Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, who is not in the Chamber as many of my colleagues have said told us earlier that the Fianna Fáil Government had left us beholden, like the Famine victims of old, to seek relief outside the country. Boy, did we have to seek assistance from outside it. A bailout implies that one is getting something for nothing, but one gets nothing for nothing. If there is to be hope for the future, we will have to deal with the level of debt and servicing that debt. Next year the national debt alone will account for 120% of GDP, at €204 billion. The estimated cost of servicing that debt is approximately €8.4 billion annually. Instead of paying to service that huge number with borrowed money, we are paying to service it from taxation taken from Irish citizens. One way or the other we are paying; let us not think, therefore, that we are getting something for nothing. A sum of €14 out of every €100 collected in taxation will go to service the debt, not just next year but for decades. Where is the game changer promised in June 2012 when we were given to expect that much of our banking debt would be dealt with retrospectively? If we are to hope for the future, we must acknowledge to ourselves and others, particularly our so-called partners, that the level of government debt is the elephant in the room. If it is not dealt with, there is no real and sustainable hope for the future.

The mood music from the European Union is not good. The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schauble, said today it was unlikely the ESM would be used to directly retroactively recapitalise our banks. He said, "Ireland did what Ireland had to do ... now everything is fine." From where is he getting that message? It is not fine. It is not fine that those on low and middle incomes are being crippled with additional taxation, be it direct or indirect taxation, and that taxation is soaking up huge portions of the incomes of those on fixed incomes such as pensioners or those living on disability payments and so forth. It is not fine that we are so limited in what we can do in terms of the amount of money we can direct to creating jobs, which is the key to sustaining a reasonable level of public services and creating more jobs in the future. If we can deal with this issue, there will be real hope for the future.

It is impossible to talk about this budget without talking about its central theme, the level of government debt that must be serviced. Of course, that is in addition to personal and business debt and, furthermore, the problems with public service pension funds and so forth. There is a really serious problem.

I wish to highlight the issue of medical cards since it is one we encounter week after week. What is the strategy for keeping citizens well? It is impossible to fathom how somebody who has a chronic illness can be disallowed a medical card because he or she is marginally over the income threshold or even quite a bit over it, but it is absorbing all of his or her income, yet at the same time the Government can move in another direction and give children under five years of age free GP care, welcome as that is. Please outline the medical strategy in all of this because it must make sense. It cannot be one at the expense of the other.

The reduction in the social welfare payment for 24 year olds to €100 makes a presumption - it is a middle class presumption - that they all live at home and can get something from their parents. No provision is made for those who have come out of care or must leave home. They, too, must exist on this €100. There are also those whose families are very hard pressed. It is as if unemployment is something that is self-inflicted by the young. The presumption is that the payment is like pocket money. The Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, conducted a very useful experiment on what it cost to maintain a young person for one week and the figure is way above the €100 provided for in the budget today.

We are told there will be extra investment to maintain local roads. It is all smoke and mirrors or a three-card trick because were there not increases in motor tax earlier this year? The people have paid for these changes themselves and now they are being announced. The same is happening in the case of the huge housing crisis. There are 100,000 families on housing waiting lists. We must build houses and it is welcome that they will be built, but the State is paying a huge sum, €403 million last year, in rent assistance. Often that is given to people at way below the market rents and they must top it up from their social welfare payments. It makes sense, therefore, to build again in some locations. Not only will it provide housing, but it will also provide much needed jobs for people who have the skills to build them. The Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, said he was allocating €30 million from the lottery licence proceeds to recommence the State's house building scheme. However, the table on page 149 of the booklet provided by him shows that the capital allocation for housing in 2013 was €265 million, but that will reduce to €223 million in 2014. Is he taking it from one side and placing it in another?

The cuts to the household benefits package will come at a cost, including the isolation of and risk to elderly people. The cut to maternity benefit for the second year is aimed at a targeted group. While it is positive that class sizes will not be increased, it will be a sign of hope when we are reducing class sizes and restoring some of the supports that should be available in the classroom. Those who are sick and have discretionary medical cards are very much a target. The abolition of the mortgage interest supplement is one of the meanest cuts of all.

Are we returning to a situation where some people will end up in paupers' graves? To be honest, I do not see how some very poor people will be able to bury their dead when there is not even a minuscule grant available to meet only a tiny fraction of the cost. It is a terribly mean cut which will cause all sorts of problems in the future.

See this speech in context