'This is a budget of crumbs' and other great quotes of #Budget18 day

Tue, 10 Oct, 2017 - 22:50

Paschal Donohoe stole most of the limelight and was on his feet in the Dail for nearly an hour but here’s some other notable quotes from Budget 2018.

* RTE Drivetime presenter Mary Wilson forced the Finance Minister to defend his sugar tax while not touching the booze. He said: "Ah Mary, I’m not going after little kids at all."

* Taoiseach Leo Varadkar looked to set the narrative before the Finance Minister got going by saying: "The only reason we can afford to run public services now in Ireland is because two million people in this country every day go to work - we believe they need something back."

* Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein’s deputy leader, was unmoved by the balancing act, saying: "The overriding impression is very underwhelming. It’s not for me a budget with any big ideas."

* After helping negotiate the Budget to keep the minority Government in place, Fianna Fail’s Michael McGrath said: "I think it is fair to say that this Budget and more importantly this government will be judged - more than any other issue - by how it tackles our homeless and housing crisis."

* People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said: "This is a budget of crumbs."

* Oisin Coghlan, of Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Pillar lobby group, said: "It’s really disappointing. I had allowed myself foolishly to get my hopes up."

* Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: "At the centre of this budget is a lie. It is a lie that you promote that we can fix the health service and housing crisis while at the same time cutting people’s taxes."

* Siptu president Jack O’Connor said: "Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, backed by a coterie of right wing independents, have chosen to take us back to the old value system that precipitated the economic and financial crash in the first place."

* Paul Murphy, Solidarity TD, said: "They are trying to give the impression they are doing something for people but in reality it’s a Band-Aid. It’s a tiny plaster on a series of gaping wounds on our society."

* Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace said: "The budget was a damp squib and extremely disappointing."

* Congress trade union chief Patricia King said: "The budget was also a missed opportunity to bring an end to the scandalous practice of subsidising major, profitable corporations in the hospitality and tourism sector, at a cost to low-paid workers and taxpayers."