Local activist and People Before Profit candidate Joe Loughnane has labelled this week’s Budget as a ‘landlord’s budget’, which failed to address the issues facing students and young people.
The PBP candidate said: “Student Union demands to address the cost of third level education were not addressed. The maintenance grant has remained untouched.
“The €5 increase in their already clunky two-tier social welfare payments was immediately wiped out by tax breaks for landlords, ultimately resulting in higher rents.”
Loughnane, who is involved in groups such as the Galway Palestine Solidarity Campaign, added that our public services, whether it’s housing or the health system, are not fit for purpose.
“This isn’t an exaggeration,” he said. “Right now, almost 50 people are on trolleys in UHG. The government proposals on housing are empty when one sees the deadlock apparent in every local authority in the country.
“This is very much a Budget for those who never really experienced the effects of austerity, by those who continue to implement austerity under a guise of increased spending.”
