Clare’s Independent TD insists that pouring money into the economy won’t stop inflation.
It comes amid criticism of the Government by some sectors, following the announcement of Budget 2022.
Among the announcements in yesterday’s budget were a five euro increase for pensioners and social welfare recipients, with an extra 100 million euro set aside for childcare.
The SUSI grant will increase for students, under 23s are to benefit from half price public transport and the minimum wage is to be reduced.
90 million euro has also been set aside for State airports including Shannon subject to State aid approval.
The Department of Finance has said the economy is recovering faster than expended, partly fueled by the spending of built up savings.
But despite this, the Finance Minister has said it would have been too risky to increase spending in the budget beyond 4.7 billion euro.
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara says with spiraling prices, only time will tell if anyone will see any big gains by the end of the year.
There has been criticism of the Government over doing very little for the renters, but Taoiseach Micheál Martin says the only long term solution will be an increased supply in housing.
He’s reassured that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien will bring forward measures in the next few weeks for new rent caps, that will keep rent increases below the rate of inflation.
Clare’s Fine Gael TD Joe Carey says the extension to the Help To Buy Scheme will also make a difference.
Anger has been expressed by a number of sectors however, who feel the Government hasn’t done enough for them, following a difficult year.
The Chair of the Clare Tourism Advisory Committee has described the decision to only keep the reduced 9% VAT rate in place for the Toursim sector until the end of next August as the biggest disappointment of the budget.
Ennis Hotelier Sean Lally has expressed hope that this will be revisited, saying the entire hospitality industry is still reeling from the consequences of restrictions over the past year.
The Shannon-based Secretary of Active Retirement Ireland claims the Government’s lack of compassion and support for older people is “shocking”.
Kay Murphy has described the five euro increase to the pension as better than nothing, but believes more should have been done.
She says its particularly disappointing given the amount of lobbying to increase the pension to a sustainable living wage so that older people wouldn’t fall into poverty completely.
Farmers have also hit out, with the Cratloe-based General Secretary of the ICSA saying that given the emphasis on climate change and the increasing demands being placed on farmers to do more for the environment, the budget doesn’t go far enough.
Eddie Punch says there’s no extra funding for agri-environment schemes, while he claims commitments on the carbon tax contained in the programme for government haven’t yet been honoured.
