Paul Murphy slams budget as return to 'capitalist normal'

The Government's spin is that this is a back-to-normal budget after Covid, and yes it is, back to the capitalist normal of reliance on the market, which means a further deepening of the housing crisis, when rents are completely out of control, when prices are going through the roof and when there are 10,000 people home. It means a further growth of the hospital waiting lists, with already close to a million people on them, while public money continues to be funneled to private healthcare, and it means continuing to fiddle while the world burns and climate catastrophe approaches. During Covid, the Government was forced to take action that it previously said could not be done. It was forced, given the inadequacies of our own public healthcare system, to take the private healthcare system into the public system, although of course they did it at an extortionate and outrageous cost. They were forced to have a rent freeze and ban on evictions. They were forced to introduce a PUP at a level designed that people could actually survive on. But now it is back to normal. Payments for carers, pensioners and unemployed people at a level below the poverty line. It is National Fiver Day. The Government wants a pat on the back for giving all these vulnerable groups of people a fiver. But the irony is that in the Minister's own speech, he admits that the inflation rate is going to be 3.7%. The Government is not giving people a fiver. You can do the maths yourself. People are on a payment of just over 200 euros. A 5 euro increase is an increase of 2.5%. What has been given to people is less than the rate of inflation. So what the Government is imposing on carers, pensioners and unemployed is a cut. A cut in real terms is contained in this Budget. On housing, we have returned to the normal. Rule by landlords for landlords. There is literally nothing here. For renters. Not a single item in the Budget for renters. Whereas on the other side, for big landlords, for developers, we have a full suite of tax breaks. We have an extension, yet again, of the Help to Buy scheme, better called the Help to Profit scheme. A scheme that was originally inserted, lobbied for by the CIF, by the construction industry. Designed simply to push up prices and put money into the pockets of private developers. Extended, yet again. We have an extension of the pre-letting expenses relief for landlords. Another tax relief for landlords. And most horrifying of all is the pathetic zoned land tax. Fianna Fáil campaigned in the general election on the basis of increasing the vacant site tax to 14% from the 7% that it is currently at. They come to power. They have the Ministry of Housing. And then, instead of following through on their promise, to double it from 7% to 14%, they cut it. They cut it from 7% to 3%. What is it they say about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose? It is a pretty generous way of describing the gap between the promises and the reality, which is going to put more money into the pockets of speculators and developers, and will not incentivise at all land hoarders to give up the land. Because the 3% is not only below inflation, it is substantially below the increase in land prices. Therefore, there is no incentive at all for these people to stop land hoarding. On healthcare, the big headline is that the Government is going to increase the number of ICU beds by 19. Fair play to you. We have one of the lowest rates of ICU beds in the OECD per 100,000 people. It was one of the reasons we had such long extended lockdowns, we were badly exposed to Covid. An extra 19 is going to still leave us right at the bottom of that table. It is completely inadequate. The Government will try to make much of an extra 37 million euros for mental health. Weigh that against the extra billion plus that is actually required if we are to reach the WHO recommended level of 12% of our overall health budget. It is pathetic. But yet what is happening at the exact same time, contained in the very same budget, is an extra 50 million euros to go to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. In other words, more money that will go out of the public system and into the private system, as opposed to investing in building a National Health Service free at the point of use, which is what we need. On climate, this is quite an incredible line from Minister Donoghue. Studies have shown that carbon taxation is likely to be the single most effective climate policy which can be pursued by Government. There is no source or citation or anything like that whatsoever to back up that ridiculous, untrue, non-evidence-based notion. Actually, the evidence is quite clear. Carbon taxes have been introduced in multiple jurisdictions. One study looked at 19 jurisdictions. They found the impact in terms of carbon emissions was modest at best. And they also significantly found that if you rely on that measure, it will take 110 years to do what is necessary. We do not have 110 years, we have 10 years. Really, a country like Ireland should be hitting zero carbon emissions by 2030. But it is a regressive measure. Even the SRI admits that it is a regressive measure that will hit working-class people hard. It makes their lives harder in a context where people do not have, in many circumstances, an alternative. But really, this nonsense idea that studies have shown that it is the most likely to have an impact is an excuse. It is an excuse for not doing what is necessary. It is an excuse for not standing up to the big polluters in this country. It is not standing up to big agribusiness. It is an excuse for not standing up to the fossil fuel industry. It is an excuse to not dramatically shifting policy and implementing the kind of radical eco-socialist policies that are necessary, ultimately a democratically planned economy, to have the rapid transition that we need. Instead, what we have, in addition to the carbon tax, is the very definition of a half measure. It is half-price public transport for 19 to 23-year-olds. I really think, in the face of climate catastrophe that we are facing, with the Greens in government, it is just pathetic. What we need, and we have been arguing for it for years and years and years, including it in our budget statement, what we need is free, green and frequent public transport. There is no reference, in either of the Minister's speeches, to the biodiversity crisis. Not one. Is that any surprise? Because the Government, yet again, is going to fund the greyhound industry more than they fund the National Wildlife and Parks Service. They are going to give 19 million euros to the greyhound industry. Absolutely incredible. I have to say, my jaw almost hit the floor when it was announced that the Government is giving an extra 63 million euros tax break to the banks. With KBC and Ulster Bank pulling out of the Irish market, laying off thousands of workers, the Government is going to give them a parting gift of an exemption from the bank levy. I wonder what sort of lobbying took place. On what basis is it justified to say you do not have to pay the 63 million euros that otherwise you would have to pay? 63 million would be enough to abolish all inpatient and emergency department charges for public patients. It would be enough to hire 100 speech and language therapists, 100 psychologists, 100 OTs and 100 physiotherapists, and still have enough left over to restore housing adaptation grants to 210 levels. But instead of improving our health services and supporting people with disabilities, the Government is striving to give another tax break to the banks. Back to the normal, all right in terms of the approach of this Government. The Government made a choice in this Budget, and that is a choice to protect the rich. Every year People Before Profit proposes a millionaire's tax on the assets of the super rich. Every year Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael reject it. This year the millionaire's tax would raise more than ever before. That is because the amount of wealth held by the millionaires in this country is more than ever before. Household wealth increased by almost 90 billion. In one year it is now almost 900 billion. The top 5% of that, all millionaires, have almost 40% of that, over 350 billion between them. A millionaire's tax, a 2% tax on assets over a million euros, would provide enough money to fund free college education for all, free school meals in every school nationwide, free public transport for all, as well as reducing the pension age to 65 and building 10,000 extra homes. The point is that the wealth is there. But to build these universal public services, we will need to kick out the Government and fight for a left Government committed to eco-socialist change. Finally, I want to just comment on the promises around free contraception. I think the fine print attached to this proposal is quite scandalous. After years of saying it could not be done, the Government has agreed to fund free contraception. But then you look at the fine print and what the Government is doing is sneaking in disgraceful and sexist restrictions upon that measure. According to what was announced today, free contraception will only be available to women under 25. First, Count Corla, I am sure this is not news to you, but people over the age of 25 also have sex and do not all want to have children. But most importantly, why on earth is it being made solely the woman's responsibility to look after contraception? Why is it not, for example, also going to apply to condoms, which not only prevent pregnancy but also tackle STIs? This should be corrected now and the free contraception plan should be opened to all. Thank you. Thank you. We will stay fromальном. Let's watch. Be sure to me. If I am sondern. This should be mixed inれない celebration. Sorry for coming. I think I am not going to a schizophrenic. This should beכשook in my nein-ligrising section. This should have happened to me. It should be married to my foster care. Of my spouse. The most successful feels the day she returns to my friend around me, three and sister-in-mị attending school is a exhibit where she returns to the church. Now本ration rests on Saturday night,