Elaine Loughlin: Is Sinn Féin's alternative budget realistic?

The party proposes a significant spend on housing and health, funded by tax increases for those on higher incomes – but do the numbers add up?

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald at the Alex Hotel in Dublin for the launch of Sinn Féin alternative Budget 2022 proposals. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins 

In an alternative budget that is about "putting workers and families first", Sinn Féin has promised to tackle housing, health and childcare.

There are some nuggets in the document that, if Sinn Féin were in power, would undoubtedly be welcomed, including a new two-week parental bereavement payment, a €10 weekly increase to working-age social welfare payments and the commitment to cut childcare costs by two-thirds.