Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputy Sean Fleming. There used to be a time when people were not so fearful of budgets. They approached them in the expectation that something would come from them, and something usually did, whether a small increase in the old age pension, social welfare or the Christmas bonus, which is still very badly missed in inner city communities. Today people are approaching the budget in a very fearful way and the question is how much will be taken from them. This budget takes from significant groups of people. I listened to the speeches of the Ministers, Deputies Howlin and Noonan yesterday. Obviously they accentuated the positive, and there were positives in it. However, when it goes into the detail for the various Departments we see the real picture, where the cuts are and whom they are impacting. There are plenty of people in this country who can absorb cuts. The question is who are most and least affected by what happened yesterday. I wish it were more proportionate and that those who can afford to absorb the cuts were doing so.

This morning I went to the Centre for Independent Living, CIL, event in the Macro Community Resource Centre off North King Street. I met people with severe and multiple disabilities, all with a great zest for living and playing a part in their communities and wanting to continue to do so, and I listened to their reactions to the budget. The first thing that disappointed them was that equality was not at the centre of the budget. They were watching the coverage and awaiting clarification on the issues that most affect them. They are still awaiting that clarification, and that scares them. They are still awaiting the mobility allowance because they wanted to stress the difference between that and free travel. They are still awaiting information on aids and appliances and especially on personal assistants, PAs. A year ago PAs were cut and we know the anxiety and stress that caused those people. PA hours are being replaced with home help hours, which is not the same because home helps do not have the time or hours to do services such as shopping and cooking and people told me that impacts on their access to healthy food.

People with disabilities have a fear of getting mixed up in the new moves on medical cards because they saw what the random checks did to people who genuinely had medical cards. They were faced with the additional pressure and stress of gathering the evidence and forms to get those medical cards back. The phone allowance really hit some of those, including the €9.50 allowance because they need that landline. Some of them have that landline connected to their alarm system because some of them have PAs who leave at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. So much of the information they need for day-to-day living is accessed through the Internet, which is connected to their landline. It is also a contact for social interaction. Some of them will lose their exceptional need payment.

The Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI, also commented that the budget does not protect people with disabilities. While the DFI acknowledges the positives in the budget, it says the plans for social inclusion have been weakened. The group this morning told me they are still awaiting the sectoral plans that were supposed to have been drawn up for when austerity is over. It would have been so positive to have come from this morning's meeting and report that a group of people who have multiple and severe disabilities say this budget is allowing them to live their lives independently and with dignity, but they were not saying that.

I am part of the Oireachtas group on mental health. We made a pre-budget submission and had a number of exchanges in this House with the Minister on the provision of the €35 million in previous budgets. This budget commits €20 million, so it is down €15 million. Will what was not spent of the previous €35 millions be added to the €20 million, or is the €20 million what was not spent out of the previous €35 millions?

I am sorry the Minister has left because I have said here before that there is a major housing crisis in Dublin Central. There is a lack of local authority housing, adequate private rented accommodation and social housing and an increase in homelessness. In the budget there is €30 million from the sale of the national lottery to recommence the State's house building programme and €10 million for the unfinished housing estate resolution. How many houses will that cover? It is scratching the surface. There is something about 4,500 new apartments and houses for Dublin but, again, there was no clarity about where that is coming from. There are positive steps but they do not go nearly far enough. When it comes to local authorities absorbing funding cuts there is a need to ensure there is no direct or indirect pass on to those providing services for the increasing number of homeless people.

Many people have spoken about youth unemployment. I am speaking from Dublin Central where we have higher than average numbers of people who are unemployed and lone parents.

Some of these are under 25. I also see wonderful, young, well educated people going abroad, where they support the economies of other countries rather than their own. There is so much riding on the youth guarantee that I hope it works out. There is also a serious issue with regard to apprenticeships. In years to come we will not have enough tradesmen or women. We see in the budget that FÁS apprentices now have to pay a student contribution for their time in the institutes of technology.

On the elderly, we know the better-off have been able to save and were encouraged to do so, but now they are being penalised for it. Ironically, we will see an increase in their spending because there is no point in them saving if the Government is going to keep clipping away at their savings. In the last budget there was dismay at the application of the 50 cent prescription charge. This may seem a minimal amount to some, but for people on a basic social welfare payment who must pay several prescription charges, the 50 cent charge adds up. Now it is to be €2.50. This will cause problems and I hope the Department will provide for exceptional needs. The loss of the bereavement grant will also cause problems. I heard the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, say there was no problem in that regard, but I know there is because funeral costs are so expensive. The grant makes a significant difference for low income families.

The VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality sector is being kept at 9%, which has been welcomed by the industry which lobbied strongly on the issue. However, when I submitted some questions to the Minister, I was intrigued to discover that lap dancing clubs also benefited from the 9% rate. I suppose it depends on one's interpretation of what constitutes hospitality, but the rate could have been increased in some areas.

I have spoken previously about corporation tax where the rate of 12.5% is being retained. I hope the 12.5% will be collected in full. I note that the budget states the Government is committed to being part of a solution to the issue of global tax exchange and that the Minister wants to ensure Irish registered companies are not stateless in terms of tax residency. I hope his commitment also applies to ensuring Ireland does not become a tax haven for the multinational companies that are avoiding paying their just taxes in other countries and that we will commit to stopping capital flight and country by country accounting.

I was glad to see that the lump sum payable to the ladies of the Magdalen laundries would be tax exempt. I would have assumed that would be the case.

There is a 3% cut in overseas development aid. We are under the figure of 0.5% in this regard and getting further and further away from the 0.7% target. People of this country support aid for those who are hardest hit by poverty and hunger.

The One Family organisation has made its concerns known because it sees as retrograde the removal of the one-family tax credit. This credit had facilitated the collaborative approach of parents who had separated and shared responsibility for their children.

I would like to mention the issue of drugs. Drugs and youth projects in my constituency are doing phenomenal work in areas of high unemployment where many families are on low incomes. Families in other areas have disposable income for after-school activities for their children. Youth projects provide this service in my area. Whatever cuts are made in this regard, I hope they will be minimal. I hope for the same in regard to those who are working with addicts and individuals in recovery. The drugs issue presents a massive problem and I am still waiting to see implementation of the report on the alcohol strategy.

I welcome the proposals in regard to education, including that there is to be no change to the pupil-teacher ratio. This is a positive move, as is the proposed recruitment of teachers, in particular resource teachers. I value the work of SNAs, but getting children with special needs into schools is not enough, unless they are taught by teachers with a special qualification in providing special needs assistance.

Taking an overall look at the budget, we can see who benefits from it. Businesses, investors and those who are comfortable have benefited. I understand the driving factor behind the budget is the repayment of debt, but this is happening at the expense of supporting essential and additional services. I listened to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and heard him list the benefits and grants on the way for farmers. I look at low income families in the constituency I represent and wonder what benefits there are for them in the budget. There are no benefits for them, indicating the basic unfairness and inequality of the budget. Tomorrow, 17 October, is international day for the eradication of poverty. However, low income families suffer further hurt in the budget. The Minister for Finance has said the recovery is well under way and on the grand scale the statistics show that it is. However, it is not filtering down to many individuals, families and communities. For them, austerity continues.

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