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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
But next, Holly Cairns, TD for Cork Southwest and leader of the Social Democrats. Good morning. Thanks a million for joining us. The economy, I might start with the economy and the wider economic picture. We just heard the tone of his comments on his way into cabinet. We've seen some data from government about the worst case scenario for the Irish economy if things really do go badly wrong.
Bank of Ireland today is predicting GDP will fall.
Chapter 2: What economic challenges are currently facing Ireland?
while inflation will rise. How worried are you at the moment about the prospect of an economic shock and how that might impact those who are already struggling?
I'm extremely worried and I think that's an understatement. You know, we've been in a situation where, in many respects, our economy has been thriving for some time now and there's been record surpluses. So that was a time to invest in public services, to ensure that there's a ground beneath which people can't fall below to protect from shocks like this.
And unfortunately, we have a government, have had government after government that has squandered that opportunity. And at a time when we have these record surpluses and a growing economy, we've last year alone, David, 70% of there was a 70% increase in pensioners living in poverty. The year before that, there was a doubling of children living in consistent poverty.
So all of those opportunities to invest in our services, to protect people from shocks like this, all of those opportunities have been squandered and wasted. And now we're in a very vulnerable and precarious position.
Now, obviously, the government would disagree with you. They would point to saving in the rainy day funds. They would point to the amount of money that's been pumped into infrastructure. They would point to the improvements in services. And the fact that only one out of seven, I think it is, euro of those windfall funds
taxes are actually being saved suggests that the rest has been spent so they would dispute your characterisation of it.
They can dispute elements of it but they can't dispute the facts and the facts are that the most vulnerable in our society their situation is deteriorating not improving during a time of huge prosperity for this country and that is shameful and it's failed to invest in infrastructure in services that genuinely bring down the cost of living for everybody
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Chapter 3: How does Holly Cairns view the government's handling of the economy?
And at a time when we're seeing such insecurity and such vulnerability, we're still seeing the government dangling tax cuts months out from the budget at a time when we shouldn't be destabilising our tax base. So I think we need to see a step change in this government's approach.
Sockdowns would go the other way. You'd introduce a wealth tax, so you'd increase taxation, I think.
And what we would do is, because what we see from a lot of parties in this country and for a long time now, is a promise of tax cuts and a promise to invest in public services. And of course, we all know that it's not possible to do both in a meaningful way. So we've always said we would invest in those services. that would genuinely bring down the cost of living for everybody.
Imagine not having to pay 60 or 70 euro to see a GP. Imagine having genuinely free education without so-called voluntary contributions. Imagine having access to affordable childcare. All of these things would bring down costs for everybody. And we've always been completely straight with the public that that is what we would do in government.
OK, so in the current situation, obviously, we're facing rising energy bills. There have been increases in the fuel allowance and so forth. What are you proposing or what would you propose? Particularly for people in the middle, middle income earners, the squeeze middle is sometimes called. What would you propose in terms of help for them?
So crucially, what we're seeing is there's already hundreds of thousands of people in arrears with their energy bills. And we know that, for example, home heating oil skyrocketed a whopping 70% in the space of a month.
So what we really need to see, I think, straight away from government is supports for households earning under ā¬70,000 because they are the people who are struggling the most in terms of meeting those rising costs of electricity and You know, electricity and energy costs skyrocketed during the when the war first broke out in Ukraine. Those prices haven't come down.
And now we're seeing these like unprecedented rising. It rises in things like home heating. Also, a 400 euro credit energy credit to those houses that need it the most is where we would start. We think never has been more evident, David, that we need to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels. Yeah. So doubling of the solar grant scheme to allow more people to access solar energy.
This is a no-brainer for government. If we could have a rooftop revolution in this country, it would protect those houses that need protection the most.
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Chapter 4: What proposals does Holly Cairns have for addressing the cost of living crisis?
I totally understand that. And this is something that I think we really need to address. So also baked into this legislation and what we voted on was that there would be a review of the legislation. Now, we had that review three years afterwards and it found that there are still so many issues with the legislation.
And I think we all remember the national debate that this country had on around the time of the repealed eighth referendum. And I know from canvassing during that campaign, from. Listening to radio programmes and television debates, a lot of people voted yes for those people who were forced to travel because they needed a termination for medical reasons.
So many people voted yes because of those particular stories.
Chapter 5: How can targeted support help middle-income earners?
And still today... Years and years later, those women are still being forced to travel. These are some of the most heartbreaking stories. And I was, like so many of your listeners, I'm sure, really moved to hear Denise Whitmore speaking on your programme about her and her family's experience of this.
But these are the pregnancies, the babies that are so wanted, that families are so excited about having. And then they get this devastating news. And... Like I raised this with the Taoiseach and I was really appreciative of his response because he recognises there's a massive issue here and a gap in the legislation and the people are suffering unnecessarily.
But I was struck by one thing he said, and that was we need to allow people to be able to tell their stories, that that's really important to create that space. And I have to say. I think we've heard enough of these stories. It's so honourable that people come forward and tell these heartbreaking stories to try and ultimately protect somebody else from having to go through it.
How many more people do we need to come forward and tell their stories of the suffering, the heartbreak, the travel home, all of the different elements of it? And so I'm bringing forward this legislation to finally address that. And what TDs will be voting on is not... Do we want to allow this kind of an abortion service or not? It's do we want to continue to force women abroad to do it or not?
That is actually the question we're dealing with, because when people need a termination for medical reasons, they just have to go and get one.
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Chapter 6: What is the Social Democrats' stance on energy costs and support measures?
But you're making a deeply traumatic time even harder by forcing them abroad to do that.
OK, Holly Cairn, Social Democrats leader. Thank you so much for joining us in the studio this morning.