Sinn Féin Alternative Budget: ‘An Ireland for living in, not for merely getting by in’

AT the launch of the Sinn Féin Alternative Budget 2017, Pearse Doherty TD said that the party’s plan is about reducing the cost of living and investing in public services.

The Donegal deputy said that the Budget should be about fairness and that no family or community should be left behind.

The Fine Gael/Independent Government’s Budget will be unveiled next Tuesday, 11 October, with the backing of Fianna Fáil as part of their “Confidence and Supply Agreement”.

● Mary Lou McDonald TD: ‘We need to plan all-Ireland’

Introducing the Sinn Féin Alternative Budget 2017 launch in Dublin on Tuesday, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD said that 2017 must be a year of change:

“It must be a year when this government starts to do things differently and better. The days of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments agreeing backroom deals with wealthy corporations on sweetheart tax deals must end.”

She noted that things are starting to improve for some people and in some parts of the country and she said that this is welcome.

“For hundreds of thousands of others, though, the reality continues to be worries over money, having a roof over their head or paying hospital bills or back-to-school costs.

“The high cost of living and struggling public services means that many families are working long hours and still cannot make ends meet.”

The Dublin Central TD said:

“Budget 2017 needs to create an Ireland for living in, not for merely getting by in.

“We need to start using money wisely, by investing in the future, reducing the cost of living and providing proper public services.”

We need a real plan to bring our young people home and this time ensure that no longer shall our children, like our cattle, be brought up for export, she said.

“We need to plan all-Ireland.

“The outcome of the Brexit referendum has brought the absolute necessity of the all-Ireland economy into stark reality.

“Brexit is bad for Ireland, North and South – it will slow economic growth, undermine trade, make our exports more expensive and increase the cost of doing business.

“Brexit will cost jobs.

“The only way to protect against this is to act now to ensure that the North, along with the rest of Ireland, remains in the EU.

“An all-Ireland forum needs to be established to look at options that would allow this to happen, regardless of what happens in England and Wales, and we need to work with others across Europe for change.”

Sinn Féin’s priorities for Budget 2017 are straightforward, she said:

• Reduce the cost of living and invest in public services.

• Increase capital investment to build homes, schools, health facilities, flood relief works and roads.

•  Develop the all-Ireland economy and invest in long-term economic growth.

● Pearse Doherty TD: ‘Our priorities differ from the other parties’

On the basis of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil track records and commentary ahead of the actual Budget, Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said:

“Other parties have chosen tax breaks for high-earners over investment in public services but Sinn Féin has shown that we cannot fix our health services and our housing crisis if we go down that road.

“That is where our priorities differ from the other parties.

“We choose tax fairness, investment in services, and reducing the cost of living over massive tax cuts for high-earners.

“Our investment programme will help create 23,500 jobs next year and create additional jobs in the local economy.”

“It delivers tax fairness and it invests in economic growth across all Ireland.”

He outlined a number of key proposals in the Sinn Féin Alternative Budget:

• Put an additional €1.25billion into capital projects to help deliver more than 7,000 new homes, build new schools, repair local roads, provide flood relief works and upgrade water infrastructure.

• Allocate a fund of €111million to support families by reducing the cost of childcare fees by an average of €96 per week for children between 6 months and 3 years of age.

• Abolish water charges and the property tax, costing €498million combined.

• Invest an additional €500million in education to build and repair school buildings, reduce the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level, tackle third-level fees and create 1,000 additional apprenticeship places.

• Invest €267million in health to provide 500 additional hospital beds, reduce the prescription charge by €1 per prescription, increase ambulance cover and improve mental-health services.

• Support older people by providing an additional €270million for a range of financial supports, including to increase the state pension by €5.70 a week for more than 190,000 pensioners as well as restoring the full state pension to 65-year-olds who retire from work – i.e. an increase of €45 per week.

• Back rural Ireland by supporting job creation, reversing staffing cuts to small schools, restoring the farm assist payment and investing in rural transport and roads.

• Prioritise investment in disability services, including employing more Speech and Language Therapists and Resource Teachers, increasing respite care services by 20% and raising disability and carers’ allowances.

● David Cullinane TD: The only party that has the energy and vision to tackle head-on the structural investment issues we face today

David Cullinane TD, spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform, said that Sinn Féin’s capital investment plan “is the base from which to rebuild our society after the devastation of Fianna Fáil’s bank bailout the Fine Gael/Labour austerity agenda”.

He said that Sinn Féin would provide an additional €1.2billion in public capital funds for key areas of health, housing, education and transport to address the serious capacity issues in our public services and public infrastructure.

“The need for public investment has been highlighted by groups and organisations as diverse as IBEC, ESRI, NERI, TASC, the EU Commission, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Social Justice Ireland,” the Waterford TD said.

“We need to invest today to provide for economic and social growth tomorrow and to prepare for the challenges that Brexit will bring.”

He added that many of those working in the public sector have been under increasing pressure in recent years due to pay cuts, increased taxes, cuts to allowances and cut to payments of public sector pensions.

“In Budget 2017 we would begin to tackle this by reintroducing certain public sector allowances for new and recent teachers, nurses, doctors and gardaí.”

He concluded:

“Sinn Féin would also make the public sector a living wage employer.

“I am proud of our Alternative Budget, and proud to be a member of the only party in this state that has the energy and vision to tackle head-on the structural investment issues we face today, and to begin the process of addressing pay inequality in the public sector.”