Fianna Fáil’s local representative for Naas area, James Lawless, has hit out at the unfairness of the government’s budget measures and said families and older people will really feel the pinch from this month on with severe cutbacks now kicking in from 1st January onwards.
“Already in the first child benefit payment of the year, families will have started feeling the pain from the latest set of cuts as families are being punished for the government’s failure to deliver a fair budget. Whilst the highest income earners were spared any extra taxation, the young and the old are being punished instead. Kildare families are already stretched with the cost of commuting and public transport, childcare, mortgages and now the government wants to hit them again with child benefits cuts and a property tax” said James.
“Older people are also taking a disproportionate hit with heating, fuel and telephone allowances slashed when many are already struggling to cope” continued James. James cited independent commentators to support his claims and said that ““It doesn’t have to be this way –Michael McGrath has produced a credible and costed alternative budget achieving the same savings in a far fairer manner. Also too, many independent observers have condemned the two Fine Gael / Labour budgets as being the most unfair packages delivered since the start of the recession. For all that Brian Lenihan’s budgets were hard hitting they were acknowledged as progressive where those that earned the most paid the most. The new government have been the complete opposite and from the ESRI to Vincent Brown to even some of the government’s own backbenchers, it is now widely acknowledged that Fine Gael / Labour have turned their back on progressive, fair approaches and preferred the soft option of targeting the lower earners and the least well off for their cutbacks”.
“People have a high degree of resilience and can put up with certain things provided it is fair” said James. “But they must see a fairness in the approach which is lacking completely from the new cabinet. From broken promises to continual cutbacks to a singular failure to put a progressive stamp on government, this government have lived down to the worst expectations”.