Fine Gael has criticised today’s Budget for a “failure of vision” to help the economy recover, while the Labour Party said it was the lower paid who would bear the greatest burden of the cuts announced.
Fine Gael's deputy leader and finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, said the Budget required “more imagination” than displayed by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
He said there was a “void” at the heart of the Government and that it lacked the vision, courage and policies to make the reforms that were needed.
It was “those in the front-line”, including social welfare recipients, who would pay “from the very first euro," Mr Bruton said. “You have hit people who are down. The hitting of child payments is very short-sighted."
He said the Budget would hit young families hardest, including some 35,000 people facing the repossession of their homes.
The Minister had “short-changed” the people “who should have been at the heart of this Budget”. He had also “shirked” his responsibility to make reforms in the public sector and to the Oireachtas itself, Mr Bruton said.
The Houses should start reforming themselves as part of a bigger, ambitious plan to reform the country.
He asked where was the commitment to drive down utility prices and the commercial rent prices that “are now killing businesses by the day”.
Mr Bruton also said the Government had left a “residue of bitterness and division”, and that there had been “damaging crossfire” between the public and private sectors over cuts.
“Creating and sustaining employment should have been the be-all and the end-all of this Budget today,” Mr Bruton said, adding the Government had failed to address this.
The State could not afford to let a young generation “fall prey to unemployment and immigration as they did in the past”. Mr Bruton also questioned where was the “fairness” in how the banking crisis had been handled.
He said his own party had targeted a €600 million contribution from the “better-off” in society.
Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the Minister had sought the “soft options” in his Budget, including child benefit and social welfare.
The deputy leader said the Budget was “straight out of the Leona Helmsley school”, taking the view that the burden of tax was “just for the little people”. Even blind people would suffer an €8.30 reduction in their allowance, she said.
Ms Burton said the Minister had “some nerve” coming into the House and quoting Senator Edward Kennedy, “who was not afraid to say that rich people in a republic should pay their share of the tax”.
It would be “the cleaner working in the public service who has two children” who would bear the brunt of the burden sharing, Ms Burton said.
But no doubt she would be “delighted to have a job” and that the Minister would be reminding her of that.
Ms Burton said the Minister seemed to be “picking on children”, with policies including increased class sizes and the abandonment plans for pre-school education.
She was glad Mr Lenihan had, however, come into the House with “your tail between your legs” and reversed the half-point increase in the Vat rate announced earlier in the year.
That was the “half-point mistake” that had sent shoppers “scurrying over the Border” to do their shopping.
Ms Burton also accused the Government of spending years “cheering on the building boom” and of ignoring the early signs of a banking collapse.
Sinn Féin spokesman Arthur Morgan noted the Minister's words that the "worst is over".
Mr Morgan said the worst was over for bankers, but it was "not over" for many people, including the almost half a million on the Live Register.
It was not over for those in the construction sector and those who had lost businesses.
“I wonder do you talk to people to find what the worst really is in this State," Mr Morgan said.
“I can assure you the worst is not over for those people.”
Noting the numbers now emigrating, Mr Morgan said they were going overseas to find the jobs “that you have allowed to be destroyed in this State”.
People were "falling into despair and depression" and the Government's policies were driving them to money lenders and to charities such as St Vincent de Paul.
Asking whether it was "too complicated" to bring in a taxation system to capture those earning more than €2,000 per week, Mr Morgan said the Government was "shaking people to get the last few cents out of their pockets".
“It is grossly unfair.” It was poorer people who were "paying the price for Fianna Fáil's recklessness."
He said Mr Lenihan and the Government were "Robin Hood in reverse - you are robbing the poor to pay the rich. Shame on each and every one of you."