Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. It is unfortunate that the party putting forward the Private Members' motion is responsible for many of the policies they are now criticising. This year's budget reads like a horror story. The tax on septic tanks was to come before the Dáil this week but it is now being postponed until January. Local residents will be paying the price for the failure of consecutive Governments since 1975 to implement EU regulations. The household charge will also affect rural householders. The local government fund will be cut by €165 million, and 84% of this figure is intended to be met by the charge. We can see how that is going to run into difficulties.

Two serious attacks are being made against our communities. The first is against community employment schemes, which provide essential services that would otherwise never be provided. The private and public sectors either will not or cannot provide these services, which range from homework clubs, crèches and meals on wheels to environmental works in villages and towns. As a former participant and sponsor of community employment schemes, I fear the proposed cuts will result in the closure of many of these schemes. They are dependent on the material grant for rents. Education and training are essential elements of community employment. I was a beneficiary of a training grant in the 1990s. It helps people to get into employment but it is being killed by the budget measures. We are being told that schemes will be not allowed to lapse but they are useless if the money for education and training is removed.

The second attack is against local government services. Rural households are being asked to pay ever increasing charges from their depleted resources while the funding from central Government is being diverted from local government to bail out the banks. We can see that in the €165 million being cut from the local government fund by the budget. The people in our communities did not cause the banking crisis that has brought the economy to this juncture. I ask the Government to revisit this measure because these people should not be asked to pay the price for it.

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