Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

There are now more than 3,000 people waiting at least one year for hospital treatments. Figures provided by the Minister last week show that 256 people are waiting for neurosurgery in Beaumont Hospital, 117 of whom have been waiting for over a year. In St. Vincent's hospital, 175 are waiting for pain relief, 65 of whom have been waiting for over a year. In Crumlin children's hospital, 674 children are on the surgery list, 199 of whom have been on the list for over a year. The national health strategy in 2001 promised that by the end of 2004, no patient would wait longer than three months. That is the reality in delivery.

It is even more shocking when we see the money it costs for this poor delivery of service. It is no wonder that an opinion poll yesterday showed that 58% of all voters and 60% of Progressive Democrats voters believe nothing has got better since Deputy Harney took over as Minister for Health and Children.

The Government backbenchers listened anxiously to what the Minister for Finance would do for first-time buyers and I am not sure they were impressed. They must know that every move made by the coalition in the housing market has ended in tears with no discernible improvement for first-time buyers. Ministers need to tread carefully when they try to use tax measures that appear to offer relief but end up boosting prices, as has happened more than once. It is a treacherous minefield and I see little genuine benefit in what has been announced in the budget. There is an urgent need to refocus policy to help the first-time buyer. The Government's legacy in housing is a mixed bag. Fortunes for some, massive house construction activity but frustration and anger among many whose dreams of home ownership are perpetually stopped by rising prices and the collapse of affordability. Nothing symbolises the failure of the Government to manage and distribute the gains of the Celtic tiger more than the current housing situation.

Let us take a representative young couple. John is a teacher and Niamh is a nurse, both in their late 20s and earning over €35,000 every year. They rent an apartment for €1,100 a month in Ongar, west Dublin, a community highlighted in last Saturday's The Irish Times. They would like to get married in four years and start a family but before this, they would like to buy a home within a reasonable commuting distance of their jobs. It seems incredible that this young and ostensibly affluent couple cannot buy a home of their own. Their parents, when they married 40 years ago, could buy a home and settle down within a reasonable distance of their work. John's older brother married in 1996 when the Celtic tiger was just beginning to roar and managed to buy a house.

John and Niamh want to know why the Government has rebalanced the property market and the chance of home ownership against them and in favour of a motley crew of landlords and investors. The Government's housing statistics on record construction levels do not speak to John and Niamh. They are locked out from buying their own home. Tonight when they do the sums after the budget, they are unlikely to feel much more confident than they were last week, particularly when interest rates will increase by 0.25% tomorrow. For the average starter mortgage in the Dublin area, €330,000, this increase will cost €63 a month, wiping out the gains in the Minister's increases.

The Minister did not say much on stamp duty. I was disappointed he did not include a left wing Fianna Fáil tax reform approach in the mix. He could have closed the loophole whereby those who bought the site of the Irish Glass Bottle Company in Ringsend saved €30 million in stamp duty. While the Minister did not want to tinker with stamp duty, he could have closed some of the loopholes. I am glad he is promising an exemption on sporting bodies. I have raised this several times through parliamentary questions and the media. I hope this will benefit the Cork GAA club which first raised it, because it deserves a break.

One of the people I am trying to assist is from the Taoiseach's constituency. She is 34 years old. Let us call her Una. She has a 12 year old daughter, Mia. She has been parenting alone since Mia was born, has a good job in a State-funded body and earns just under €39,000 per year. She would like to buy an apartment from Dublin City Council for herself and Mia for between €210,000 and €240,000, but she has a continuous affordability gap of between €50,000 and €100,000.

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