Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a newly elected Deputy, I want to thank each and every person who has helped me here today.

We have been thrown into the frying pan. Parts of this budget are welcome, but other parts are not. I welcome the retention of the VAT rate of 9% for tourism, because any measure that can boost tourism is good.

The Minister spoke about water and promised a tax rebate for people paying water charges. In Roscommon and south Leitrim, people cannot drink their water. Therefore, it is useless to give them a rebate for water they cannot drink. First, we must put infrastructure in place for people throughout Ireland, not just in Roscommon-South Leitrim.

Up to last week, the Department of Education and Skills insisted it had nothing in its budget for the small building works grant, which helps schools throughout the country survive. I hope that when the detail of the budget comes out we will see a provision for this grant. If not, the election stunt of including it in last year's budget provisions is useless. We need this grant for the survival of small schools throughout the country. I also hope the education budget will provide the extra school space needed in towns such as Athlone and other parts of the country.

Everybody in the country deserves a proper health service. If an accident and emergency unit is not going to be opened in hospitals such as Roscommon hospital, I hope the budget will allow for an air ambulance to be available to those hospitals full time. I hope the health budget will also provide for the eight-year-old children near Arigna who have not been provided with an eye and ear test over the past four years. Each of our citizens deserves the same proper health service as everyone else.

I welcome some of the budget's provisions in regard to farming, such as the leasing of land to encourage young farmers. However, one issue we need to address is that of young farmers who between 2008 and 2012 were basically told to emigrate because they were not entitled to what farmers are entitled to post-2012. When the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine comes in later, I hope he will address that issue in his budget. I welcome the provision regarding €100 per cow for ten cows, but it would be better if this were provided for up to 20 cows. What has been provided in regard to the leasing of land is welcome, but people will not survive in farming and we will not see these payments in 2015 if the Government buries its head in the sand and does not address today's problem - namely, the issue of the factories and what is happening in regard to transporting cattle across the Border. We do not seem to be able to solve the problem of this invisible line, although we can get our cattle into Italy. I urge the Minister and will remind him day in, day out that this issue must be addressed. It is no good to promise people money in a year's time if they will have gone out of business by Christmas.

I notice that six cities have been earmarked for investment in an effort to inject life into them. This reminds me of John McCormack singing about Athlone being the centre of Ireland, but Athlone seems to be forgotten in this budget and to have been left out of the six cities mentioned. Roscommon and Carrick-on-Shannon also need investment, as do many towns and areas in the west of Ireland. I hope that while the budget opens the door to further employment in the Civil Service, it will also open opportunities around Ireland. Around Ireland, council workers have not been recruited and many have retired. Hedges have gone out of control and our roads have potholes. I hope money is invested and that people are recruited again in this sector.

I welcome the fact that more gardaí are to be recruited, but there is no use in recruiting gardaí if all they have to transport them is a bicycle. During my election campaign, I looked into paddy wagons and Garda cars and noticed that many of them have over 300,000 miles on them and are not fit for purpose.

In the area of business, we need more incentives for SMEs throughout the country. I urge all Ministers to listen to us so they can tweak their budgets as necessary to create an environment that will increase employment throughout rural Ireland. We must create sustainability for everyone.

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