Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis na Teachtaí Neamhspleácha as an deis a thabhairt dom labhairt faoin gcáinaisnéis anocht. The Independent Deputies wish to restate their commitment to the effect that they will always side with working people and the disadvantaged in society. That is our mandate and will be our priority in this House. We will do so as voices from the backbenches, as we are today, or, in the future, as a group of Independents in a more strategic position to influence Government policy.

It is our objective to try to achieve a fairer society. To achieve this aim, the budget should be used as a mechanism to redistribute the wealth of the country to benefit those most in need, including the elderly, sick, disabled and disadvantaged, and the carers and working people who struggle to survive on low incomes.

If we examine the budgets of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Governments for the past nine years, we see clearly that the vast majority of budgetary measures have consistently benefited the better-off much more than those most in need. This is a matter of record and has resulted in an increasingly unequal society. The creation of such inequality is the very opposite to the pursuit of fairness. We stand for fairness and equality.

There are undoubtedly positive measures in today's budget, some perhaps motivated by the impending general election. In the past nine years, when Ireland's economy became one of the strongest through the labour of its workers, the same Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government, through arrogant mismanagement, left our hospitals in crisis. Elderly people have been left on trolleys night after night and people on waiting lists have been denied hospital treatment in a two-tier system in which access to health care is based on ability to pay rather than the urgency of one's medical needs.

Some aspects of the health service provided by the Government were labelled the shame of Europe when Ireland was listed a shameful 25th out of 26 countries in a European health consumer survey. The Independent Members, including Deputy Connolly in Cavan-Monaghan, Deputy James Breen in Ennis and Deputy McHugh in Tuam, have championed the cause of addressing the requirement to have modern local hospital services available to all in need. These Deputies, with the full support of their Independent colleagues, have tirelessly focused attention on the health care needs of their communities, but the Government continues to fail to provide the hospital services so urgently needed.

The budget proposes to double the ceiling on mortgage interest relief for first-time buyers. This is welcome in itself but rising interest rates will neutralise this measure. It should not be permitted to obscure the fact that owing a home of one's own has become unattainable for many. For many more, the only way they can achieve this basic human right is to take on crippling life-long mortgages. The Government failed to take action to control the price of building land, the only measure that would have kept house prices down. The Government capitulated to its builder-developer friends and reneged on the provision of thousands of social and affordable homes. Many families could now be in such homes had Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats stood firm against the cartel of builders, but they let the people down, which is a shame. Had they stood firm, the common good would have been pitted against vested and organisational interests, which the Minister bragged about today. However, they failed to do so.

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