Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has reacted to Budget 2026 saying that the government had many opportunities to ease the cost of living burden on workers and families but chose not to take any of them.

Teachta Crowe said it will be all the harder to heat homes, get to work, and afford childcare after yesterday’s announcement.

Teachta Crowe said:

“Budget 2026 will go down as one of the worst missed opportunities in Irish political history. For two hours, we were told about how strong the economy was but how we couldn’t do anything to help ordinary workers and families. Instead, we were told it was essential to give tax breaks to big developers and restaurant chains.

“This government thinks McDonalds needs more help selling burgers than Irish families do heating their homes.

“This Budget is bad for workers, families, communities. Fuel price increases mean it will be all the more expensive to heat your home or drive to work. The failure to tackle the spiralling cost of childcare means that more and more families will have to consider getting one parent to stay at home instead of going out to work.

“The cynical funding cuts to Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces will undermine the sterling work they do in our communities. This government have stripped 25% of the funding to the groups working at the coalface to help those suffering from addiction and substance abuse. They need more funding and resources, not less.

“There was a failure to reduce the pupil/teacher ratio is particularly damning as this will affect schools right across the state, meaning fewer teachers in our schools. This is a source of great distress for parents here in Dublin South West where I have been contacted by hundreds of people who are worried that their child will be placed in a multi-grade classroom next September which is far from the ideal learning environment.

“The needs of those living with a disability have been ignored once more. This Budget means less support and less security for the more than one million people with a disability in Ireland today. Investing in services that the majority of people do not have access to will not solve the very real problems that our economy presents to people with a disability.

“This government had many opportunities to ease the cost of living burden on workers and families but chose not to take any of them. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have proven themselves incapable of managing our economy for the benefit of workers and families.”