SINN FEIN REACTION:SINN FÉIN finance spokesman Arthur Morgan said the Budget would drive the economy into further recession.
“It is wrong to cut social welfare. It is wrong to cut the pay of public sector workers on the average wage of €1,500,” he said.
“It is wrong to cut child benefit. We are opposed to today’s Budget because there is an alternative that will work.”
The Minister for Finance, he said, had repeatedly said the worst was over and that the State had turned the corner. “The question is: who exactly is the worst over for?” asked Mr Morgan.
“It is not the half-million people who are out of work. It is not the young people who were cynically targeted by the Government today.”
He said he had heard the Minister say it was too complicated to bring in a higher rate of tax for people earning more than €2,000 a week, remove the PRSI ceiling and standardise tax reliefs.
“I guarantee you that there are many people out there this evening – widows, people on disability payments, people who lost their jobs – who wish it was more complicated to take more money from them,” he said.
“They wish there was some scheme to protect their €204 a week or their Christmas bonus.”
People did not want to be patronised or offered meaningless platitudes, he said. Nor did they want false hope – they wanted answers and real jobs for real pay, he added.
“Can we blame young people if they are cynical and disillusioned with the political system?” he asked.
“Can we blame them if they see no future in this country? Young people are experiencing the highest rates of unemployment, and young couples who bought homes and started families in the last couple of years are suffering the most from negative equity and cuts to child benefit.”
