A Budget that sets the tone for a future built on work and the family

THERE was virtually nothing in Budget 2016 that was not leaked in advance by the Government. The country knew it was set for a pre-election bonanza. This, however, did nothing to spoil the unveiling of tax breaks and giveaways that will, as Minister Michael Noonan put it, ‘give certainty to the Irish people of a better future’.

It is undoubtedly true that this budget strongly favours traditional Fine Gael constituencies. By rewarding pensioners, families, farmers and the self- employed, it acknowledges the heavy burden carried by these people during our years of crisis.

In so many ways, the so-called ‘squeezed middle’ has carried this country through the worst of times. It is only right that they should now enjoy some well deserved respite.

There were many who warned against a giveaway budget, predicting that this would jeopardise the recovery. They argued that to risk fiscal prudence for shortterm electoral advantage would undermine the gains of recent years. However, this was not a budget reminiscent of those spending sprees indulged in by Bertie Ahern during the boom. If anything, it was one that paid its dues to those sections of our society without whom there would have been no recovery.

Recovery

For all its faults, and there are many, this Government inherited a mess of someone else’s making. That it can now boast of a 6 per cent growth rate is an astonishing achievement.

However, it has been achieved at great cost to many citizens right across this State.

Those citizens are the mothers and fathers working hard to bring up and educate young families. They are the entrepreneurs who battled against the recession, never failing to take the risks and make the investments that led to recovery. The proper question, therefore, is not whether this budget did enough to win an election, but whether i t did enough to share the spoils of the economic turnaround.

No one should bemoan the fact that NAMA is set to deliver 20,000 residential units before the end of 2020. Some say that is far too few, especially in Dublin where the population continues to grow by 32,000 per year. There is also concern that the shocking crisis of homelessness, affecting so many families in particular, will not be solved by the additional allocation of just €17m for emergency accommodation.

If homelessness is a moral scar on the conscience of this country, so too is the A&E crisis, which threatens to overwhelm our hospitals and is driving nurses onto the picket line. It is doubtful that any measures announced by the Government yesterday will go anywhere near to solving that catastrophe.

Unfortunate as that may be, it is proof of the Coalition’s prudence that it did what itcould with the resources it had. By any standards, it was unrealistic to expect that a long-term solution to the housing or health crisis could be achieved in a single budget – especially one that comes at the end of a severe recession.

It was, however, reasonable to expect some relief from the most punitive measures of previous austerity budgets.

A clear sign that the Government rose to those expectations was in the way it handled the despised Universal Social Charge. This was not a tax that this Government introduced and it is one that is inordinately expensive to dismantle. Yet the reduction in that unpopular levy at both ends of the income scale is something that we can applaud. It is the vital first step towards the abolition of a tax that is both regressive and indefensible.

Much more needs to be done to alleviate the burden on the selfemployed. They are, after all, the risk takers and wealth creators in any economy.

By introducing a €550 tax credit for small business owners and the self-employed, the Government has recognised their enormous contribution to renewed economic growth.

Every community in the country will cheer the news that there are to be 2,260 new teaching posts, along with 610 special needs assistants.

Likewise, at a time when crime is spiralling out of control, we can all celebrate the fact that 600 extra gardaí are to be recruited and trained. However, the top cause for celebration must surely be the measures announced to relieve the crushing burden on families.

Responsible

Our children are the future of this country. By extending free childcare, increasing child benefit and providing free GP care to children under 12, this Government has not only acknowledged the extraordinary contribution of hard-pressed families in recent years. It has also shown that it understands why investing in families is fiscally, morally and socially responsible.

‘Who speaks of Syriza now?’ enquired Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin.

That was aimed at the likes of Sinn Fein who believe that endless amounts of money can be conjured out of thin air. That Mr Howlin and the Labour Party secured increases in the minimum wage, the fuel allowance and the Christmas bonus for welfare recipients, demonstrates that this was not – as many have simplistically argued – just a Fine Gael budget. It was a budget which recognised that Fine Gael, not Labour, was chosen by the people at the ballot box to navigate this country through the worst f i nancial crisis i n our history.

However, when all is said and done, this was undoubtedly an election budget. It was aimed primarily at those who will most likely vote to return the present Government. In this, Fine Gael and Labour have gone as far as they could to secure a second term.

This does not mean that they behaved recklessly with the national finances. In most of its measures, the Budget gave to those who deserved a break and it did so responsibly.

It does mean, however, that the forthcoming election now boils down to one very simple question: bearing in mind all that we have endured since 2008, who do we trust most to run the national finances?

For many of us, Budget 2016 may well provide the decisive answer.