A budget is about choices. The Government could have helped the squeezed middle and the working poor, but what did it do? In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, rents will go up from March, the local property tax has just gone up, and electricity prices are going up at the same time as groceries and other items are going up in price. Some of these increases could have been addressed but what did the Government do, even though it knows there is more economic hardship on middle-income householders and workers in particular? There is more tax, more LPT, more carbon tax and even higher rents. Workers on a median income will be worse off next year. Everybody has agreed on that today. Election promises to look after the carer's allowance and abolish the means test have been forgotten. There should have been targeted supports in terms of energy credits for low- and middle-income households. USC could have been reduced or cancelled for those on below €40,000, along with adjusted tax bands for workers, to take account of inflation. That should have happened. Instead, workers on a median income will pay more tax and face higher prices. Child benefit needed to be increased to at least keep pace with inflation. We know everything cannot be done, but that should have kept pace with inflation. On VAT, I know a lot of small restaurants and cafés are struggling, but if the Government wanted to assist those businesses, it could have cut the VAT rate for them on the first €2 million or €3 million of turnover. Instead, it gave a tax cut, from 13.5% to 9%, across the board at a cost of almost €700 million. The real beneficiaries will be the large hotel groups and fast food chains, such as Costa, McDonald's, Burger King, etc.

Sentiment score: -0.06

In the area of health, which I know is expensive, let us get it right in terms of primary care. Access to primary care is a priority. A pressing issue is the need for changes to the income threshold for medical cards. That stands at a scandalous €184 for a single person. For a couple with two children - let us think about this - it is €342. When they go over that, they lose their medical card. These people have no basic health cover and cannot afford private health insurance. That should have been rectified. A portion of the large capital budget needs to be ring-fenced for new primary care centres. I highlight in particular Portlaoise, a town with a population of over 30,000, which is one of the few in the country that does not have a primary care centre. New health centres are also required at Mountrath and Rathdowney. I acknowledge a sizeable budget was allocated in the area of housing, but what is being achieved with this is in question. Over €2 billion of this will be spent on rent subsidies to private landlords. This is year on year, not a one-year payment. It will go every year. It provides no tangible assets at the end of it for the State. Instead, resources need to be used to construct cost-rental and affordable homes to buy. The imposition of rent caps is urgently required. I recently highlighted that in the case of Laois, rents went up over 10% in one year alone. It was over 10%; that is according to the RTB. Runaway rents need to be capped to stop that from happening. In the area of education, there was a welcome increase in the capitation grant, particularly for primary schools. I acknowledge that. I would like to have seen it go further, but at €50 it is a start. There is real pressure on additional accommodation for special school classes. I highlight in particular the Saplings school at Graiguecullen, which is half-built. It has been standing there for a year and a half and needs some money. The Minister of State's Department has funded some of it already through the justice scheme passport for investment, but it has been at a standstill for over a year now. It needs capital funding to complete it. I also highlight the need for funding of a four-classroom extension to St. Francis School in Portlaoise. Overall, instead of targeting money to ease the burden on the working poor and squeezed middle, and to improve public services, the budget will have the effect of transferring a huge amount of wealth and public taxpayers' money to big business and private wealthy individuals. That is not what is needed. We need a social approach and fairness for workers and families, particularly the squeezed middle.

Sentiment score: 0.07