Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We know that the Government is trying to wash its hands of the debacle of water charges, but no amount of washing of hands and hand wringing will get it out of this hole. Households with two adult children will have bills of €482 per annum. The funds in the first two years will go to the more than 500 staff in the super quango which is consuming €180 million in set-up costs, as well as the cost of installing meters. All revenue from domestic water customers for the first two years will go to meet the set-up costs of the super quango. The Government proposed to abolish quangos in its last election manifesto. Not only did it not honour its promise, it did so with knobs on by creating the biggest quango in living memory in setting up Irish Water. Today's measures are hit and miss. There are measures to help people on social welfare payments and those in receipt of the household benefits package or fuel allowance. There is also a measure for tax credits, for which I have looked at the figures on offer. There is not a bob in the kitty for anyone getting a tax credit next year because it must be claimed one year in arrears. In 2017 or 2018 some might be lucky to get something back.

One group has been missed and I will quote the figures of the Minister for Finance in the booklet. He says some 880,700 income earners are exempt from income tax because they are below the threshold to pay tax because they are covered by tax credits. They will not get the benefit of what is on offer to those on social welfare and will not be in the situation where they can receive a tax rebate the next year. Some 880,700 families will not be able to avail of it because they are not in receipt of social welfare payments or in the tax bands. They are the low paid, hard-pressed families who have been ignored again. The Tánaiste, who has left the Chamber, tried to send a text message saying she was interested in low paid families. These are low paid families and the only group excluded. There are 1.6 million households in Ireland and the Government is giving something to a couple of hundred thousand families on social protection payments and those in receipt of tax credits, but half of the households of Ireland are not in the income tax bands because they are on salaries of €20,000 or €30,000. The tax credit for the family means that they are not in the tax bracket and there is nothing for low income families. Shame on the Government and no amount of messing will solve the problem.

On overcrowded classrooms and the Vote for the Department of Education and Skills, every one of us has been in classrooms with up to 33 children. As a first step, we proposed a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools from 28 to 27, commencing next year. This would reduce class sizes, which everyone understands. However, the Government talks about meeting demographic demands, which is all about staying still. It is telling children in classrooms of up to 34 that they must stay there while well-off parents in the community receive a tax cut. That is the answer of the Government to everything. The Minister has done nothing for small schools in rural areas and about the cuts to class sizes in these areas.

I will move on to the issue of social inclusion.

I welcome that people returning to work will be able to retain a child dependant allowance, as exists on social welfare. The issue was an employment wedge.

Other young people who wish to enter the labour market are apprentices, and there is now a record low number of these in the country at 7,000. There should be 30,000 or 40,000 people in apprenticeships. Last year, the Government introduced a measure whereby apprentices on approximately €200 per week-----

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