COUNTY Limerick politician Richard O’Donoghue pleaded with supporters of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to stop propping up the current government in the wake of Budget 2026.
If they do, he claimed in the Dáil, their children and grandchildren “will not have a future”.
“Fianna Fáil was once known as the workers’ party; Fine Gael was once known as the farmers’ party. Both parties have turned their back on the hard-working people who supported them and put them back into this House. They put the two fingers up to them and told them, ‘We don’t care’,” Deputy O’Donoghue claimed.
“Constituents voted for those parties or voted for me, and I work for all of them. I work for everyone. I do not differentiate between parties and non-parties. They are coming to me now – these are people in their 70s, grassroots of parties – and they say, ‘Richard, what has gone wrong with this government? Our children and our grandchildren are going to pay the price’,” the Rural Ireland Independent said.
The former Fianna Fail man hit out that the Universal Social Charge (USC) – introduced in 2011 as part of the then government’s effort to stabilise finances during an economic downturn – is still in place.
“The USC is a tax payable on total income. It was said at the time it was a temporary measure. It is a bit like everything else in here. The guidelines for wind turbines were temporary, but we were told we would get there. That was in 2006. In 2011, another temporary measure was brought in. That was 14 years ago.”
Commenting on the changes to USC in the recent Budget, Deputy O’Donoghue said: “What did the government do in the budget? Do its members think the people of this country are fools? It lowered the USC, which to me is illegal because the government told people it was a temporary charge. It also froze taxes. There was no movement up in the tax brackets. What did it do? It took it from one side and put it on the other side.”
He then delivered a direct message to supporters of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the Oireachtas, asking: “What is a sign of madness? If I keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, it is a sign of madness. I ask the people who have supported Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for years to please, for their children’s sake and their grandchildren’s sake, stop supporting them. They are making the same mistakes over and over: no accountability and money being wasted time and again.”
“Hard-working people, hard-working companies and the self-employed in this country, if they do one thing wrong they are penalised because there is accountability. They have to make profit to stay open and to pay for their employees who work for them because they want to support their families,” he said.
“Our government and departments waste money hand over fist and there has never been accountability. I ask supporters of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to please not support this government anymore. If they do, their children and grandchildren will not have a future.”
