Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has hit back at fierce criticism after everyone was left saying the same thing after Budget 2022.
There was outrage on social media after it emerged that there would be few changes for renters and prospective homeowners in the announcement, despite a worsening housing crisis.
Maynooth University Professor Rory Hearne wrote: "The budget does nothing to stop house prices and rents rising further and will result in a worsening housing crisis."
While Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said: "The biggest emergency we have is in housing. The Government has turned a blind eye in this Budget and taken no action.
"They have left renters to fend for themselves."
And social media was united over the issue, as one user wrote: "New day, same story: the budget extends tax relief for landlords; no comparable support or protection for renters"
And another added: "Nothing for renters but a tax break for landlords."
However Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has hit back at the criticism and defended the government's Budget plans, emphasising the role of the Help to Buy scheme for future homeowners.
He told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One: "We've brought in a rent freeze in real terms so next year things can increase by more than the rate of inflation
"One thing we decided to do in the Budget was keep in place the Help to Buy scheme and a lot of renters want to buy, they don't want to rent for life, they want to rent their own home.
"And the Help to Buy scheme could be worth €20,000 to €30,000 for them, and that's being retained.
"The opposition parties wanted to get rid of that, they want to give you a rent tax credit worth maybe €1,000 a year on the one hand and take away the Help to Buy scheme worth €20,000 on the other hand."
But when faced with the claim that there's not a single measure that will lower the cost of rent for people who are currently renting, Varadkar responded: "No there's not and that's something we have to give consideration to and we did give consideration to.
"The housing crisis affects people in different ways, for some people it's the cost of rent and struggling to pay that, for some it's the cost of the mortgage and struggling to pay that, for some people living at home with their parents it's struggling to save money to raise a deposit.
"The particular tax credit proposed by the opposition would only help those people who are struggling to pay the rent, we want to do something that would help all workers."
Here is the best of the social media reaction to Tuesday's Budget:
