Budget 2011 Shows No Sense of 'Common Good'

7 Dec 2010

Congress General Secretary David Begg has described Budget 2011 as "utterly lacking in any sense of the common good" and said it prioritises banks over the working poor.

Mr Begg said that the budget showed no evidence of any sustainable plan for growth and jobs, but had focused instead on cutting the incomes of low and middle earners.

"There is no sense of the common good, no sense of the vision that should underpin any society. Instead, we have an assault on the weakest.

"There is no vision on jobs, no vision on job creation, no sense or evidence of a sustainable plan for growth. These cuts will push us deeper into recession. This Government is undertaking the single biggest budgetary adjustment seen in the developed world, in the last 70 years.

"It is an incredibly dangerous and hazardous policy, extracting some €6 billion from the economy. And to what end, for what purpose? To bail out a busted banking system.

"They will pump €50 billion into the banks and take €15 billion out of the pockets of the working poor. That is unacceptable and completely unsustainable."

Mr Begg said that the Government plan to take €40 per week from those on the Minimum Wage was nothing less than "picking the pockets of the working poor."

He said that supporting the budget was clearly not in the national interest and revealed that along with Congress President Jack O'Connor he had issued a joint email appeal to all TDs to vote against the budget as the best means of protecting the 'national interest'.

 

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