The Government is “incapable of delivering real change”, Sinn Féin spokesman Pearse Doherty said during his criticism of Budget 2025, as he described the Coalition as having been “exposed over and over again as serial wasters”.
Mr Doherty referred to the controversial Leinster House bike shelter, the ever growing costs of the national children’s hospital and said the Government was “incapable of getting value for money”.
Delivering his budget reaction in the Dáil, the Sinn Féin TD said: “People hear about the millions and billions of euro but they do not feel better off. For most people it is about what they have at the end of the week and if, when the bills are paid, there is anything left.”
This was “not a giveaway budget” but a “giving-up-on-housing budget”, he said, adding that the Government has raised the white flag when it comes to housing, affordable housing and renters.
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Mr Doherty also hit out at Simon Harris as “a Taoiseach who cares more about headlines than he does about housing and this budget proves it”.
Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash described the budget as a “paradox of plenty” with the highest number of people ever at work yet one-in-five “subsists on wages below a living wage”.
“We have surpluses the envy of Europe, with public services and creaking infrastructure that should shame us,” Mr Nash said.
He said that following a decade of interrupted growth “money isn’t the problem”.
“It’s a lack of imagination and a lack of vision that is holding our country and people back,” Mr Nash said. The country needed a change of direction, he said, adding that “an election should be called now”.
Social Democrats finance spokeswoman Róisín Shortall described the massive budget package as “a giveaway on steroids” but “never has a Government had so much and done so little”.
The overriding purpose of the budget is “self-preservation of the Government parties”, Ms Shortall said. She said the budget had “all the hallmarks of a Bertie [Ahern] budget – spray money around, create a distraction and hope it’s enough to win an election”.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said despite all the resources available, the Government “has done nothing in this budget to address the housing catastrophe we face.” There was an opportunity to deliver a “transformative budget” but the Coalition had instead delivered a “splurge of once-off measures to buy a general election”.
This year’s target was 10,000 social houses and 6,000 affordable and next year’s was the same. “Absolutely incredible,” he said.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said the budget “is a McCreevy mark two, and it is more concerned with actually raising poll figures than raising people out of poverty”.
“The electricity credits that the Government has promised will be completely eroded by the PSO (Public Service Obligation levy) and carbon tax increases,” Mr Tóibín said, adding that nothing was being done about the fact that electricity prices in Ireland are the highest in Europe.
Regional Independent TD Seán Canney expressed concern for the northwest “a region in decline”. With all the money being spent today, he asked: “Where is the Galway city outer bypass?” Mr Canney added that there was “great news about Cork port but what about Galway port?” And he asked “what about the Western Rail Corridor?”
Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath said “the budget is good in spots but there’s lots of spots in it that could go awfully bad”.
