A Tipperary opposition TD says Budget 2024 doesn’t go far enough to tackle the biggest issues Irish people are facing.
Sinn Fein’s Martin Browne says the government should have done more on Housing, healthcare and the cost of living crisis.
He says the announcements in yesterday’s Budget are not going fix those three crises.
“The biggest issues out there are housing, cost of living, and health. Everybody accepts that. Yes, we have to get building more houses. We can’t keep staff here, doctors, nurses, or we can’t entice people back.
“While there is some things in it, there is others where they could have gone further like childcare. We suggested that they cut the cost for working families by 55%, they have come and they’ve done a 25% reduction.”
Income tax and USC cuts, as well as increases to personal and PAYE tax credits, means the average worker will be better off by €15 a week.
Economists and the Fiscal Advisory Council have warned against spending the massive corporation tax takes were are seeing.
But Martin Browne says there was leeway to do much more.
“We’re not saying you spend all the surplus, but when you’re running a surplus like that you can make it easier on families for over the next couple of years.
“The USC charge, we had said cut those under €100,000, and the take-home pay of middle-and-low income workers would have increased by €370 a year.”
