Opposition parties lay into coalition's budget
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The opposition lambasted the Government’s budget plans for 2024, with Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty accusing the coalition of only being on the side of landlords.
Speaking in the Dáil after Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe delivered their budget, Mr Doherty criticised the Government across both housing and health.
Hitting out at plans to change the tax treatment of landlords, Mr Doherty described it as the “stupidest” tax relief the Government has ever introduced.
“This sop to landlords will go down as one of the stupidest tax reliefs ever to be provided by a Minister for Finance in recent times. It is shameful what he is doing with public money in this regard,” Mr Doherty said.
Mr Doherty also criticised the Government’s proposed mortgage interest relief scheme, saying that Mr McGrath is “consciously” locking out tens of thousands of people from accessing the plan due to the 80,000 cap.
The party’s public expenditure spokesperson, Rose Conway-Walsh, described it as “another backslapping budget” by the Government.
Labour’s finance spokesperson, Ged Nash criticised the Government for reintroducing energy credits as part of the one-off package. “Here we have the return of our friend the energy credit. The very definition of an untargeted payment,” Mr Nash said.
“Popular, yes, but populist too. A questionable use of public money if ever there was one.”
He also said that the 25% cut to childcare costs from next September is an “eleventh-hour job to spare the blushes” of Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, saying he “only just” managed to convince his coalition colleagues.
Róisín Shortall, finance spokesperson for the Social Democrats, described Budget 2024 as “desperately short of ambition”, saying that it focused on short-term measures rather than long-term plans that would “substantially change our country for the better”.
In particular, Ms Shortall said that the €12 increase to social welfare rates is “not enough to insulate the most vulnerable from price increases” and said that people would be better served with a €25 hike.