"Putting €65 Billion in Investment Fund Instead of Housing Would be Incomprehensible"

"Putting €65 Billion in Investment Fund Instead of Housing Would be Incomprehensible" - Tóibín

The Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín TD has said that if the government put the Corporation Tax Surplus into an investment fund "there will be hell to pay".

Speaking today, Deputy Tóibín said: "Today's three main headlines are that there are almost 670,000 people in Ireland living below the poverty line, according to a new report. The next headline is that more than 160,000 people in this country are in arrears on their gas bills. The main news item, however, is that the government will have a corporation tax receipt of €65 Billion over the next couple of years due and that they're meeting today because they don't know what to do with it and there's talk of an investment fund".

Deputy Tóibín continued: "Now is not the time to be talking about establishing a rainy day fund - it is lashing rain, and it has been lashing rain for months! The government need to spend their surplus in tax receipts on the provision of housing. It is unforgiveable that the housing budget has gone underspent the past economic year"

Deputy Tóibín continued: "My constituents are ringing me, or calling into the office showing us their bills, wondering how they'll pay them. People are contacting my constituency office hungry, and homeless. We have record youth emigration, we have record homelessness. The greens will have lost all sense of a moral compass if they don't push for increased spending towards helping the vulnerable around the cabinet table today - an investment fund should not supersede the need for housing spending", concluded Tóibín.

ENDS

The Irish political system is radically broken

In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.

Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.

Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.