Paul Murphy attacks 'extreme centre' over budget and Google tax breaks
Paul Murphy criticised Pascal Donoghue's brand of centrism and condemned the government's budget for cutting supports while delivering tax breaks to big tech and developers. He argued these choices made disabled people and the poorest worse off and called for a fundamental change of government.
In his speech Murphy said the budget was presented as sensible centrism but imposed real losses on vulnerable people. He warned that "in one of the richest countries in the world with a record budget surplus, this government, Pascal Donoghue, decided to make disabled people poorer," citing well over €1,000 in nominal cuts to disabled people, a fall of over 4% in real terms for the poorest income group, and a roughly 2% squeeze on ordinary people.
Murphy referenced a Sunday Business Post article about meetings between the heads of Google and the then Minister for Finance. He said briefing documents showed Donoghue offered commitments on tax changes to Ashkenazi ahead of Google, including at least one measure worth over €300 million, and contrasted those breaks with cutbacks to social supports.
Murphy argued that the centre defended by Donoghue means austerity for the vulnerable and concessions for corporations. He contrasted left demands for decent housing, free childcare and a national health service with right-wing attacks on the vulnerable - including references to burning down IPAS centres - and invoked Tariq Ali's phrase "the extreme centre" to describe those priorities.
Murphy said the budget choices reveal who the government represents and insisted they require a fundamental change of government. He warned that presenting these policies as common-sense centrism masks ideological decisions that shape access to housing, childcare, health and income supports.
Budget critique
In his speech Murphy said the budget was presented as sensible centrism but imposed real losses on vulnerable people. He warned that "in one of the richest countries in the world with a record budget surplus, this government, Pascal Donoghue, decided to make disabled people poorer," citing well over €1,000 in nominal cuts to disabled people, a fall of over 4% in real terms for the poorest income group, and a roughly 2% squeeze on ordinary people.
Big tech meetings and tax breaks
Murphy referenced a Sunday Business Post article about meetings between the heads of Google and the then Minister for Finance. He said briefing documents showed Donoghue offered commitments on tax changes to Ashkenazi ahead of Google, including at least one measure worth over €300 million, and contrasted those breaks with cutbacks to social supports.
Definition of centrism and the 'extreme centre'
Murphy argued that the centre defended by Donoghue means austerity for the vulnerable and concessions for corporations. He contrasted left demands for decent housing, free childcare and a national health service with right-wing attacks on the vulnerable - including references to burning down IPAS centres - and invoked Tariq Ali's phrase "the extreme centre" to describe those priorities.
Political consequences and demand for change
Murphy said the budget choices reveal who the government represents and insisted they require a fundamental change of government. He warned that presenting these policies as common-sense centrism masks ideological decisions that shape access to housing, childcare, health and income supports.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett warns Uber fixed fares threaten taxi livelihoods
Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett: Demands Consistent Opposition to Imperialism
Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett criticises housing crisis, corporate profits
Danny Healy-Rae
Danny Healy-Rae Vows to Fight Mercosur, Defends Farmers
Sharon Keogan
Sharon Keogan urges councils to build, criticises housing plan
Rose Conway-Walsh
Rose Conway-Walsh warns Mercosur deal will devastate Irish farms
Transcript
On a personal level, Minister, former Minister, I wish you well, but on a political level, on an ideas level, I do not wish your ideas and your politics well. And I think it's worth examining what Pascal Donoghue's ideology has been and what it has meant, because he's one of the more ideological, more considered figures within the political establishment in Ireland. And what characterises the more general statements by the former Minister is to talk about the defence of the centre. That the centre must hold against extremes of left and right. To characterise himself as a centrist, a Fine Gaelist centrist, Fianna Fáil presumably as a centrist. And what does that mean? Firstly, the extremes of left and right. The left are those who say that we should have decent access to housing for everybody, we should have free childcare, we should have decent national health service, we should have a society that is based on people's needs, not profit. The right, of course, are those who want to demonise the most vulnerable, who want to burn down IPAS centres and so on. But look substantially. What is this centrism that Pascal Donoghue speaks of and what this government has legislated for? Take the example of the last budget. This is centrism. This is what is packaged as what is just sensible, normal, not very ideological at all. In one of the richest countries in the world with a record budget surplus, this government, Pascal Donoghue, decided to make disabled people poorer. Not just poorer in real terms, poorer in nominal terms by well over 1,000 euros. This government decided to make the poorest income group poorer by over 4% in real terms. It decided to make everybody, ordinary people, poor by about 2%. While giving huge tax breaks to big business. And this is presented as just sensible centrism. And there was an article which got very little coverage, or very little kind of echo, in the Sunday Business Post, which was very interesting and was revealing of how this government actually operates. About meetings between the heads of Google and then Minister for Finance. And briefing documents for the meeting show, quoting, Donoghue offered a number of commitments on tax changes to Ashkenazi ahead of Google, several of which were subsequently delivered or signalled in the budget. One of those is worth over 300 million euros. So Google is able to come, knock on the front door, go in, meet with the Minister for Finance and get a tax break of 300 million euros in the same budget that disabled people are made poorer. And it gets to the heart of what is what Tariq Ali described as the extreme centre. The extreme centre, which thinks that hard choices need to be made for the poor, hard choices need to be made for the disabled, hard choices need to be made for workers. But if you are Apple, Pascal Donoghue and this government will spend millions to fight for your right not to pay tax. If you are Google, you get tax changes in order to minimise your tax liability. If you are a developer, you get a massive tax break. It's why we need a fundamental change of government and who the government represents. so let's do a fair highlight. So I want to add number one내 of bills we don't have a part of. This is basically a global change of current behaviour for the ultimate employer, which has done many other lawyers, so I think this is more difficult than a student in Moving4HP