Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on the spring economic statement that was issued by the Government on Tuesday. Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, spoke about the employment lost over the period of the recession being fully recovered by 2018. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, made much of employment increases in every quarter over the past two years. I want to acknowledge what has happened in my constituency of Galway West and South Mayo, involving the recent job announcements by Apple. It is right next door to me and I look forward to visiting the plant in Cork next week and meeting Apple's senior executives there. It is an €850 million investment involving 300 jobs. We must acknowledge the tremendous work that has been done by the Government and the IDA, as well as Apple's decision to pick Galway.

I also welcome the announcement earlier this year by Zimmer which is setting up a base in Oranmore involving 250 jobs. I compliment Adrian Furey, the general manager of Zimmer, who is a native of Oranmore. It is a great achievement for him to return to Oranmore and provide such employment there.

Emigration was missing from the spring economic statement. In the past five or six years, there has been huge emigration from all towns and cities, but particularly from rural Ireland. No Minister has mentioned that subject in their contributions to the spring economic statement, however. Many families in rural towns and villages have been affected by emigration. GAA and soccer clubs have also been drastically hit. Four years ago, there was one GAA club in the Australian city of Perth, while now there are nine. That shows the level of emigration with young people leaving this nation in recent years. In addition to Australia, they have also emigrated to Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It is true that emigrants are returning home, but only some of them.

Hopefully, the economy will grow more, but it is currently only growing in major towns and cities. Rural towns have not benefited from that economic growth. I hope that we will see our brightest and best young people coming back to this country again. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan, is working to achieve that.

There is one sector of society that has not enjoyed the benefits of an improving economy. Figures released last week by the Central Statistics Office show that while the number of people on the live register has fallen substantially, those with dependants have grown as a proportion of the total. Four years ago, 24% of those signing on had child or adult dependants, or both. The latest figures show that this has now jumped to 29%.

While the overall number of people on the live register has fallen by over 96,000 in the last four years - a lot of it due to emigration - the number of those with child dependants has risen. This is a shocking indication of how young families are continuing to suffer. Doubtless, the high cost of childcare is a major factor preventing parents of young children from getting back into the workforce.

The cost of childcare can be the equivalent of a second mortgage for most families. That has resulted in a huge number of poor working families. It is imperative that the working group on childcare, established by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, can come up urgently with a targeted solution to a problem that is preventing a substantial section of our population from enjoying some of the fruits of the recovery.

I heard few details yesterday of any real relief for those who have paid most for the price of austerity. The middle class, ordinary working people are those whose wages have been cut, in some cases by up to 20% in the public sector and up to 30% in the private sector. It has been even more in some cases. They have been hit by property tax and water charges.

Many of them bought their houses at the height of the boom but are now in negative equity and struggling to meet their mortgage payments. They still have to pay the universal social charge, a temporary emergency measure introduced in 2011, and even though the economy is heading in the right direction the Government will not abolish what is the most hated tax.

There is no relief for the people in middle Ireland who suffered the most but are getting nothing in return. We must start giving back to those people who should be treated as a priority.

The spring economic statement also dealt with the plans for increased housing provision but most of those measures will take years to implement. Previous attempts at solving the housing crisis would not instill confidence that they will be successful.

The waiting list for housing in Galway and elsewhere in the country is out of control due to the fact that many people are finding themselves in the unfortunate situation where they are unable to continue to pay their mortgages or rents. An allocation of €58 million was received recently by Galway City and County Councils to buy, build or lease homes for social housing needs but the houses are not available. Every Deputy in the House can confirm that. How long will it take to build houses? That waiting list will get longer.

An article in theConnnacht Tribunestated that there are 4,401 people on the housing waiting list as of 26 April. That figure has risen by over 670 in the past year. Osterley Lodge is full to capacity. People are being put up in hotels because there are no houses available. I challenge the Government to come up with some solution to that problem.

I have a short-term solution. While we are waiting for all these new houses to be built the councils should allocate some of the social fund towards renovating derelict private houses and renting them from their owners. There are many private houses that are derelict in which an elderly person might have died and the house left to a son, daughter, niece or nephew who does not have the money to renovate it. If such houses were renovated they could be rented to the State, which would alleviate some of the problem and be beneficial in terms of renovating old, derelict houses. I ask the Government to consider that solution, which could work well in terms of helping the families in these areas. Also, I would like to see the old family home or the old uncle or aunt's house done up.

A major issue is the home sharing scheme and respite services. Every Deputy in this House will have families coming into their clinics on that issue. It is very difficult to sit at a table with a family who are struggling with a loved one who needs respite care. The respite care grant is being cut. It is not even available in Galway. I have tabled Dáil questions on that issue and the reply from the Minister was that it was a matter for the local health manager but if one meets the local health managers they say it is a matter for the Brothers of Charity but they do not have the funds to provide the service. I beg the Minister to provide the funds for these services because these families are at breaking point. They cannot cope. Some of them will have a nervous breakdown, and the children will then have to be taken into State care.

There are over 400,000 people on hospital waiting lists. I recall some years ago Fine Gael putting down a motion of no confidence in the then Minister, Mary Harney, when the waiting list figure hit 130,000. It is now at over 400,000. Mary Harney brought in the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which reduced the waiting list, but the former Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, did away with it. I am dealing with a case involving an 87 year old man whose hip operation has been cancelled five times. The man is in agony.

I will conclude by quoting from an article in the Irish Independentthis morning. I offer my condolences to the late Tommy O'Brien, who collapsed at his daughter's wedding. It should be the greatest day for any couple to celebrate their daughter's marriage but he collapsed and died later as a result of a massive heart attack. Eoin, his son, addressed the congregation at his funeral. He stated:

The truth of the matter though is that Tommy shouldn't be laying in front of us here today. He was due for a heart by-pass last September and it was continually postponed due to the waiting lists - well that waiting list is now one name short and we are down a wonderful man.

Our anger at losing Dad in this way is hard to quantify.

There are political figures in the congregation today. We can accept your sympathy and your kind words, but we shouldn't have to accept this level of health service in a first world country.

In conclusion, Eoin stated: "To you I say 'please do more'". I ask the Minister to please do more to help the most vulnerable in our society.

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