Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the Government's budget and in particular to the contribution by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government concerning his financial Vote.

It is a good thing that this budget was delivered against a background of changed circumstances compared to many previous budgets. I recognise that many indicators both from the Government and independent sources are positive. They offer hope for the immediate future. It is only right and proper to acknowledge, from our perspective, Fianna Fáil's handling of the initial crisis. The budgets it brought forward meant that two thirds of the savings that had to be achieved were done under a Fianna Fáil-led Government. Yet they were opposed tooth and nail by the current Government parties.

Having played a role in consolidating the country's finances, it is only right and proper that we should also seek to play a part in the recovery that might ensue. Many Government Deputies talk of the existing recovery but fail to acknowledge that initially, and by virtue of what was brought forward yesterday, we may well have a two-tier recovery. This does not only relate to the different sectors of society that are affected by yesterday's budget. Unfortunately, that budget was regressive as economic commentators have consistently said about this Government's budgets.

There is also a geographical element to the two-tier society. I can see evidence of the recovery in Dublin but I do not see it in rural areas. I cannot see the recovery in towns and villages in my constituency and beyond. In my town, half of the main street has closed in the last 12 months. The closures include four pubs, a grocery shop, a restaurant and a shoe shop. There is nothing in this budget or from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that seeks to address the dilapidation in rural towns and villages. There are no innovative measures to regenerate such places.

I note the commitment to incentives to live in cities, but it is high time the Government took ownership of the dilapidation and the retail crisis. It is high time the Minister put forward a means to address those issues. I forwarded a document entitled Streets Aheadto the previous Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. It was acknowledged but there was no effort to adopt any of its suggestions or to propose alternative suggestions. We have an archaic commercial rates system, for example, that bears no resemblance to the realities that exist on the ground.

Another indication that rural areas such as my constituency do not see the benefit of the creation of thousands of jobs is the fact that the IDA created 21 jobs in Offaly in 2014. Does the Government know how many IDA sponsored visits were paid to Offaly last year? There was one. Does it know how many we have had this year? We have had none. The idea that a reduction in the marginal rate of tax will mean that families will be better off is a misnomer. It is just not true. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, said today that he is of the belief that the measure will contribute to the regeneration of towns and villages by virtue of the capacity of people to spend in local retailers. The real fact of the matter is that because of the water charges and property tax people will be worse off next year than they were this year. How can that measure improve the retail vibrancy of towns and villages in my constituency and many others?

I had hoped the Government would have addressed those issues, but it did not. I had hoped it would examine the deficiencies which have been exacerbated in health and education because of the measures which had to be taken in recent years, but it failed to do so. Today the mother of a 12 year old boy who is suffering from blackouts contacted me. He was referred to a cardiologist in Crumlin by his GP but he and his mother were told it would be two years before he sees a specialist. That is not progress.

The Government announced funding for 1,700 new teachers, which I welcome. How many of those teachers will be appointed as a result of the numbers attending schools? Has any effort been made to attempt to achieve the pupil-teacher ratios to which we aspired, and in some cases achieved, many years ago? No, there has not. There should be and there has to be. The figures on small two, three and four teacher schools in rural Ireland were rigged to encourage amalgamation and closures. The Government will probably get them, but it will tear the hearts out of communities by doing so and will take what is a great sense of pride and place from them.

I want to deal with housing and water. I welcome the housing package. It is €2.2 billion over three years, which is a return to 2009 levels. The waiting list in 2009 was 60,000 and in 2014 it is 100,000. I do not doubt the bona fides of the Government and I wish it well with the housing programme. I will scrutinise it very carefully when the details start to emerge in the coming weeks. I will examine examples of the waiting lists in Dublin and other counties throughout the country. I heard the Minister, Deputy Kelly, say he will hold local authorities to account. He should inform them sooner rather than later what inroads will be made by the funding he is making available in counties in the coming years.

I need to consider how the housing programme announced yesterday might benefit my constituency. I know of 70 different people who have made representations to me in regard to housing adaptation grants for the elderly. They have been told by the local authority that their applications will not be fully assessed, adjudicated, approved and funding made available for at least three to five years. That is not a recovery. I have said before that it is quite possible that the people to which I refer will be in a cemetery when funding might be available. That is not alarmist; it is fact. When I say I will scrutinise what was announced today and the fanfare associated with it, I will examine issues and instances like that to determine whether the programme will do what it says on the tin. I have my doubts.

In regard to water, thankfully many members of the Government are beginning to acknowledge the unmitigated disaster that has been the creation of Irish Water. It goes back to a Fine Gael manifesto in 2009. I do not have enough time to say what I have said consistently over the past 12 or 18 months on this issue. Yesterday, there was an effort eventually to own up and acknowledge the error of its ways in regard to the abnormal costs associated with this debacle since day one, when all the charges were loaded onto citizens. The charges are far removed from the €240 indictor we got consistently from the Taoiseach on this issue.

It is obvious the Government met over the weekend, having assessed the by-election results and what was said by those on the march. It may be a tipping point for a lot of things. At least we got some consistency because there was another monumental cock-up. When one drills down into what was announced yesterday one finds it does not do what it says on the tin. Some 12.5% of the people the Government thought it was appeasing got no relief. I heard the Minister on the radio today. He took ownership of the issue and said he worked very hard in the background over the past number of months to address the issue and announce a package yesterday. He did not work too hard if he left 12.5% of families out of the equation.

As a result of that, sooner rather than later we should know how many families have been left out and why. Will the Minister acknowledge the cock-up and rectify it? All he has to do is put his hands up and admit another mistake in the sorry debacle that is Irish Water and maybe then he might be seen as credible. Yesterday we were told the problem had been solved, but today it is far from solved. There has been cock-up after cock-up. The Government has failed to grasp the nettle, and when it eventually tried it could not do it with a pair of gloves on.

I hope to see vast improvements. As I said, the real opinion on this budget will only be evident once it has been analysed critically, properly and effectively. We will then see whether it will do what it says on the tin.

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