Water charges mean tax cuts are ‘pathetically inadequate’

Sinn Féin has argued that the tax cuts announced in the budget are "pathetically inadequate" in comparison to the crippling water charges that struggling families now have to face.

The party claimed the Coalition’s first post-bailout budget would do little to mend crises in unemployment, housing, and health.

Amid heckling in the Dáil, independent TDs also dismissed the budget and said the concessions would not quell a revolt of water charges.