SIPTU General Secretary John King has described Budget 2027 as “a chaotic budget providing little relief for workers” and not the “workers’ budget” promised by Minister for Finance, Simon Harris.
John King said: “Workers can have no confidence that the Government’s chaotic budget strategy is going to provide meaningful measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that is eroding the value of their pay. The Government is hollowing out the tax base with giveaways to high-income groups, chasing high prices with temporary subsidies, and squeezing public services while becoming ever more dependent on a handful of multinationals and their windfall corporate tax receipts.
“When temporary measures are withdrawn, workers will be left with the burden of meeting the high cost of living. We are still unsure whether the Government, despite accepting the Low Pay Commission’s proposed 79 cent increase in the Minimum Wage, will again postpone the target date for their own Living Wage beyond 2029.
“The increase in tax bands and credits falls short of restoring their value to workers after the real cuts, after inflation, they suffered in last year’s budget. This contrasts with the €400 million in tax breaks for capital, business and high-end investments. The Government’s new savings scheme will subsidise people who can already afford to save.
“Squeezing public services will undermine the state’s ability to reduce people’s high living costs. Baseline spending on public services will effectively flatline out to 2030. Increases in public transport fares will cancel out a significant proportion of tax cuts for many commuters. Failure to build adequate levels of affordable housing will continue to impose unacceptable costs on households. High levels of GP and generic medicine costs, along with escalating back-to-school costs, are all exacting a heavy toll on households, especially those with children.
“The cuts in childcare costs are welcome. However, low pay continues to drive a recruitment and retention crisis which is imposing higher costs on childcare provision. It is a lack of supply that is limiting places for children and parents, which will only worsen without immediate action. To achieve affordable, high-quality childcare that offers value for money, the Government must reform the current system so that the needs of children and families are at its core, rather than foreign and private equity funds.
“Cuts in fuel duties are regressive. A targeted approach would have been to subsidise low- and average-income households who own a car. The Government failed to intervene in the energy market by imposing price and profit-margin controls as other EU countries have. Rather than just subsidising rising prices, the Government should have looked at ways of reshaping the market.
He added: “The Government’s chaotic approach to budgetary planning means that Irish public finances are dangerously reliant on a handful of multinationals. Even the Department of Finance accepts this is highly risky. It’s 2006 all over again with spending increases and tax cuts reliant on a volatile source of revenue. The Government is essentially doubling down on a high-risk dependency on multinationals.”