Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has criticised the government’s Budget for being short on ideas, short on policies, and short on solutions.

The Sinn Féin TD said the Budget only delivered for bankers, vulture funds, developers, speculators, landlords, and the wealthy.

Crowe said Sinn Féin’s Alternative Budget showed how the government could have created a progressive Budget to tackle the health and housing crisis, but they chose to continue to underfund vital public services.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“This budget could put money back in people’s pockets and improved their access to public services.

“It could have made sure that work pays and delivers security and the chance to plan for the future.

“It could have begun to build a fair tax system, making sure that those who benefit most from our economy pay their fair share – the banks, multinationals and international property investors who have enjoyed a free ride for far too long.

“This budget has failed to even deliver on these modest demands. It is a budget short on ideas, short on policies, short on solutions.  It is a budget that lacks ambition, lacks direction, and gives little hope to workers and their families.

“Instead it ticks a lot of boxes for bankers, vulture funds, developers, speculators, landlords, and the wealthy.

“Sinn Féin would have would have brought forward real and deliverable solutions, putting citizens, not vested interests, at the centre of our economy and at the top of our priorities.

“We would have tackled the rip-off costs faced by countless families – sky-high premiums, extortionate rents, eye-watering childcare costs and rising back to school costs.

“Our Alternative Budget would have raised incomes and made sure that work delivers a secure standard of living.”

Deputy Crowe continued:

“We have an unprecedented amount of homeless families in Dublin, the trolley crisis is worsening, and the waiting lists for support services In Dublin South West is growing.

“There is a total of 6,480 children waiting for treatment or an assessment in the CHO7 area, which covers Dublin South West, Dublin South City, Dublin West, Kildare, and West Wicklow. Dublin South West has the highest number of children waiting longer for an assessment than any other area in the group and some are waiting over 24 months for an initial assessment.

“This Budget doesn’t deliver anything for these children and their families.

“Dublin has become one of the most expensive cities in the world to have a child in and the government seem to have no clue how to give working families a break. 

“There is nothing in this Budget for hard pressed renters while the real winners are the landlords and those profiteering from the housing crisis, just as it has been for every Fine Gael Budget we have seen. 

“Budgets are about choices and Sinn Féin would choose to invest in services that will make a real difference to ordinary families by reducing the cost of living and allowing those families the benefit of knowing that a parent will not have to give up work to mind a child or children; that if that child falls sick, that there is a bed for them in a hospital and not a trolley or a never ending waiting list; that they need not panic that the next time the car has a fault or schoolbooks need buying.”

ENDS