The Irish government has consistently revised upwards the tax thresholds as part of its annual budgets since 2014.
This means that the amount of income you can earn before paying higher tax rates has increased each year since 2014. This happened initially under a Fine Gael majority government and now happens as part of their coalition government with Fianna Fáil. Here are 5 things we think Irish people would have benefitted from more than a populist tax giveaway that does nothing to address the falling levels of widespread social mobility throughout Ireland.
- More public hospitals for Sláintecare. The government missed the opportunity to aquire an elective hospital for its Sláintecare programme this year when the Beacon Hospital went on sale for less than 500million euros.
- Better working conditions for doctors. Increased funding towards the healthcare system in the form of doctors and nurses and training programmes could help improve their well-being and cut waiting times for patients.
- More investment in resources for children with special needs. Ireland is crying out for increased services for children with additional needs, and many parents are struggling to find affordable childcare in their area, this money could have been better spent on increased resources in this area.
- Increased funding for the provision of social and affordable housing and higher density, developments in cities including cost-rental apartment blocks to lower the cost of rent for ordinary people.
- Increased funding for the provision and training of more bus drivers, Luas and train drivers, of which the country is still experiencing a critical shortage.
