Ireland grapples with its economy ahead of an election

Ireland's upper house of parliament today continued to debate a deficit-slashing budget designed to comply with a massive international bailout's requirements.The bill passed the Dail (the lower house) on Thursday.

As a general election looms and the country grapples with the economic downturn, Lydia O’Kane spoke to Father Sean Healy, Director of Social Justice Ireland about how this financial package will impact on Irish people.

“It is very draconian and it didn’t need to be”, he says, adding that the focus of the tax changes in the budget has been very much focused on income tax.

“There’s a lot of people in low paid jobs in Ireland, the working poor, who actually now find themselves in the tax net they were not in before.” Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with Father Sean Healy, here.