For a fair economic recovery that leaves no family behind – Pearse Doherty at Sinn Féin Ard Fheis

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

‘Every step of the way, Sinn Féin has shown that there is a fair alternative – Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil don’t want to hear it’

OPENING the ‘Economy’ debate at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Wexford on Friday evening, Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said that the Sinn Féin alternative of reducing the tax burden on low-income and middle-income families, of protecting public services, and investing in jobs “are the ingredients of a real recovery, a fair recovery – a recovery that leaves no family behind”.

Warning that Fine Gael and Labour plan next year to pile more pressure on people with another €2billion in cuts and taxes, he said:

“Every step of the way, Sinn Féin has shown that there is a fair alternative.

“Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil don’t want to hear it.”

Pearse Doherty quoted the Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz who said this week:

“Every downturn eventually comes to an end. The mark of a good policy is that it succeeds in making the downturn shallower and shorter than it otherwise would have been. The mark of the austerity policies that many governments embraced is that they made the downturn far deeper and longer than was necessary, with long-lasting consequences.”

That is Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil’s legacy, the Sinn Féin TD said.

“They deepened and lengthened the recession and brought unnecessary, long-lasting consequences.”

The Fine Gael/Labour Government is keen to spin that we are now recovering, he said.

“But I ask – a recovery for whom?

“Where is the recovery for the over 100,000 families in mortgage distress?

“Where is the recovery for the growing number of homeless?

“Where is the recovery for our rural communities blighted by emigration and starved of investment?”

The Donegal deputy said that we are at the point where we must rebuild.

“Now is the time to ask ourselves what type of country do we want to live in?

“Do we want another period of austerity for low-income and middle-income families while the wealthy remain untouchable?

“Do we want an economy where workers are pitted against each other for low-paid jobs?

“Do we want an economy built on bubbles and where, when banks fail, the people have to foot the bill?”

Sinn Féin, he declared, stands for real recovery, “a fair recovery that is not based on taxing the roof we live under and the water we drink”.

He said that Sinn Fein stands for a country where the tax of hard-working people is not wasted on consultants paid obscene amounts to implement those unfair taxes.

“People’s taxes should go into jobs, infrastructure and fit-for-purpose public services.

“The Sinn Féin alternative of reducing the tax burden on low-income and middle-income families, of protecting public services and investing in jobs are the ingredients of a real recovery, a fair recovery – a recovery that leaves no family behind.”