Tánaiste Simon Harris and Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty traded insults during heated Dáil exchanges in a row over the budget and the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Doherty accused the Government of talking about a “magic money tree” when dismissing calls to help households.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have a big fat magic money tree, and its leaves are evergreen when it comes to looking after the big boys, because you have no problem there,” he said.
Mr Harris in turn accused Mr Doherty of using a “single-transferable speech” and during heckling and interruptions claimed he was a bully. “You shout, roar and offer nothing constructive” and “that’s what bully boys do”, he said.
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The row erupted during Leaders’ Questions when Mr Doherty said the Government “delivered a budget of €9.4 billion that left people worse off”.
He said people were angry because “you have royally screwed workers that you promised before the election that you would look after”.
“You take away their energy credits. You take away the double child benefit payment. You hiked up student fees despite the fact you promised that you would reduce them.
“You increase the cost of petrol, you increase the cost of diesel, you increase the cost of toll roads, you jacked up the local property tax. You provide no extra help for renters, but a nice increase for landlords.”
He also criticised “measures that allow developers to make millions of euros of profits building apartments and not having to pay a penny tax on those profits”.
He said “the truth is that households who would have been fined just a couple of years ago would have been gotten by all right, are now in desperate situations.
“They’re drowning in bills, and your Government simply doesn’t recognise that.”
But Mr Harris accused Mr Doherty of “persisting in trying to misrepresent the budget week in week out” and then trying to “pivot to suggest that it’s all being spent in a certain direction”.
He said “you don’t tell the people at home the bulk of that money went to increases in public services”. There had been hundreds of millions of euro extra in funding for disability services and significant increases in the education budget, including for the capitation fee and for special education, the Tánaiste added.
He said extra funding had gone into the health service in what he called the largest ever social protection budget, including measures for carers, a major expansion in the fuel allowance and help for the hospitality sector in towns and villages in Donegal, Mr Doherty’s constituency, and across the State. He reiterated that this was the first of five budgets.
Mr Harris told Mr Doherty “you’ve let the mask slip again today that you don’t believe in the measures needed to make house-building more viable”.
“We’re taking those decisions. You will not support the decisions that we’re taking to make a real difference in terms of housing supply,” he said.
“And when we see those extra homes built in the years ahead, young people right across this country will benefit from that.”
