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Sinn Féin has pledged to reverse the cuts to pandemic unemployment pay and wage subsidy in its Alternative Budget.
The party also said it would deliver 1,100 more hospital beds, 100 ICU beds, and would recruit 2,500 additional nurses and doctors.
It also foresees increases in the various social benefits at working age by € 5 per week, at a cost of € 222.5 million.
The weekly pension would increase by € 3 per week and € 5 for those living alone.
The party said it would also reintroduce the state pension for 65-year-olds as promised during the general election.
In housing, it is committed to doubling the government’s investment by contributing an additional 1,500 million euros to deliver 20,000 affordable and social housing.
In total, Sinn Féin said it would target a spending of € 18.3 billion, which is € 6.3 billion above the government’s target.
He said that 3.5 billion euros of this would be additional spending on Covid-19, 2.5 billion euros more in capital investment, while 1.8 billion euros would be for discretionary spending.
Sinn Féin said this would be offset by plans to raise € 1.5 billion in additional taxes and that it would run a deficit higher than the government’s to finance the rest of the additional spending.
It would impose a “solidarity tax” of 3% on income over € 140,000 in 2021, which would rise to 5% in 2022.
Tax credits would also be gradually reduced for income above € 100,000.
The party also said it would lower the cost of rent by up to 1,500 euros through a refundable tax credit and ban rent increases for three years.
Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe was wrong to remove the PUP.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Doherty said the government has reversed its position on the matter and called for the cuts made to PUP to be reversed.
He said that the PUP deficit will be about 22 million euros.
Doherty said that employers are not in a position to navigate during this period.
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