Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

Furthermore, the Government has excluded children over six in its child care provisions.

The budget for 2006 comes at a testing time for homeless people and those in need of housing. My test for the budget is clear: deliver decent homes, not temporary beds, and end homelessness and housing need in Ireland. Being homeless or in need of housing means living in damp, cold and infested housing, at the whim of landlords who threaten or neglect, under the cloud of eviction and debt, and in insecure and inappropriate accommodation in hostels and shelters or, literally, homeless on the streets. As a former full-time voluntary worker with the Simon Community, I know the reality of homelessness and I demand action on this issue.

Homelessness and unmet housing needs make people sick, interrupt their education, lessen their chances of securing a good job and put an enormous strain on individuals and families, especially children. The budget for 2006 must respond by investing to deliver a greater number of decent homes in the social rented sector because bad housing wrecks lives. Housing standards for the socially excluded are deteriorating. Demand exceeds supply for social and affordable housing. It is time to invest in all our housing futures, both in this budget and in the future.

The 2002 census of population states that there are 150,000 family carers in Ireland. According to the census criteria, a full-time carer is someone who provides more than 42 hours care in the home per week and consequently is prevented from engaging in full time employment outside the home. Family carers save the State more than €1.5 billion per year. Today, the carer's allowance was increased to €200 per week for those aged 66 and over. Every week, 3 million hours are worked by 150,000 carers. In 2005, fewer than one in six carers is in receipt of the carer's allowance, which is €153.60 per week, even though each carer saves the State approximately €600 per week, the cost of alternative residential care. In fact, depending on the level of care required, alternative care by the State could cost in excess of €1,300 per week. Carers save the State at least €1.5 billion per year.

My colleague, Deputy Healy, has pointed out that this budget does nothing for job creation in towns like Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, where the unemployment rate is 20.6%, almost five times the national average. Furthermore, the budget does not provide funding for the vital emergency ambulance service for the same town. I commend Deputy Healy on his work in Tipperary and I know that he will continue to push his agenda strongly.

I commend Deputy Harkin and thank her for her dedicated service to the people of the west. She has stuck with them, campaigned for investment and highlighted their plight in Europe. We wish her well and all the Independent Deputies will continue to support her.

It is scandalous that while the Government has so much money which it could have used to good effect in this budget, people will continue to die unnecessarily because of the failure of the Government to address basic medical needs. My Independent colleague who represents Mayo, Deputy Cowley, hoped the Government would address the special needs of his county which he has highlighted in the Dáil. In Mayo, people must wait much too long for an ambulance and the delay can be fatal. It is a minimum requirement by international standards to have an ambulance available in an emergency within the so-called golden hour. Delay beyond that time greatly increases a person's chances of dying or being severely disabled for life.

International minimum standards dictate that there should be an ambulance base within 20 miles of a population, yet there are no fewer than three areas in the Health Service Executive western region where there are no ambulance bases within this radius. Therefore, people have no hope of obtaining an emergency ambulance service within the clinical critical timeframe. One such area is the Achill, Mulranny and Ballycroy region of west Mayo, where people can wait for up to two hours for an emergency ambulance. After today's budget, the situation is no better in Mayo. It is the fault of the Government, in this and past budgets, for not providing funds for such an ambulance base to be provided.

Deputy Cowley has raised this matter on 13 occasions in the Dáil since 11 February 2004. A person who is not considered to be a major emergency when a general practitioner calls an ambulance often is one by the time the ambulance arrives two hours later. Deputy Cowley has also highlighted a recent case where a GP in Mayo had difficulty in getting an ambulance for a man who had burned his eyes in an accident with acid. The ambulance service told the GP that only two emergency vehicles were available that night. Only two ambulances available for a county the size of Mayo with 120,000 people, and this in a country that is so wealthy. It is a disgrace.

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