Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has described Budget 2018 as a budget that tolerates and normalises mass homelessness of young people and children.
The Donegal TD said the government’s decision to allocate a large proportion of resources on tax cuts shows that it does not understand the reality on the ground for ordinary families.
Teachta Doherty today lambasted the government’s decisions to cut taxes rather than rebuilding health services and building homes.
Speaking in Dail Eireann, Teachta Doherty said;
“Minister, you know that it is possible to balance the books while at the same time beginning the process of sorting the crises in our health and housing sectors through meaningful investment. You know this because Sinn Féin’s alternative budget demonstrates exactly that.
“But what does your version of balancing the books mean for the child who hears their mother locked in the bathroom of their hotel room crying night after night because she feels that she is failing her daughter.
“What does it mean for the parents who have to watch their children suffer in pain because they cannot get access to treatment in our crumbling health services?
“How comforting is your version of balancing the books for the elderly man lying on a hospital trolley today.
“These are the realities of your policies and you are furthering and normalising these policies here today with the help of Fianna Fáil.
“Unfortunately the only conclusion we can come to Minister is that you simply don’t get it.
“You don’t get what it’s like to have to wait and wait and wait to access hospital services while you’re suffering in pain; you don’t get what its like to have to wait on a hospital trolley and the loss of dignity that goes with that; you don’t get what it means to be a frontline worker in these circumstances; you don’t get what its like to bring your kids up in a hotel room, bringing them through the hotel every morning in their school uniforms while the other hotel guests look on in bemusement.
“Even if you got this just a little bit, you wouldn’t be coming in here prioritising tax cuts. Because every cent that you put into tax cuts is money that money that could be used to rebuild our health services and to build homes.
“This is a budget that tolerates and normalises mass homelessness of young people and children. It is a budget that normalises our crumbling health services. The people deserve better than that. This is not something that Sinn Fein will stand over and it is a disgrace that this is the best that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil can cobble together.
“Where’s the urgency? There’s people dying on our streets! Or hadn’t you noticed?” Deputy Doherty said.
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