SFbanks Budget savings in an attempt to cook the books
Fine Gael Dublin Central Deputy, Paschal Donohoe TD, has today (Tuesday) accused Sinn Féin of cooking the books for its own political gain by ignoring measures that were implemented by the Government over the past year, which the Party steadfastly opposed, in its attempts to produce a credible budgetary alternative for 2013.
Deputy Donohoe went on to say that by failing to account for these measures in the Party’s pre-Budget submission launched today, Sinn Féin’s budgetary arithmetic falls short of the Party’s anticipated target, proving yet again that where Sinn Féin is concerned the numbers simply do not add up.
“Over the last year, Sinn Fein virulently attacked a raft of specific budgetary cuts and taxes that were announced in Budget 2012. In the Party’s pre-Budget submission, however, it has bagged most of the savings made as a result of these measures being implemented in a bid to cook the books for their own political gain.
“Sinn Fein’s budgetary proposals have been decommissioned, with a ‘Secret Seven’ of cuts that it spent the year opposing, all now maintained in their economic proposals for Budget 2013. Throughout the past year, Sinn Féin repeatedly challenged each of the following measures, describing them as ‘viscous’ and ‘disgraceful’ and as imposing a ‘massive burden’ on society. Now, it seems, the Party is quite willing to accept each measure, submerging them into its own budgetary plans, in addition to raising almost €2.8million in new taxes, to suit the Party’s political end.
The measures include:
1. Closure of Garda stations;
2. Changes to small rural schools;
3. Phasing out child benefit payments for third and subsequent children;
4. Changes to rent supplement payments;
5. Reduction in overtime and agency staff for the HSE;
6. Increase in the higher VAT rate to 23% and
7. Increase in the student contribution.
“Sinn Féin really has put its economic credibility beyond all use and proved once more that it is the Party of opposition for opposition’s sake. If Sinn Féin is unwilling to account for the reversal of these measures while in Opposition, what chance has the electorate got of them reversing them if the Party was actually in government?”
“The ‘Secret Seven’ of un-reversed cuts again shows that Sinn Fein will say anything in its quest for votes and political gain. It really is the modern day Fianna Fail Nua.”