Speaking at the launch of his party’s alternative budget today, Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe, said that Sinn Féin’s budget was essentially work and family friendly, and would lower the tax burden on families, protect public services, and facilitate investment in jobs.

Deputy Crowe said there were alternatives and numerous clear choices leading up to this budget and that working people would be better off under this Sinn Féin budget.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The Sinn Féin budget will reduce the tax burden on ordinary families. It will protect public services and invest in jobs.

“We have identified a series of taxation and savings measures, fully costed by government departments where ever possible, to reduce the deficit and pay for new proactive spending measures.

“These include giving 1.8 million homeowners a tax rebate by abolishing the property tax, restoring the respite grant for 86,000 carers, taking 296,000 low income workers out of the USC, providing free school meals to five hundred more schools and halving the cost of school books.

“It also includes giving every child under five free GP care, extending the fuel allowance by three weeks, protecting the vulnerable, which means no more cuts to disability payments, no more cuts to Child Benefit, no more cuts to social welfare and introducing a stimulus to create thousands of jobs.

“These proposals are all fully costed by the government’s budgetary costing unit and will deliver real hope to tens of thousands of families across the state.

“The budget document also sets out proactive measures to assist job creation, SMEs, the agriculture sector, and people in mortgage distress. It deals with corporation tax and natural resources and also stresses our commitment to equality budgeting.

“Our budget adjustment is just under €2.5billion. We believe that families need to be given a break. Austerity is not working. The government needs to lift the unfair burden off working families. With this document we show how the economy and people’s quality of life could be radically improved if fairer and better choices were made in the next budget.

“These budget proposals are an alternative to the current policies of austerity and should be mandatory reading for Ministers Howlin and Noonan.

“As I have consistently argued since this economic crisis began, there is a fairer and better way.”

ENDS