Sinn Féin's finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, described the statement as "a damp squib".

“It does not take a bloodhound to smell an election in the air.”

Mr Doherty said the statement represented “the nod- and-wink promises and actions that will mean nothing to the majority of people for many months to come, if they materialise at all”.

The Government had opted for “an election salvo, trying to suggest to the people that the bad old days are behind them and that Fine Gael-Labour are reformed parties that now care about the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable”.

It was asking the people to forget about all the cuts to child benefit, young people’s social welfare benefits, and the imposition of the austerity unleashed by it over the past four years.

Mr Doherty warned the Government the electorate was “cute” and had learned many lessons under this and previous governments.

“They know about false promises. They also know when an election is in the air and how political parties in government deal with the electorate.”

The statement was the first chapter in next year’s budget. “Unfortunately the next chapter will be after the decisions the Government will announce in October. This Government is not genuine when it comes to political reform.”

He accused the Government of shifting the tax burden to struggling low- and middle-income families.

Austerity taxes “Sinn Féin has a positive vision for this society and economy

. We would get rid of bad and unfair austerity taxes like water charges and the family home tax.”

Mr Doherty said his party thought it was right to tax those individuals earning over €100,000, particularly when the top 1 per cent owned 12 per cent of the State’s wealth.

“We also think promising a tax cut and a pay rise for the Taoiseach and other politicians on the same day that 368 people are lying on trolleys in our hospitals is wrong.”

The Government, he said, had long since lost the people’s trust.