Today’s budget is a giveaway on steroids that is bad for the public and bad for the State, according to Social Democrats finance spokesperson Róisín Shortall.
“Budget 2025 has just one overriding purpose – self-preservation of the Government parties.
“It bears all the hallmarks of a Bertie Budget – hardly surprising when you consider that Taoiseach Simon Harris recently invited the former Fianna Fáil leader to Government Buildings for a fireside chat.
“It is textbook electioneering, spraying money around in the hope that the Government can buy people’s votes with their own money.
“It will not make homes any more affordable or healthcare easier to access. It won’t increase the availability of childcare places or make disability services for children with additional needs more accessible.
“It will not allow disabled people to live more independent lives or better support older people to remain living at home, nor will it end the scandal of child poverty or inequality in our society.
“Because when the thin veneer of this budget is stripped away, it becomes clear that the emperor has no clothes.
“The complex array of one-off measures announced, while welcome, will not last long. Once these bonus payments dry up, people around the country will continue to struggle to pay their bills or put a roof over their heads.
“We all know that the only way to significantly drive down the cost-of-living is by investing in public services. That means quality childcare, genuinely free education, affordable housing, accessible healthcare, reliable public transport and strong social care delivered in the community.
“There is something seriously wrong with a country where children awaiting scoliosis surgery languish on waiting lists in agony for years while resources are frittered away on bonus payments and energy credits for all, including the wealthiest.
“There is also justifiable anger over the burning pyre of public money that is the endless budget for the new National Children’s Hospital, not to mention wasteful spending on €300,000 bike sheds, €1.5 million security huts and modular homes costing almost half a million euro each.
“This does not sound like a Government that can be trusted with a €25 billion surplus.”
October 1, 2024