Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Pre-Budget Outlook: Motion (Resumed)

 

4:00 pm

Photo of Tom HayesTom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I am thankful for the opportunity to say a few words on the pre-budget Estimates for the public service 2008 and to touch on individual areas of interest. Listening to the speeches so far, I heard speakers from the Government side compliment the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance. One might think from their contributions that he alone had brought prosperity to the economy. It is only fair on occasions such as this when members of the Government parties compliment their former Ministers to also remember that the Tallaght strategy played a significant part in bringing prosperity to the country. What former Deputy Alan Dukes did as a politician should never be forgotten within the Houses of the Oireachtas. I should like that to be recorded because we heard a good deal of praise for Ministers and Deputies who were in situ in good times. Perhaps it was not politically wise on Deputy Dukes's part to take the initiative he did, and it did not help his political career, but it should not be forgotten on a day such as this.

Regardless of whether we like it, the parents of rural Ireland constitute the new poor. I have been listening to many Deputies from rural Ireland and they know of parents who work incredibly hard to assist their children to get a better education and build the foundations for the future. These parents are bearing the brunt of the disadvantages associated with our newly found wealth in the past ten or 20 years.

While the Government sometimes supports incredibly rich people by way of exemptions and tax reliefs, the average man and woman must work hard for his or her family. They pay PAYE tax at high rates or may be self-employed and are struggling financially every day to educate their children. The grants for college students have not risen in line with inflation and students must endanger their exam success by working in part-time jobs for longer than ever before. Accommodation costs have risen exponentially for students in cities. The lucky families who live near major universities have a considerable advantage over rural families who live far away from them. The construction industry has benefited in this regard and the money it has made in the past 15 years has been at the expense of rural families who must accommodate their university-going children. It is time for the Government to reduce the burden on such families. Both parents must work and pay PAYE tax, while the students who must also work receive small grants and no assistance in the provision of their education.

What can we do to help these working people to underpin our future economic success? The Government desperately needs to get real about the weekly cost to parents of accommodation in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick. We need to develop a system whereby parents for whom it is not logistically possible to send their children to college, if those children must live at home, can be given tax credits in respect of the cost of accommodation. If students were meeting this cost themselves, they could claim it back by way of a tax credit. Why then must a parent contributing to his or her child's livelihood be penalised for doing so? The Government needs to play fairly and evenly on both sides. The problem is exerting considerable pressure on many parents who do not have houses in Dublin or Cork and cannot afford them. They must pay considerable rental costs each week for their children. In my constituency of Tipperary South parents with two or three university-going children, perhaps in different institutions, are being hurt financially. I beg the Government to look after them.

The housing aid for the elderly scheme is an extremely good and effective one and has been administered by the Health Service Executive and formerly by the health boards for many years. It has offered considerable help to many old people living alone who want to remain in their communities. It makes available grants of up to €2,000 or €3,000, which grants improve greatly the quality of life of pensioners. However, the administration of the scheme is such that the budget runs out in May or June each year, not least in my constituency. We waited the whole summer for a further allocation derived from moneys not used in other areas. Although some extra funding was made available recently, the forthcoming budget will present an ideal opportunity to fund the scheme properly. It is advantageous to so many elderly people and allows for the provision of very simple improvements, including better doors and windows. I beg the Minister to do something for older people by increasing the allocation for the scheme.

I have been a member of the Committee of Public Accounts for the past two years and surprised week in, week out by the waste of money in Departments appearing before it. In the past four years in this Parliament we have heard very real accusations about wasted money, but nothing has been done to allow the committee to investigate them and implement necessary changes such that people would be made responsible. It is time the House held to account those who are wasting funds in various areas. In this regard, I could refer to the health service, education system and other areas, in respect of which there is room to improve the way we spend public money. We read of cases every day in the newspapers but the truth of the matter, be it in respect of electronic voting or otherwise, is that we must identify, once and for all, those who waste money and punish them severely. If money were wasted in a similar fashion in the private sector, somebody somewhere would have to resign. It is time this occurred in the public sector to reduce waste, bearing in mind that we will have to tighten our belts financially. In this manner we could still retain the quality of life and services to which we have become accustomed.

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