Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

This budget was a wasted opportunity but there is such a crowd of wasters on the Government side that it does not surprise me. The people have been feeling the pinch for the past few years. We have seen rip-off Ireland, in which the poor get poorer, the rich, whom the Government loves, get richer and the middle class gets squeezed. This budget has done nothing for the poor and the middle class. When it attempts to put its child care package into operation I can see nothing but difficulties for the Government. I hope this will not be so, as I know of people who find it difficult to live because of child care costs. I thought the Government would announce positive measures for these people but instead they received a pittance.

Today, constituents informed me that child care facilities and crèches had already raised prices before the budget was announced. Although a bonanza was expected, it did not materialise.

All voluntary groups agree the best way to target poverty is through child benefit. A measly increase was announced and the Government decided it was more important to remove 1% from betting tax. What control does the betting industry have over the Government? Why does the Government look after the betting industry in every budget?

The only positive measure in yesterday's budget was that people in the blood industry will have to pay tax. It was outrageous that people on low incomes paid tax but people such as Mr. Magner and Sir Alex Ferguson nearly brought down Manchester United and their business over the bloodstock industry and the famous horse, Rock of Gibralter.

People on low incomes should be treated better. I listened to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Brennan, a man who is not as aggressive as many of the Ministers. At a committee meeting we asked him to deal with widows and widowers and I was disappointed no initiative was announced to assist them. These people find themselves in a difficult position when they lose a loved one.

People with child dependants are at the same rate for the past ten years. Has a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a pair of shoes stayed at the same price for the past ten years? I am sick of the Government referring to a time when Fine Gael was in Government. It is so long since we were in Government that it will not be long more until we are back in Government after the next election. Fianna Fáil has been in Government for ten years so it should blame itself for the way it has let down the poor.

We see between 200 and 300 billionaires not paying any tax in this State. They fly into this country for All-Ireland matches and race meetings and this is a disgrace. I call on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to protect the increases received yesterday so that they are not wiped out by price increases on phones, ESB bills or food bills or by the county councils taking €4 of €5 from the €17 poor people got yesterday.

I have listened to debates about health in this country. The Government Deputies have spoken about elderly people and the package for them in the budget. The greatest scandal in the last two years has been the cutbacks in home help. Government Deputies are talking about the €150 million package but every day I am contacted by people in my constituency who have received letters from the health board informing them that it is cutting back on their home help. Is that not hypocrisy? Deputies on the opposite side are talking about a home care package, which is something I suggested two years ago, but they have done nothing to bring it about.

Most people want to live, die and care for their loved ones at home. There are no places for elderly people in State nursing homes or in private nursing homes, which they often cannot afford anyway. They are being left in bed and are not looked after because this Government does not care about them. All it cares about is the super rich. We had an opportunity in the last five or six years to improve the situation, with so much money in the country, but that money has been squandered by every single Minister in every Department. We see the over-runs and how much programme managers and special advisers are being paid while the people on low incomes have been let down.

I call on the Minister to ensure that whatever increases people on social welfare received in the budget will be protected and not clawed back by stealth taxes. There were 27 stealth taxes in operation last year. In the next few weeks county councils will finalise their estimates and we will see increases in refuse, water and other charges to pay for benchmark increases for the officials.

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