Minister for Misery, Labour’s Brendan Howlin, certainly lived up to his party’s pledge to protect the Croke Park agreement, all at the expense (literally) of the 1.5m people who work in the private sector.  This is Labour’s way.

Rather than stopping the €1.2b in increments paid to his public service union buddies, he attacked working families by:

• Doubling school transport costs
• Increasing drug payment scheme ceiling
• Forcing a 50% increase in private health insurance

This is Labour’s way.

Not only has the Government failed implement their pre-election pledge to help struggling mortgage holders, this budget actually does the reverse by making those receiving mortgage interest supplement pay more.  This is Labour’s way.

At the same time as he attacks the disabled, he does nothing to tackle the able bodied who refuse to work. Despite Joan Burton’s promises to tackle welfare fraud, nothing new was announced and the 2012 estimates show anti fraud measures contribuing a tiny 0.2% of the welfare budget.  This is Labour’s Way.