Féin would have would have brought forward real and deliverable solutions, putting citizens, not vested interests, at the center of our economy and at the top of our priorities.
“We would have tackled the rip-off costs faced by countless families – sky-high premiums, extortionate rents, eye-watering childcare costs and back to school costs.
“That would have raised incomes and made sure that work delivers a secure standard of living.”
ENDS
Full text of Teachta Doherty’s speech follows:
Introduction
This Budget could and should have given workers and families a break. It hasn’t.
Instead of giving workers and families a break, and securing Ireland’s future;
This Government has underestimated the economic challenge of Brexit, and has done nothing to ease the pressure on workers and families.
And now, on top of out-of-control rents, rip-off insurance premiums, and unaffordable childcare costs, they are faced with a hike in carbon taxes.
What starts today with a 6 euro increase will continue to rise, squeezing households with no alternatives.
They will pay the cost rather than the bankers, the insurance companies, and the vested interests that this Government and their partners in Fianna Fáil have never and will never stand up to.
This Budget comes at a time when our country and our people face significant challenges.
It is a time for big ideas, for bold policies, for solutions for ordinary people.
A time to reset in our economy, how it works and who it works for.
Tá an buiséad seo á nochtadh inniu agus dúshláin móra romhainn mar tír.
Is mithid go gcuirfear smaointe móra agus beartais ceannrodaíocha i bhfeidhm ionas go thig linn cuidiú a thabhairt do gnáthdaoine agus dul i ngleic leis na fadhbanna atá os a gcomhair sa lá atá inniú ann.
Since the economic crash a decade ago, the Irish people have carried the weight of a recovery that has been enjoyed by some, but not by all.
For five years this State has had the fastest growing economy in Europe.
But GDP only tells us part of the story.
A strong economy and crane-scattered skylines do not show the full picture.
Many in Ireland today are trapped in the present, crippled with rip-off costs and unable to plan for the future.
This Government has failed to turn a growing economy into real returns for those who have built it and for those it should serve.
Rather than seeing incomes rise, too many have seen costs soar and their pay packets squeezed.
For too many, life has become unaffordable.
Sky-high insurance premiums, unaffordable rents, ever rising childcare costs;
Workers and families were looking for a break.
With the political will and the right ideas, this Budget could put money back in people’s pockets and improved their access to public services.
It could have begun to broaden our horizons;
Making sure that work pays and delivers security and the chance to plan for the future.
It could have begun to build a fair tax system, making sure that those who benefit most from our economy pay their fair share:
The banks, multinationals and international property investors who have enjoyed a free ride for far too long.
This Budget has failed to deliver on these modest demands.
It is a Budget short on ideas, short on policies, short on solutions.
It is a Budget that lacks ambition, lacks direction, and lacks hope.
With nothing constructive left to offer the Taoiseach has nothing to offer but cheap jibes and cynicism.
All the while workers and families are struggling to keep the wolf from the door.
Regardless of any thing he says about Sinn Féin;
Introducing wolves to Ireland is not as farfetched a policy for this Government as it may sound.
After all;
They introduced vultures that have bought tens of thousands of family mortgages at discount rates.
They have introduced child homelessness as a permanent feature of our society.
They have laid out the red carpet to cuckoo funds and speculators that have bought up our cities, pushed up prices and left young people and families locked out of the property market and locked in to an unaffordable rental system.
This is the Government’s record.
This Budget appears to have heeded some calls from Sinn Féin in tackling serious tax avoidance among property investors through REITs and IREFs.
Not least the Capital Gains exemption for properties sold when they’ve been held by REITs for three years or more.
In April this year, GREEN REIT, a billionaire property fund who have made a fortune from the property crisis, used the rules of the game to avoid around 100 million in tax.
Instead of paying commercial stamp duty at a rate of 6 percent, a sale of their properties to an international buyer at a rate of 1 percent has lost the State 67 million in revenue.
This measure alone would have stemmed the sell-off,
And generated 36 million that would fund the provision of medical cards to over 17 thousand cancer patients for the duration of their treatment.
Real policies, real solutions.
This Government have nothing left to offer.
Níl aon ní fagatha ag an rialtas seo le tairiscint.
Public Finances
It has been a bad year for this Government and the public finances.
Despite a growing economy, the country’s debt is higher now than it was when this Government took office.
At the same time, the Taoiseach’s flagship tax policy lies in tatters.
In 2016 his party promised to abolish the Universal Social Charge.
A promise they have broken.
Last year the Taoiseach promised to deliver a 2.3 billion euro tax cut for workers paying the higher rate in every Budget over the next five years.
Today the Taoiseach has broken his promise.
It is just as well.
Based on the Government’s own figures, the Taoiseach’s only big idea would have blown a hole in the public finances and created a budget deficit of more than 350 million euros next year,
With more borrowing and higher debt.
His short stint in office has been marked by bad ideas, broken promises and a reckless misuse of public resources.
At a time when every euro is precious for so many people;
Who work hard to pay rent, to cover childcare costs, and pay their bills;
Fine Gael has made wasting taxpayers’ money official Government policy.
We have a National Broadband Plan that will see taxpayers subsidize a private consortium to the tune of 3 billion euros, for infrastructure that the State will never own.
We have a National Children’s Hospital that has seen costs escalate by more than 450 million euros.
We have found out this weekend that the Department of Health will require a 350 million euro bailout next month just to break even.
I only hope Minister Harris is not reshuffled to the Department of Finance any time soon, or the country could be bankrupt within a month.
The headline figures from the Government’s White Paper this weekend showed that the public finances are set to enjoy a budget surplus of 600 million euro for 2019.
The figures also reveal that this surplus has been delivered entirely by unexpected and unsustainable corporation tax receipts.
Corporation tax is now the third biggest revenue raiser for the State, with nearly half of it coming from just ten companies that could each leave tomorrow.
If they did, what then?
Our tax base eroded, our public finances vulnerable, and our public services exposed to the whims of foreign multinationals.
Brexit
It is in this context Minister, that our country faces the challenges posed by Brexit.
The strategy of Boris Johnson and the DUP has no regard for business, workers and communities;
For the consent of the people of this island, North and South.
There is no good Brexit, no safe landing zone for our country.
But no one is more at risk than those who have endured the sharp edge of partition:
In the North and in our border counties.
Is léir gurb é Éire Aontaithe agus neamhspleách an t-aon réiteach amháin ar fadhb an Bhreatimeachta.
The industries most affected will be small exporters, particularly those in the agri-food sector.
Uncertainty and the threat of customs checks will bring significant disruption to north-south supply chains.
Sinn Féin has supported the EU negotiating strategy with the British Government; alongside other parties across this island, to protect the Good Friday Agreement and our all-island economy.
And we support the Minister’s decision to deficit spend in the event of a No Deal Brexit.
Sinn Féin’s economic response to Brexit has based on two priorities.
Supporting businesses, sectors and regions that are vulnerable.
Stimulating the wider economy to protect jobs and livelihoods.
What does this mean?
It means increasing capital investment throughout the State by 1.3 billion, creating 5 thousand additional apprenticeships, increasing funding for Enterprise Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, and increasing the R&D tax credit for SMEs.
Whatever the outcome.
The greatly anticipated Rainy Day Fund has finished before it even started, with no money going into it from this year’s revenue.
The Rainy Day Fund was a badly designed policy that Sinn Féin opposed since its inception.
The legislation that underpinned it allowed it to be used only in exceptional circumstances or to bail out the banks, not to deal with the challenges Brexit poses.
I am glad that Government have today changed course and adopted the Sinn Féin position.
By announcing a €1.2bn potential fund Minister, you have heeded Sinn Féin’s calls about needing active fiscal support.
For at least a year, we have called for the Rainy Day Fund to be replaced with a 2 billion euro Stabilization Fund to support jobs, businesses and communities at risk from the disruption.
This is what’s needed, and the government would do right to stick to this advice.
I now want to say something else.
Brexit was always going to have an impact on this Budget, Minister.
But it shouldn’t have defined it.
You have used Brexit as cover.
An excuse for failure.
Outpatient waiting lists are at their highest since records began with over 569,000 patients waiting for a hospital appointment.
That was not caused by Brexit.
Over ten thousand citizens are homeless and average rents have increased by twenty percent since you took office.
That wasn’t caused by Brexit.
Everything and anything this Budget failed to deliver has been blamed on Brexit.
But the public finances can be safeguarded and the people’s priorities delivered at the same time.
Tax
The parameters of this budget were not set by Brexit.
They were set by you and your Government.
This Budget could have given workers and families a break had the right choices been made.
Deis ab ea an buiséad seo chun faoiseamh a thabhairt don lucht oibre agus do teaghlaigh atá ar an anás, ach cuireadh an deis sin amú.
I will not go through every tax measure today because time will not allow it.
But I will make a number of observations.
On the Earned Income Tax Credit we have another year where we don’t quite get there. It should have been fully equalised this year, no ifs, no buts.
Commercial Stamp Duty should increase, not by 1.5%, but by 4%. There are speculators making millions on property especially in this city that should be taxed more.
On SARP, we have to ask how discredited does a tax relief for high earners have to be before it is scrapped? The tax loophole lobby can’t believe their luck that they have got away with getting SARP extended. It should be consigned to the dustbin.
It is a decade since taxpayers bailed out the banks to the tune of 67 billion.
The Government pumped billions into AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Anglo and Irish Nationwide.
It was done at great social and financial cost.
Today that bill stands at 42 billion;
With the State’s financial watchdog estimating that taxpayers will continue to pay over 1 billion every year;
Simply to service the debt the banks created.
All the while, these banks enjoy a privileged tax break they have done nothing to deserve.
By being allowed to carry forward historic losses against their profits, they have been able to reduce their corporation tax bill to zero.
And will continue to do so for the next 20 years despite making multi-billion euro profits.
That is unfair and unjustified.
It is time to listen to Sinn Féin and end this tax break for the bailed-out banks.
Your friends at the Banking and Payments Federation may disagree with me Minister, but the people of this country will not.
Ending this tax break would alone generate an additional 175 million in revenue.
175 million, Minister.
That measure alone would pay for:
An increase of 5 euros to the Carers allowance and benefit,
And an increase of 9 euros to the Disability allowance.
In addition, it would have covered half the cost of an annual Back to School bonus of 140 euros to help families send their children to school.
These measures alone would have delivered for citizens with disabilities, prioritized the interests of our children, and given parents a break.
Sinn Féin would have made that choice.
You haven’t. You prioritized the interests of the banks instead.
You have FINALLY attempted to get a handle on tax avoidance exploited by property investors. But it is too little too late.
Indeed, by increasing the Dividend Withholding Tax to the rate of Capital Gains, at 33%, you could have raised an additional €35m.
Which in turn could have provided free public transport to all children up to the age of eighteen.
Encouraging the use of public transport and providing the alternatives needed to reduce emissions.
Ending the Special Assignee tax relief, which allows multinational executives to write off a third of their salary from income tax, would have raised an additional 15 million.
To give an example Minister, a multinational executive who moves to Dublin on a one million euro salary is able to dodge over 123 thousand euros of income tax.
This means that were any other worker pays 40 percent income on their salary above the standard rate band, a millionaire executive pays 28 percent.
How can you justify that?
Ending this scheme would provide for the improved pay and conditions our Defence Forces deserve;
And end the scandal of our defence force staff living in poverty or sleeping in cars.
And it would restore the weekly training allowance of 32 euros for school leavers with disabilities that the Minister for Health cynically cut last month.
This is not fantasy economics, Minister.
And it has nothing to do with Brexit.
These are choices Sinn Féin would have made.
It is the alternative Sinn Féin offers.
Instead of tackling the inequality in our society,
Instead of ensuring that those most able to shoulder the burden pay their fair share,
The banks, international investors and super rich;
You have chosen to distill your entire climate action plan into a regressive tax on households.
Today’s increase in carbon tax is no panacea to the climate crisis.
It is a box ticking exercise.
Taxes are implemented to serve one of two purposes, to change behavior or raise revenue.
Carbon tax as it stands has generated 400 million every year since 2015, without any real change in the behaviour of citizens or the policies of this Government.
Behavioral change can only take place when alternatives are available.
And alternatives require investment.
Investment in public transport, renewable energies and energy-efficient homes, at a level that meets the scale of the climate crisis we face.
And yes, that requires revenue.
Sinn Féin have shown how revenue can be raised through progressive taxation, closing loopholes and making sure that those who can pay do pay their fair share.
Instead this Government has chosen to hike the carbon tax by 6 euros per tonne and take 90 million out of peoples’ pockets,
A measure that is recognized by your own Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute to be regressive;
Hitting poorer households, rural areas, and single parent families hardest.
It will not change their behavior. It will make them poorer.
Electric charging points here and there, and tokenistic increases to deeply flawed grant schemes will not cut it Minister.
This does not pass as meaningful climate action given the scale of the threat posed by climate breakdown.
This is a sorry answer to the Climate Crisis,
This is not a just transition.
Sinn Féin are once again putting forward effective, radical and realistic alternatives to the climate challenge.
This is Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s answer to the Climate Crisis.
Social Protection & Low Incomes
This is a tax that will hit low-income households and the most vulnerable in our society hardest, without offering alternatives or adequate respite.
Every year as the Budget approaches, these very people, our most vulnerable, who rely on social security supports, hope for an increase in their payment rate.
Lone parents, jobseekers, parents raising families, citizens with disabilities and carers.
This is because current rates are simply inadequate.
They do not protect households or children from poverty.
Had you listened to Sinn Féin, taking the political football out of this issue, and responding to need based on evidence, you would have known that.
The social welfare package announced by government today is less than one third of the size of the package proposed by Sinn Féin. Today’s social welfare package fails to give families, lone parents, carers and people with disabilities the break they badly need.
The government’s approach is to tweak at the edges of lots of different schemes. This will enable them to make lots of announcements but it will not give people the real break that only the across-the-board increases advocated by Sinn Féin would provide.
In our Alternative Budget Sinn Féin advocated a €5 increase to all weekly rates and €9 on disability payments in order to begin to recognise the additional costs to which disability gives rise.
Ensuring that those who rely on social supports receive an income that is adequate to secure a basic standard of living for them and their families.
Sinn Féin’s priorities for Social Protection focus on those in our society who live in deep income inadequacy;
Lone parent families, families with older children.
Déantar measúnú ar an tsochaí ar conas a tacaíonn sé lena daoine is laige sa phobal.
And, despite today’s announcement, many young jobseekers under the age of 26 will continue to receive reduced rates of payment based on age discrimination;
Discrimination introduced by Fianna Fáil and the Greens in 2009 and perpetuated by Fine Gael and Labour in the years that followed.
At present those aged 18 to 24 receive up to 90 euro less than those older than 26 each week.
Sinn Féin would restore the full rate regardless of age within 2 years.
Because that is the right thing to do.
The government will try to make much today of their moves on jobseekers allowance for 18 to 25 year olds. They may even claim to be restoring equality and full rates. But let’s look at the figures because the figures don’t lie. The government are allocating 5.2 million to jobseekers allowance for the under 26s. We know from figures provided to us by the Department of Public Expenditure that the cost of restoring equality or full rates for these younger jobseekers is €59.9million. Sinn Féin proposed to allocation half of that i.e. €30 million next year.
We know from CSO data that lone parent families experience consistent poverty at a rate five times higher than other families;
And are more likely to experience deprivation.
Sinn Féin have continually called for the establishment of a Child Maintenance Service, similar to that available to lone parents in the North.
We know that child maintenance reduces child poverty – something this Government has abjectly failed to achieve.
That failure is felt by one in five children in Ireland who live in poverty today.
Sinn Féin would also increase the age cut-off for the One Parent Family Payment scheme.
We want to ensure that lone parents are properly supported to care for their children up to the age of 14, instead of forcing them into poverty when their child turns 7.
This cut, introduced by the Labour Party, has not been reversed despite clear evidence that it has led to increased deprivation for lone parent families.
The Working Family Payment was set up to support working parents with children.
The existing threshold of 19 hours per week means that many lone parents, often women, who work while raising a family on their own, typically miss out on this support.
Sinn Féin would support these working parents by reducing the threshold to 15 hours.
Understanding the costs families and parents face, Sinn Féin would provide a 5 euro boost in the Qualified Child Increase for children above the age of 12.
We also proposed an annual double payment of Child Benefit be paid each summer in recognition of high back to school costs. And extending Child Benefit to cover 18 year olds who are still in school.
Giving workers and families a break.
The Government has offered nothing for these families today.
Or for those on low incomes.
With over one quarter of all workers in low pay, Ireland has the third highest proportion of low paid workers in the developed world.
In a country with soaring rents, rip-off insurance premiums and run-away childcare costs, Leo’s Republic of Opportunity does not reward work.
Sinn Féin want to change that, making work pay and deliver a decent standard of living.
That is why Sinn Féin is the Living Wage party.
But this government should be appalled that, as families and workers face into the mouth of Brexit, you have left them high and dry.
You have deprived them of the minimum wage increase that they deserve.
As costs of living continue to soar, and with a no-deal Brexit on the doorstep, you have abandoned ordinary people once again.
Health
This weekend the Irish Hospital Consultants Association voted no confidence in this Minister for Health.
Just as Sinn Féin did in February, despite opposition from Fianna Fáil who kept him in his post.
A Minister who lacks the authority, inclination or experience to deliver timely, quality hospital care for patients.
A Minister who had become increasingly complacent and deaf to the suffering of patients.
These are not my words Minister, but the words of our hospital consultants this weekend.
That is because the public health system is not working.
Nearly 700,000 people languish on hospital waiting lists.
Over 10 thousand hospital patients went without a bed last month.
These figures are unsustainable.
This Government is breaking records for all the wrong reasons.
It continues to fail patients, doctors and nurses.
Too many people can’t afford to see their GP.
Instead they hedge their bets, refusing to visit their GP until they suffer from enough ailments to justify the expense.
This is the stupidity that cuts through your dysfunctional health service.
Lack of access to primary care that increases costs and waiting lists in our hospitals.
This Budget could have delivered real improvements in the primary care system had the right choices been made.
As well as directly employing additional GPs into the public system and delivering full pay equalisation for consultants, Sinn Féin would have provided two free GP visits for every citizen in the State.
Lifting the burden of sickness from workers and families;
Beginning the path towards a health service that delivers for patients based on their needs rather than their ability to pay.
Ag dul i dtreo seirbhís sláinte atá in ann freastal ar riachtanais an othair.
Over 7 thousand people are waiting for home support care;
For the few hours of help they need just to live in their own homes.
Only last week Minister Daly said he was ashamed at the lack of supports for our older citizens.
But how has this Budget responded?
At present the waiting list for home help hours stands at 7,300.
7,300 older citizens who require home help hours to stay in their own homes.
With an average of 6 hours home help required each week for these citizens;
This Budget falls almost 1.5 million hours short of what is needed to clear the waiting lists and give our older people the support that they need.
What does that mean Minister?
It means that over 4 thousand older citizens will continue to languish on waiting lists, subject to the lottery of home care help that is currently in place.
This chamber has heard countless stories of workers who have cut their hours or give up their jobs just to care for their parents.
We all know families who have had to scrape together hard-earned money to pay for private homecare for their loved ones.
And parents of children with disabilities, who have become full-time carers because the support just isn’t there.
Minister, a 59 million investment in home support could have cleared this waiting list in its entirety.
That is what Sinn Féin has called for.
Imagine how workers and families who care for their loved ones would have felt,
Had the news filtered through that Government had decided to give them a break and offer them help.
Imagine how our older citizens would have felt had you delivered a speech that said, “we will ensure you can live at home with the dignity and respect you deserve by providing the home support and care that you need”.
That was achievable Minister, but you were unable to make that promise to all of those families and older citizens.
Your response to tackle hospital waiting lists has been to increase the money pumped into the private sector through National Treatment Purchase Fund to 100 million.
This is the breadth and depth of Fianna Fáil’s solutions to the health service.
Allocating scarce resources into the private health sector at the expense of improving patient care in public hospitals.
You could have listened to Sinn Féin’s proposal and provided a medical card to every patient with cancer for the duration of their treatment at a cost of 40 million.
Instead you have increased the threshold for medical cards for those over the age of 70.
Now Sinn Féin support any measure that extends health care on the basis of need, Minsiter.
We do not disagree with extending GP care to anyone.
But this measure is feeble. One that benefits only 36 thousand people.
What about those under the age of 70?
What about the young worker who earns only 185 euros after tax? There will be nothing for them.
Or the couple with a child an income of only 270 euros after tax? Again, there will be nothing for them either.
Sinn Féin would have rolled out 2 free GP visits for every citizen in this State, a real improvement in ordinary people’s lives, that would have lifted the burden of illness, and improved access to primary care.
You could have tackled the recruitment and retention crisis in our hospitals, listening to solutions that Sinn Féin have offered.
But you have given no definitive committment to hiring any new frontline health staff in the middle of a recruitment and retention crisis.
By employing 500 additional nurses and midwives and increasing capacity by opening an additional 500 hospitals beds.
Instead you have announced absolutely nothing regarding the reopening hospital beds.
And allocated a derisory €8million for National Cancer Strategy, National Maternity Strategy, National Trauma Strategy, and the National Ambulance Reform plan.
The national maternity strategy needs €75 million over 10 years, so that’s at least €7.5 million per year to keep it on track
Sinn Féin proposed rapid funding the national maternity strategy – double funding per year - €14m
And we proposed an investment of 12 million euros for three additional ambulances for each of the four HSE regions and the paramedics to staff them – a €12 million investment.
This Budget has done none of that.
You could have charted a better course for patients and our health service staff.
You chose not to.
Housing
Every day our attention is drawn to housing.
Renters handing a third of their pay packet to their landlord.
Families and couples struggling to find a home they can afford.
Homelessness figures that reach more disturbing levels.
Rents that continue to rise with no sign of letting up.
The housing crisis has become wrapped up in stats and figures, instead of focusing on the core issues, the human stories, and the real solutions.
Let’s face facts.
Things are no better now than they were last year.
Over 10 thousand people were recorded homeless at the end of August for the seventh month in a row.
Nearly 4 thousand of them children.
The number of child homeless has increased by 365 percent during five years of economic growth.
With children growing up in hotels and B&Bs.
We have come a long way from the promise of the Republic.
These faceless figures hide the hidden homeless.
Young people who have returned to the homes of their parents to raise their own families.
There are stories behind the numbers.
Tenants still face rip-off rents that are rising faster than their incomes.
It now costs more than 17 hundred euros a month to rent in Dublin.
The picture is not much better elsewhere.
Young people are locked out of secure and affordable accommodation,
Whether they hope to own or to rent.
It is better to be a vulture fund or international property investor in today’s Ireland than a worker or a family planning for the future.
This is no country for young people.
They have driven social change and broadened our horizons, but this Government has lowered theirs.
Our housing system is broke.
And what have you done today to fix it?
Nothing.
This is a status quo budget for housing.
Given that status quo is an escalating housing crisis, rising homelessness and runaway rents, this is not a Budget for tenants or workers or families trying to get on the property ladder.
This is a budget with no additional targets for social housing, with build and acquisition targets unchanged.
And no affordable homes to be delivered in 2020.
With land hording contributing to the housing crisis, there has been no increase in the Vacant Site Levy, a gift to developers who sit on land and drive up land and house prices.
What this Budget does deliver are significant increases in subsidies for private landlords, with funding spending on HAP, RAS and leasing twice as big as funding for social housing.
Once again, this is a Budget for landlords.
With an additional 20 million allocated for homeless service, it seems this Government has acknowledged that homelessness with continue to rise.
In short, this is not a Budget for renters or anyone looking for a home.
The only thing Fianna Fáil have to show from this Budget is a botched Help to Buy Scheme that has failed to deliver on any of its objectives;
And at a cost 100 million in 2020, 40 million more than has been allocated for additional social housing.
Eighty percent of purchases through the scheme have been for properties costing more than 375 thousand, benefitting high income earners, not low and middle-income workers.
These are not my figures, but those of the Parliamentary Budget Office.
This is your affordable housing strategy.
This is what Fianna Fáil have to show from weeks of Budget negotiations.
Nothing for low and middle income earners trying to buy a home.
Like so many of their policies, their only idea for housing is a bad one.
Sinn Féin have a vision for housing that has at its centre a citizens’ right to a home.
Fís nach bhfuil díríthe ar riachtanais an mhargaidh a shásamh ach ceann atá tiomanta do riar ar riachtanais saoránach, teaghlaigh agus páistí.
It is a vision backed up by solutions.
To hold a referendum and enshrine the right to housing in our constitution.
To introduce an emergency three-year rent freeze and provide a refundable tax credit worth one month’s rent for all renters not in receipt of HAP or RAS.
This measure alone would put one month’s rent back in tenants’ pockets next year, giving them a break and the breathing space to save and plan for the future.
This Government has built homes at a glacial pace, with a Rebuilding Ireland Programme that has failed on all counts.
Sinn Féin have provided for large scale investment in public housing in our alternative proposals.
We would double capital investment in public housing, increasing the output of social and affordable homes in 2020 and delivering an additional 8,700 housing units;
Empowering local authorities to develop sustainable communities on public land with social, cost rental and affordable purchase homes.
Can this be done? Of course it can.
Following the advice of the Chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, and ending the tax break that allows huge multinationals to write off on-shored intangible assets against their profits, would alone generate 750 million next year.
Resources that could be used to invest in secure and affordable homes.
These are choices Sinn Féin would make.
This is another Budget that has failed to deliver for renters and families.
Childcare & Education
Families are also looking for a break as they contend with the rising costs of childcare.
It has never been harder to raise a family.
The current system is broken, with subsidies only ever chasing rising costs.
A childcare sector that is driven solely by profit is failing children, parents and workers.
Low pay, high costs and revelations of substandard care on RTÉ, are the inevitable consequence of a childcare service reduced to the operations of the market.
What is on offer today does little to make it easier.
Sinn Féin would commence a 5-year transformational programme of reform that would make childcare affordable and give parents a break.
Despite working for to give our kids the best start in life, childcare workers are underpaid and undervalued.
Sinn Féin would change that, introducing a proper pay scale that begins above the Living Wage and recognizes the value of their profession.
At the same time, we would cut the cost of childcare by two thirds.
Sinn Féin’s childcare plan would have slashed the cost of childcare by 13 percent next year alone, putting money back into parents’ pockets and giving families a break.
Our plan would have cut the cost for parent by 100 euros per child per month in 2020.
And it would have been done by allowing childcare providers to opt into this system, with workers paid and recognized as public servants, and fees capped at a reduced and affordable level for families.
That is the Childcare service that only Sinn Féin can deliver.
Sin an tseirbhís cúram leanaí nach bhfuil aon pháirtí eile ábalta a chur ar fáil ach Sinn Féin.
This Budget falls far short of that ambition, for families and parents.
Families expected more Gardaí on our streets to keep them safe. Today’s announcement is entirely unfit to meet these expectations.
Up to 700 Guards is not enough, and certainly not when will retire this year.
This is 400 net extra gardaí – only half of what Templemore college can deliver.
And while we welcome the additional staffing support in our schools, little has been announced today that will help families with the costs of education.
You have not tackled college and university fees, you have done little to ease the cost of sending kids back to primary and secondary education.
Conclusion
Today we have had a do-nothing Budget from a do-nothing Government.
This time Brexit is the excuse for a Government that is out of ideas and out of time.
When we subtract what has been taken from what has been given,
This Budget has delivered little for workers and families.
This is not the Budget Sinn Féin would have delivered.
Sinn Féin would have would have brought forward real and deliverable solutions, putting citizens, not vested interests, at the centre of our economy, at the top of our priorities.
That would have tackled the rip-off costs faced by countless families – sky-high premiums, extortionate rents and eye-watering childcare or back to school costs.
That would have raised incomes and made sure that work delivers a secure standard of living.
That would have given workers and families a break.
It must be the role of the State - in promoting the development of an economy that serves everyone and all - to take a side and take a stand for what it right and what is good.
They are the values we must abide by; stepping up and providing where there are failings, rectifying wrongs where they’ve been made and taking charge where the State has abdicated its responsibility.
This Budget has failed to deliver on these values.
Ní bhfaighidh oibrithe nó teaghlaigh faoiseamh ón bhuiséad seo.
Sinn Féin will continue to lead the way, and one day you might listen.
