Budget will 'turn recession into depression'

POLITICAL REACTION: Fine Gael deputy leader and spokesman on finance Richard Bruton said this evening the Budget announced by Briah Lenihan today will "threaten to turn a recession into a depression".

“This is a Budget that is all about extra taxes for ordinary families, about extra charges for people, and about cutting capital spending,’’ said Mr Bruton.

“You are looking to make it tougher for people who are struggling to  get by,’’ he added.

“There is no sign that you are aware of the pressure on people from  fuel bills, the pressure on people who have lost their jobs.’

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said it "mercilessly targets middle income families".

Speaking shortly after the Minister for Finance presented the Budget in the Dáil, Mr Gilmore said Mr Lenihan had failed to take any significant steps to protect the poor and vulnerable in the face of the worst recession facing the country for decades.

“Despite the fact that we are seeing the most serious increase in the numbers out of work ever recorded, there was not a single initiative in the budget to reverse the trend of job losses or to put people back into work or into education or training,” said Mr Gilmore.

“The people who will suffer most as a result of this budget are typically the nurse, the teacher, the office manager, the skilled tradesman, the small builder: people struggling to make ends meet, to pay the mortgage each month, to cover the cost of childcare or sending a child to university, to meet the cost of drugs for a sick child.

“These families will pay more in tax and will have to pay more for a range of public services and the full extent of these additional charges will only become clear over the next few days,” he added.

Mr Gilmore said that the Minister for Finance had done little to ensure that the “super wealthy” would make the contribution necessary to aid economic recovery.

Sinn Féin said this evening that the Government had failed to include job creation proposals or offer steps to protect vulnerable families in the Budget.

The party’s finance spokesperson Arthur Morgan said the 1 per cent income levy, VAT increases and fuel tax would“hit working families and small businesses who are already struggling to survive.

“The government promised to look after the most vulnerable but they didn’t. They said that they would ensure that top earners paid their fair share but they didn’t. They promised frontline services in health and education would be protected but that didn’t happen either. Change is possible and it should have started here today. It didn’t, and the state will be poorer off next year because of it. Rather than reversing the current recession the government seems intent on deepening it,” said Morgan.

“We knew that given the public finance shortfall, this Budget would be tough but Brian Lenihan’s first budget is a bad budget. Today people wanted to see the beginning of a three year plan to get the economy back on track. Central to that is creating and retaining jobs and addressing the shortfall in public finances. The Government fell far short on both counts today. They failed the leadership test,” he added.