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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said that ‘middle Ireland’ continues to be his priority as he stands firm on Fine Gael’s demands in coalition.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Varadkar said that the tax package in the next budget must be “as good or bigger” than the last.
Looking out for middle Ireland is “part of Fine Gael’s identity”, Varadkar said.
Earlier this week, Fine Gael junior ministers Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Martin Heydon and Peter Burke co-wrote an article for the Irish Independent that called for a “well-earned” tax break for workers.
The proposal is estimated to cost in the region of €1.5 billion.
Varadkar said that, while he agrees with and knew about the article, none of his advisers were involved in its production, “to my knowledge”.
He and Tánaiste Micheál Martin spoke about the opinion piece after its publication, but Varadkar declined to share what was said.
“If you think about it, what’s the basis of Fine Gael’s participation in this government? It’s to make sure that middle Ireland gets looked out for, and gets looked after,” he told The Irish Times.
“So the Greens had very clear demands as to what they wanted coming into government. The 51 per cent target on emissions and the carbon tax.
“Fianna Fáil [was] very clear on pension reform, that they didn’t want to increase the pension age, notwithstanding the fact that Ifac [the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council] and others said that that was the fiscally prudent thing to do.
“We were very clear that our basis for participation in this government is that middle Ireland gets looked after, and that’s looking after working people, it’s looking after business, it’s promoting things like home ownership.”
‘Not the same’
This echoed comments made by Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney earlier this week, in which he said that the government parties are not the same just because they are in coalition.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Coveney said that the intention of the article wasn’t to upset his coalition colleagues, but rather to share his party’s point of view.
“There are a lot of senior mature politicians in government and, you know, because we’re in a coalition, doesn’t mean we’re the same,” he said.
“Different parties have different priorities in government, and at different times, those priorities appear in newspapers and opinion pieces.
“This is no different to that.”
Coveney played down perceived tensions in government, saying that the parties “have worked well together” so far.
“Let’s be clear. Nobody’s bullying anybody,” he said.
“This is a good coalition government.
“That doesn’t mean that the parties have the same views all the time when it comes to policy and what we’re seeing now is different parties in the coalition outlining different views as to how we can use a growing strong economy to ensure that we support families across the country.”
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And we are still paying the U.S.C.
@Moses: Yep. 7 years after he promised to abolish it….. twitter.com/LeoVaradkar/status/688462286307086336?t=dMzl4hmLPLOj74OaDBPAvw&s=19
@Moses: because that’s what’s paying down our debt. If we paid more off that with all the money sloshing around then we might be rid of it. But no, the election will have to be bought with handouts and the ordinary paye worker will continue to pay up. There are a cohort on here who think SF are going to fix everything for them. I have news for them, Ireland is not a socialist country, and watching SF hand out their hard earned income with no benefits to themselves is never going to wash with the electorate.
@Mary Conneely: are you saying we should just keep on voting for FFG?
@Mary Conneely: Nobody is saying that SF is the answer but they definitely do need to do a term or two in office to let FFG know that there are alternatives to them.
We can’t continue with FFG as they clearly have no interest in running the country to benefit the people of Ireland.
@Mary Conneely: you just described EXACTLY what is happening under FFG. I pay a ball of tax and what do I get? Toothless Guards, crowded hospitals, no public transport, no protection from profiteering companies. How delusional do you have to be to twist what FFG are doing and use it as a scary story for another party!?
@Mary Conneely: how much of our debt has been paid down and what percentage of that comes from USC? Perhaps then you can tell us how much of the QE debt is being paid down and what is our share of it.
No point towing a party line with assertions if you don’t know the detail.
@Mary Conneely: ireland is in debt to the tune of €239bn and counting that debt ain’t coming down anytime soon!!
http://www.financedublin.com/debtclock/
@David Corrigan: Well said, fully agree, FFG have being in control since God was boy and we see the state the country is in.
@Mary Conneely: The median disposable income for an adult in this country is 24,000. The median disposable income for an adult with a degree or higher is 32,000. You can qualify for HAP or social housing is 35,000- 40,000 for most of the country and 30,000 in ten counties. A third of families with 1-3 children take home less than 30,000 a year. Over half the workers in the country are now dependent on “handouts” of one form or other to live “independently”. That is directly a result of FG policies preferring social transfers over fair wages. Employers and FDI in particular love the handouts because they keep wages down and the FG economists love anything that protects “wage competitivity”. That’s why they love tax breaks for middle-class to high earners. they are being lobbied to do it by corporations and their tax advisors. That allows FDI to pay lower wages going forward with workers getting the same take-home pay. People don’t want handouts, what they want is a fair wage that they can live on and accommodation that they can afford, not a system where their wages are effectively being subsidised by their own taxes. You think state handouts that use taxes to subsidise wages and drive up rent prices are socialist? Its called neoliberalism.
@Sill Scoundrel: people working in most FDI companies are paid a lot more than that, it’s our homegrown businesses that pay as little as possible. Most of these jobs are unskilled and with thousands of people entering the country happy to take these jobs at these pay rates it will keep the downward pressure on wages.
I would also prefer to see my taxes go to help someone on low wages rather than someone who has never worked (but can). Don’t know if anyone has been watching the Brian Cox programme about money, it’s scary how messed up it is and as bad as it is in Ireland at least there are supports out there.
@Mary Conneely: if you think that sinn fein are a socialist party then you obviously know nothing about socialism,at best they are a social democrat party and there have been many social democratic parties in government over the years in power all over the world,some successful and some not but I suppose that does not fit into the narrative of ff/fg,if we had a decent Labour party here who would not sell out their principles for power every time then sinn fein would not be so popular.the rest have failed so what’s the worst case scenario if we elect them,it can’t be any worse than what fianna fail and fine gael have done,the young and middle aged people at this stage deserve better,to be able to afford your own house if you work hard should be a given.
@The next small thing: I take it you’ve never worked at a low level in a foreign owned company, the pay is dirt and they treat their workers like dirt. The unemployment rate is 3.9%. The long term unemployment rate is 1.2%, the rest is cyclical. The employment policy in Ireland is to keep unemployment hovering over 4%, That’s why they call 4% unemployment “full employment”. Read about NAIRU, it is the economic policy of this country to keep at least 4% of the country unemployed at all times. We could easily have an unemployment rate of 1% but the economists won’t allow it. When it drops below 4%, the central banks raise interest rates with the specific goal of creating unemployment and keeping low earners’ wages down. Even in without immigration this keeps wages down. If people want economic growth then they had better make their concessions to immigration because there is no way of sustaining “growth” and not going into a depression without immigration, that’s a mathematical fact based on our demographic cliff. There is no inherent reason why an economy can’t have a reasonable immigration policy, economic growth and livable wages for everyone. Yes, high earners are mostly employed by FDI which is why they want to give income tax breaks to those workers, to make their labour cheaper and make wages more attractive to foreign investment. The main point I am making is that so many workers (including skilled workers with degrees or higher) are now reliant on state subsidies to survive. They need that money to survive and there are fools who think that workers want “handouts”, they don’t, they want wages they can live on and rents they can afford and there is nothing unreasonable or socialist about that. If people like the person I was addressing want to end the so-called “handouts” then they should start demanding wages that people can live on because easily a third of workers go homeless without the subsidies. I also think the left should realise that our leaders aren’t open to immigration or asylum seekers out of the kindness of their hearts, to them its purely economic and mostly to do with our very real demographic cliff.
@Sill Scoundrel: FFG are going to have a ‘pretend’ falling out before the next GE, they’ve lost their identities completely. Don’t fall for it.
@Frank Cauldhame: I won’t . I remember what FF did to this country and they are no better than FG. I’ve never given either of those parties a vote and for the first time in my life I will be voting SF.
@Mary Conneely: but it was never “our” debt. Sadly it was a debt inflicted on the taxpayer. Bottom line is that we pay excessively on every front, with no let up. This is not by accident it is by design so we don’t get too comfortable.
A proper leader would look after all Irish people.
@Brian Boru: Not the way economics, and to a certain extent politics, works. But it is a good soundbite.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Good soundbite or not, it is exactly what the role of government is meant to be.
But instead the corporate and political classes have twisted the role of government using the mantra of market forces dictating policies inflicted on the people are based on harsh capitalist economic realities, however when the corporate entities are looking for a helping hand, harsh capitalist realities are suspended temporarily, as they enjoy the benefits of limitless government handouts of monies borrowed in the peoples name..
@Brian Boru: precisely what the leaders of all the normal democratic parties in coalition are doing
He is looking after NGOs, the asylum industry and his wealthy donors.
There must be an election on the horizon. FFG are coming out daily empathising their differences. But after the last few years we have seen that they are exactly the same.
@Brian Madden: The general election is due 2025, and any objective observer can see the coalition parties are anything but the same.
Spoofer .
I represent middle Ireland and have less money in my pocket now than I ever did. Get up early every morning without fail too. Hate it.
@Ali murray: Agreed. Tell them what you think they want to hear and then do nothing. Inheritance bands were reduced substantially because of financial crises some years ago. He(Leo) promised to restore them to previous levels years ago. Did it happen? No. He talks and talks and talks and that about sums him and this Government up. The election campaign has already begun and FG are already out of the blocks. FF are still scratching their heads wondering how to become relevant.
@Brendan Shanahan: Its not as if he could do anything about it though. He is only……. oh …. The Taosiach of the country.
What could he possibaly do to solve even one problem he has helped fester and create over at least the last ten years.
Its always somone elses fault or I’ll do it next time in in power.
They think we are idiots
These tricks won’t work on us now. We are wide to your deceptions.
I will not be putting FF or FG candidates on my ballot and will fill with anyone else.
Time for change.
No no no, this is a typo. This should say ‘Riding middle Ireland’. I fixed it for you, I’d now like a 200k a year press advisor job.
Such a tax cut would be extremely inflationary would it not ? Now isn’t the time for tax cuts if so. As someone else noted this “dispute” between FF and FG is manufactured and is an attempt to dismiss the idea that FFG are not the same party which of course they are.
@Michael OKelly: tax cut would be extremely inflationary – do you feel the same about socialwelfare increases?
@Damien Doherty: As i have said before this new totally unexpected tax income form MNCs should be invested long term.
In eduction programs and apprenticships to help with the housing crisis. In building renewables and becomeing a world leader in renewable energy and tech.
A complete review of the HSE by outsourced experts with Carte Blanche to pay off the contracts of anyone who needs to be done to streamline and improve the system.
Free public transport and imporvements in public transport infrastructure accross all of Ireland
But naaahhh lets just increase pensions, cut taxes and give Dole collecters an extra tenner a week .
And they say SF are being populist. Its the hypocrisy of it all that angers me and the unwillingness to actaully DO anything that dissapoints me with this current shower.
Absolute BS. He said last elections he would get rid of USC and reward the people who get up and go to work , he did neither .
My post is deemed toxic because i disagree with with the headline.
The journal is a government propaganda tool.
Myself and my wife both work, we pay for mortgage, childcare and live a modest lifestyle. Hard Working families always seem to be back of the queue. Why the furore about wanting to give back to those who contribute the most?
@Sean McCarthy: Because as soon as he gets what he wants, to hell with you and the rest of the hardworking familes he claims to represent. That’s how things roll in Fort Leo.
@Sean McCarthy: Because he’s buying your vote and then as soon as he’s reelected, bam, he’ll need to raise taxes for some manufactured reason.
Well it’s a pity you’ve abandoned us for so long then. You’ll be on the scrapheap next time around dude
You have abandoned Middle Ireland and we will not be bought with our own money…
Please go Leo, my new mantra.
Looking out for middle Ireland is “part of Fine Gael’s identity”, Varadkar said. At this day and age does the ordinary Tax paying worker really believe this statement? this is the very man who said after covid there’d be no cliff edge we all what happened and is still happing. beggar believe he’d making this statement.
“It’s promoting things like home ownership”
Really? Well you’re doing a very poor job at promoting that message. Record homelessness, record high rents, house prices rising and very little houses being built to meet demand. And that is under 12 years of Fine Gael’s watch, lest we forget.
@Dave Murray: and since June 2020 thanks to country have a FF Minister for Housing, there has been unprecedented investment in housing, which has resulted in record number of new homes (private and social) being delivered year on year.
@Stephen Kearon: Which pub are you in this morning Stephen? How you continue to support and defend a party who cut all ties with you is beyond me.
Can I ask you why you do it?
@David Corrigan: Fianna Fáil entered Government in June 2020 with the aim of reversing over a decade of inaction in housing policy. By the end of 2030, the Housing for All plan aims to build:
@David Corrigan: Housing for All is the most ambitious home building plan in the history of the State. Last year, Govt built more social homes nationally than we did since 1975, and Govt intends to increase these numbers further in 2023, with a target of 11,830 social homes.
Your last comment is false.
@Stephen Kearon: CIS said in its report: “At the end of the first year of their commendable Housing for All plan, the Government claims to have exceeded their target of building 25,000 new homes by almost 20%, by delivering 29,851 units in 2022.
“However, housing data published by Construction Information Services (CIS) paint a less encouraging picture, with just 23,751 new dwellings completed – 95% of target – suggesting that more work needs to be done by the Government to deliver against their targets. Given the current housing crisis, this suggests that there is an urgent need for an accurate and dependable method for determining the true housing supply figures in Ireland.”
@Stephen Kearon: How many of those were snapped up by vulture funds? How many were made available to be sold to individuals?
You try and sell the yarn but you are selective with the data. No point in building 25,000 if 20,000 are sold to vulture funds who in turn charge lotto size rent to tenants. That’s not solving the problem. That’s making it worse.
@David Corrigan: most recent data shows 62% went to households, 25% were added to social housing stock and 13% went to other sectors (which includes vulture funds)
Leo is looking after himself, that’s all he ever has and ever will do. FG will get a kicking in the next election under his leadership, so he’s going full on desperation tryin to win over anyone at this stage. He can’t debate, has never apologised for any of the multiple times he’s been caught out, and when he’s backed into a corner either throws FF under the bus or tells the media to look over there at big bad SF. As brutal as clown shoes Kenny was as FG leader, least he actually understood when the party was in trouble and wasn’t in love with himself like some bad vanity case that Leo clearly is
@Cst2eu: Of course he’s looking after himself, no matter what party they claim allegiance to, once politicians get a seat in the Dáil they all morph into Mé Féiners.
Smell that folks??? Election is in the air
Blatant lies
Move on leo – your words are lies
Really? What about the health of middle Ireland & our children? Just look around your Constituency Leo – nothing but buildings being built on top of buildings, apartment blocks with little green space, crammed roads, no Luas from Dublin 15 into the City big data centres. When was the last time a public swimming pool was built here or in Ireland for that matter? We need amenities focused on our mental & physical health! And Developers/Land owners including such in their big lucrative plans and finishing them on time!
Looking after the brown envelopes.
Just another laughable soundbite from leo the leak
Middle Ireland…call it what it is to u Leo…the well you keep goin too…that well is dry now, anything you ‘Talk’ about doin now is a case of too little too late’ damage done…Get out!
But they don’t, we’re still paying bailout levels of tax. Young Middle Ireland are totally squeezed out of the housing market. I could go on but middle Ireland knows already.
The only person Leo Varadkar is looking after is himself.
Middle Ireland – there is no such place but there are the D4 set the rich Farmers and the super elite
Maybe look after the most vulnerable, the lower income earners. The ones who pay their taxes qualify for no support and have to struggle on. In the last budget, these people were completely left behind. The people who never work were left €12 per week better off (not accounting for the double bonuses) , someone earning 40k+ was €16 per week yet some earning 30k was just over €2 per week better off. And those are the people from the three groups, and they are also the most likely to be paying exorbitant rent.
Moving the high rate tax band is not looking after middle ireland, as proportionally, it helps the wealthiest most.
A house similar to what I grew up in, in the Crumlin area. Which I would like to add, two bedrooms, which housed eleven of us.
Is now on the rental market for 2,800€ a month. Now how in the Name of God is anybody able to afford to pay that amount of money? This is all wrong our young people deserve more than this. I feel we oldies have failed our young people. For that I’m sorry.
FG have no identity. Ask anyone in the street what the big parties stand for and they won’t be able to tell you, it’s a sad state of affairs.
Looking after everyone except middle ireland –
It’s all about the unemployed and immigrants.
No breaks at all for the young people of Ireland that are actually looking after themselves and not taking from the state. !
More lies from this moran
@Pauline Fedigan: You mean moron.
You couldn’t make this stuff up, we have a Taoiseach who is admitting his priority is to look after the interests of a small section of the community.
Little dig at FF over pension, now has Leo ever done that before, (oh yes) every time. Always a little dig at what he doesn’t agree with.
L I e = l e o
‘Promotion of home ownership’. Finally an admission from FG that their ideology is in fact at the root of the housing crisis (and Leo wouldn’t lie). It was always obvious from their nonsensical developer-friendly, inflationary giveaway policies to drive demand for private ownership but do nothing to actually deliver any houses. Looking after developers and all his ‘middle class’ cronies more like.
Just go away leo, the country has had enough of you
The biggest domestic crisis in Ireland right now is housing. We have full employment and yet workers are not being looked after. We have people who are working and homeless. And Fine Gael have now officially said that they don’t care. Their “solution” is to enable rich kids to buy their own homes. That is not going to house the homeless. I have some time for Leo’s leadership in Covid but we need a similar emergency response now. The State needs to invest massively in building houses for all, ensure that empty properties are made available and that derelict ones are refurbished/rebuilt. And there needs to be much more support for tenants.
What a joke. Is this a pathetic attempt at vote buying.
Looks like nobody has anything nice to say about our glorious leader
Is looking after over 12,000 homeless people and children part of FGs identity???
Leo a man for soundbites,if he had any interest in the middle ground then the promise to restore the inheritance tax allowance to what it was …500 grand…would be on the priority list,this was promised when they first got in…most siblings can’t afford to inherit their parents home anymore especially in Dublin even in working class areas…I don’t really know who FG represent
The political parties (all of them) are not doing what is best for the country and it’s people. As someone said before we are still paying USC, we keep hearing the energy company will get taxed more and that hasn’t happened. We have a legal system which is so corrupt and feeds off the poor. If we try to contact anymore in our government of local councils we never get anywhere. The whole system is rigged and I’ve lost faith in it, it’s sad but I’ve lost totally and utter faith in these people who are meant to serve us.
Ah sure they got more than 1.5 billion in the coffers anyway.Buying votes again..I hope the majority of constituents can see through this Ruse when it comes to voting in the General Election
The budget is always give and then take and we still get screwed over!!!!!
Getting sick of this guy’s BS at this stage.
Looking after corporates more likely. Unemployment is record low but have far worse problems, qualified teachers, nurses are leaving, of defence forces in chaos, even considering recruiting from abroad for the navy. Next will be foreign gardai. From farmers to public servants, from private sector workers to students almost everyone are worse of now than pre-covid. You can’t fool people with free abortion tablets where people are on trolleys or waiting for months for their surgeries. The whole system is working fine for high income earners and property funds. Ireland has turned into a more miserable place. Well done Leo…
Have you seen what’s happening in Santry? Devastating and heartbreaking.
https://twitter.com/theliberal_ie/status/1662419324429123585?s=46&t=osxvWwJHDm06Fd8N0GTFdQ
To late now
buzz buzzz
Under FG unemployment has gone from 15% to 4%, this has unfortunately created more problems. A lot done, more to do….
@brian o’leary: That had nothing to do with FG and you know it.
There’s only one comment for this ……..Bulls**t, every word out of this guys mouth is a lie
After all their years in power with an election that’s looming The soundbites from Varadkar and FG TDs concerning the squeezed middle class is a bit hypocritical. Martin must be tearing his hair out with the abandonment of FG…especially when Martin and FF kept Varadkar and FG in power when last in opposition with a confidence and supply agreement. The fact Martin had to go cap in hand to Varadkar to form a government, and yet Martin defends the actions of FG. That FFG/ Green lifeboat is getting too crowded…So it’s Martin and FF are thrown overboard. The toxic mix of FFG was always going to end it tears.
Get rid of USC completely. Would cost 4.5 billion.
I smell s***e!
Leo is funny..
If looking after middle Ireland is part of FG’s identity, why is it still an issue after so many years of FG government?
What’s so special about Offaly and Laois?
Leo the leak would say mass just to hear himself, he has nothing but contempt for the ordinary citizens, high worth companies and individuals are all that traitor thinks abouts
have your say