BUDGET 2016: Opposition: Better-off were favoured

The main opposition parties have claimed the pre-election budget is “the final roll of the dice from a delusional Government intent on taking the short cut to popularity with a plan Charlie McCreevy would be proud of”.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin criticised Fine Gael and Labour’s €1.5bn tax cuts and benefit hikes giveaway, and alleged well-paid families will receive “10 times the gain” of the low-paid, as they warned the plan will ensure child poverty and homelessness are now Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s “badge of honour”.

Responding in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said despite the budget fanfare and “air of self-congratulation”, there is nothing to address growing societal problems.

The TD said the budget is the “final roll of the dice from a Government out of ideas and out of road”, adding it is a blatant short-cut to popularity.

Mr McGrath said under this Coalition, the better-off were favoured while lone parents, women, and the elderly were targeted for cuts and that Budget 2016 changes will see “high income couples get 10 times the gain” of their low-paid counterparts.

He said the Government’s housing announcements “are nothing short of pathetic” as they do not include long-hinted rent certainty, but noted it is “amazing you could still agree with giving yourselves a €900 tax-cut”.

Sinn Féin finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, said the budget is “the epitome of boom-bust” politics which “Charlie McCreevy would be proud of”.

The opposition front-bencher, who was speaking after yet another Dáil row over how Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin left for a press conference before hearing all responses, said “despite all the rhetoric” people on €70,000 are gaining three times someone on €28,000, a group he said are the real squeezed middle.

The Sinn Féin TD said the coalition “stole Fianna Fáil’s clothes” by “stuffing €181.9m into the pockets of the top 14%”, while throwing a few crumbs to everybody else.

Referencing a recent RTÉ radio interview with a young girl living with her family in a B&B who wondered how Santy is going to get in, an irate Mr Doherty said: “The budget is rubbish and you know it. This is the politics of old, it is as dishonest as it is wrong.”