Any fool can see austerity isn’t working – Crowe

Dublin South West Sinn Féin representative Seán Crowe TD has said that the revised growth and unemployment forecasts contained in the recently released Medium Term Fiscal Statement is extremely worrying and said that any fool can see that the Government’s policy of austerity isn’t working.

The report, released by the Department of Finance has significantly revised down their growth projections for 2013 and confirmed the belief that unemployment will remain high in the coming years.

Deputy Crowe said:

“Austerity is strangling the domestic economy. It is not working in Ireland and it is not working in countries right across Europe.  It is blocking a return to growth and forcing more and more people into emigration and unemployment.

“The Medium Term Fiscal Fiscal Statement highlights once again that the government’s policy of austerity isn’t working for its citizens and our economy.

“The potential for growth for 2013 has been revised downwards by 0.75% to 1.5%. While the Government has slightly revised upwards the projections for 2012 to 0.9% this is still lower than the 1.3% projected for 2012 outlined in last Decembers Fiscal Outlook.

“The report also confirms the Government’s expectation and belief  that unemployment will remain high, at 13% in 2015. Astonishingly this means that the Government is planning for an unemployment level of 13%.

“The reasons for all of this are very simple. Reducing government expenditure and cutting the disposable income of low and middle income people is keeping the domestic economy in recession. If these same people don’t have cash to spend this will impact directly onto the local economy effecting jobs and particularly those in the retail sector. 

“The other day we had a former Deputy Director of the IMF argue in the media that ‘perpetual austerity seems destined to fail.  We also read frightening  reports in newspapers of a Grant Thornton study that suggests that the tax burden on ordinary families could rise by as much as €3,000 in December’s budget.

“Any fool can see that austerity will not to revive the domestic economy. Yet despite all the evidence it seems that the Fine Gael and Labour look set to continue to heap the burden of the crisis on low and middle income families.

“Unless the government abandons this failed policy of austerity and start to seriously invest in jobs and growth then the economy will not recover and the next Fiscal Statement will again follow the now familar downward spiral.

“I believe like many others,  that there are many other  alternatives  that could move us from from austerity and its inevitable fallout.This  would involve stimulating the economy and using the existing available funding in areas like the national pension fund to create new jobs and at last give real hope to Irish citizens.

“Sinn Féin will be taking part in the Communities Against Cuts Pre-Budget Protest, organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions on Novemeber 24th. I would strongly urge people to attend to show their opposition to the Fine Gael/Labour Government’s policity of austerity. The protest will be assembling at the Garden of Remembrance, on Parnell Square at 1pm.”