Ireland: FG Finance Spokesman Richard Bruton and Simon Coveney TD attack FF supplementary budget impact on Middle Class and Families-7/4/09

Families Pay the Price for Fianna Fáil's Failures - Bruton

No Jobs Plan as Dole Queues Set to Hit 520,000 in 2010

Banks & Speculators Bailed out with €90bn Gamble of Taxpayers Money

Ordinary families are being hammered with today's Budget and are being made to pay for Fianna Fáil's failures on the economy, according to Fine Gael Deputy Leader & Finance Spokesman, Richard Bruton TD. He also pointed out that there was no serious plan to protect and create jobs, despite the fact that the Government were expecting 520,000 people to be on the dole queues next year. In addition the creation of a new asset management agency for toxic debt represented a €90 billion gamble with taxpayers' money to bail out banks and property developers.

"Many families will be brought to their knees by the taxes and levies imposed in this budget. Fine Gael proposed a savings programme of €3.5 billion split 1/3rd on tax increases, 2/3rds on spending controls. This Budget does the reverse and results in ordinary families picking up the tab for Fianna Fáil's destruction of our economy. In fact 75% of the Government's current savings in year one of their plan comes from increased taxation. Because of this reliance on taxes rather than spending controls a family with two children with an income of €60,000 will lose €4,600 in extra taxes as a result of this Budget. That represents an 8% cut in their family income.

"Wider than this raid on Irish families, with 520,000 people expected on the dole next year, the absence of a plan to get people back to work is an astonishing omission from today's presentation. The Taoiseach announced 'jobs jobs jobs' as his priority at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce earlier this year. This Budget shows no evidence that employment was a priority. There is no stimulus package, no pro-jobs tax measures and no real sense that the Government have any idea of how to get the country moving again.

"Finally, Fianna Fáil has taken a massive €90 billion gamble on behalf of the taxpayer in bailing out the very property speculators and banks that dragged our economy over a cliff in the last few years. Rather than adopt the Fine Gael policy on this issue which would see the banks being responsible for the bad debts they had racked up, it is now the taxpayer that is exposed. We have precious little by way of detail about this new bailout plan for the property speculators and banks and the real risk is that this bailout will leave the taxpayer fatally exposed to the bad debts of others.

"If ever there was proof that this Government was not capable of leading the country out of this recession, then today's Budget is final proof. No plan for jobs, the wrong balance on tax increases and spending cuts and a dangerous bailout plan for property speculators and banks confirms that this Government is hopelessly out of its depth in dealing with the economic crisis that they caused. I have said repeatedly that no economy can tax its way back to recovery - this Fianna Fáil Government had just decided to try it anyway. As usual, when Fianna Fáil get it wrong, ordinary families pay the price."

Budget pounds young families, middle income earners the hardest- Coveney

Parents in their 30's with young families pay the bill for disastrous FF mistakes

Young families and those on the modest and middle incomes will bear the brunt of the pain inflicted by the Government's Budget today (Tuesday), Fine Gael Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Spokesman, Simon Coveney has said.

"All the pre-Budget pretensions by the Government that this Budget would be fair have been proven to be totally false.

"Those on middle incomes will take the hardest hit. This is especially true of young families.

"Ordinary families will be hit for an average of €2,500 and those families just starting off will take a particularly hard hit. For example: Two parents in their 30's, one with an income of €56,000 and the other a stay at home parent, who purchased an apartment seven years ago and have one child will see:

- Their income levy doubled
- Their health levy doubled
- Their PRSI up 4%
- Their Mortgage Interest Relief abolished
- Their Child Benefit massively reduced next year
- Their Early Childcare Supplement abolished within the year

"The Budget is a targeted attack on our young generation. Those in their 20's and 30's on middle incomes who, if they are lucky enough to hold a job, are already struggling with mortgage repayments and the high cost of living."

Brian Lenihans Budget Speeech may be sourced here