Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Terence Flanagan.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Finance Bill. Although the Bill has a green tinge it represents another missed opportunity on the Government's part to address Ireland's deteriorating competitiveness. It fails to address some of the key problems facing our economy and to heed warnings, including those from the Central Bank, that growth will halve this year. The housing market is edgy, the latest information shows that prices fell by 7.3% in 2007 and a further drop of 5% is forecast for this year. The numbers on the live register are expected to rise by 26,000 due to the slowing of the economy. The numbers in work are set to grow by only 0.8% with spending to increase by only 1.5%. Faced with these challenges this Finance Bill lacks imagination. Investors looking to Ireland need reassurance but the Government is failing to take heed of the changed economic climate and to put in place any ideas to cushion the country during this bumpy period.

According to one of the national newspapers yesterday the Health Service Executive, HSE, is to receive approximately €370 million less in Government funding this year. This is not enough to sustain the level of our health service. As a Deputy from County Clare I am concerned about the implications this shortfall would have for the hospital in Ennis which is already facing serious challenges as revealed late last year following HSE cutbacks. Ennis General Hospital faces a shortfall of €3.5 million in 2008. Last week I read in another newspaper that the HSE in the north west drafted a list of cost saving proposals which would reduce the delivery of services. Will the Minister of State ask the Ministers for Finance and for Health and Children whether the services at Ennis hospital will be further reduced following the cut in funding for the HSE?

The uncertainty around the redevelopment of the hospital causes serious concerns. When will the proposed €30 million worth of work commence there? It is already behind schedule and I understand that work on the planning process has not progressed because of last year's budget shortfall. My constituents will suffer if there is no proper health service in the county. Health services must be patient-centred but if the Government fails to provide sufficient funding for the HSE or the HSE has to trim its budgets patients will suffer.

The funding arrangements for Clare County Council are inadequate to deliver basic services especially in respect of water and sewerage. No sewerage system has been started in Clare in the past five years. There was good news for Feakle and the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, in his former role in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government visited Clare several times to examine these schemes. Work has commenced in Feakle and Mullagh and is about to commence in Scariff but there are problems there too. The schemes have been cut back and areas just outside the towns have not been included.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will have to face up to these problems particularly in Ennis when the schemes commence. Only last week Clare County Council avoided being axed when it accepted a revised budget as a result of the shortfall in funding from the Department. I have tabled a question for the Minister urging him to meet the council officials, councillors and Oireachtas Members to consider the shortfall in the council's budget. If he has extra money in the water service budget, which runs to approximately €24 million, he should allocate some of it to Clare County Council particularly to deal with the crisis regarding the water filtration problem in Ennis. The Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, was also aware of the inadequate temporary supply in his former capacity. I hope the Minister will see fit to meet the delegation as I suggest in my parliamentary question.

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