Budget a 'missed opportunity' to tackle housing and health crises - Tully
The Government is being criticised for not tackling the housing and health crises in a meaningful way through Budget 2024.
Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan Pauline Tully lashed out at the Government parties.
“This Budget has been a missed opportunity to get to grips with the big crises in housing and health.
“It is shocking that the Government ignored the housing crisis even though they had the money to make a decisive intervention that could have made a real difference. Instead of taking action, this government has squandered the opportunity to fix the housing crisis.
Deputy Tully said that the Budget will do little or nothing to ease the housing crisis.
“There has been no increase in capital spending, no new targets and no prospect of getting to grips with this crisis.
“This should have been the housing Budget. That’s what people in Cavan-Monaghan affected by the housing crisis needed to see," contended Deputy Tully.
She says they should have increased targets to deliver more social and affordable housing, saying that is what Sinn Féin in government would have done.
Turning to the area of health, Deputy Tully said the Government missed another opportunity to cut waiting times and ensure patients get the high-quality care they need in a timely fashion.
“Instead, this is a budget, which is bad for our health service, bad for patients, bad for frontline workers. No money for new hospital beds, a derisory allocation for youth mental health services and a fraction of what is needed for disability services.
"Their failure to invest means that the crisis in our health service will continue, chronic waiting lists will continue, and overcrowding will continue," lambasted the Cavan Monaghan Sinn Féin TD.
“The longer this government remain in power, the worse things are getting. People in Cavan-Monaghan can’t afford another Budget from this government. It’s time for change,” she concluded.
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