Workers
Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that Tuesday's Budget is a recipe for
exploitation and pain which is completely loaded in favour of the wealthy and
contemptuous of the young, the old and the vulnerable.
Cllr.
Tynan said that the cuts in the budget were some of the meanest yet and would
heap misery on hardship for families and those whose needs were greatest. He said the 66% increase in prescription charges for medical card holders,
the scrapping of the free telephone allowance for the elderly and of the
once-off bereavement grant were amongst the most vicious cuts but he felt that
many more hidden cuts would emerge over the next few days.
“This
is far from being a jobs budget” said Cllr Tynan, “in fact the budget is devoid
of a job creation strategy. Instead the
coalition’s plan is to starve the unemployed and particularly the young into
emigrating or taking up underpaid and grossly exploitative work under the worst
possible terms and conditions. In this
centenary year of the 1913 Lockout employers are rubbing their hands together with
glee at the prospect of cowed workers and a silenced trade union movement”
Councillor
Tynan concluded by singling out the Labour Party for a stinging rebuke. “Yesterday
the Labour Party threw its own 2011 election manifesto into the bonfire. Gone
is the commitment to fairness, gone is their promise of a universal insurance-based
health system and gone is their last shred of credibility. If they have any remaining self-respect then
they too should depart the scene sooner rather than later”, said Cllr. Tynan.
