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

I compliment Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan on this motion and it is a testament to her commitment. From talking to her, I know she is a woman who cares about this issue and about her community.

We can talk until the cows come home about human rights budgeting. There is talk about growth and turning the corner but the reality is that in different parts of the country tonight there are people who have been waiting for 20 weeks to access the fair deal scheme. Those are people who gave to this country year after year and now they are being left on their own and families are being decimated over what is being done. Mothers and fathers are bringing their children to hospitals only to find that the service they need is not available, as was highlighted by Luke 'Ming' Flanagan MEP when he spoke about the state of the accident and emergency department in the hospital in Ballinasloe in County Galway. One finds that a few miles down the road the accident and emergency department that had been operating is now closed. What hope does that give people? Does that constitute human rights or good budgeting? It does not. The consequences of many of those decisions are isolation and suicide but do we really care and, if we do, what are we doing about it? In most parts of Ireland the Government has taken resources away from people but it has not put anything back in their place. Nothing has been done to enhance economic stability. The Government has taken everything away, not given anything back and it still believes people can survive in different parts of the country.

We talk about helping people with disabilities and of all the good people who help others but in recent days Ability West telephoned me to advise that its budget has been cut and I got another telephone call from the Brothers of Charity to advise that its budget has been cut. Regardless of how the spin doctors dress it up, if one is getting €100 and one's payment is cut by €20, one will only get €80.

We have to think outside the box. I have talked to many young people who are employed who want to work with people but find they are forbidden from doing so under the current system. These are 18 to 25 year olds who want to be given a chance to feel they are doing something for their country. There is nothing available, even in a scheme, to let them grasp the nettle and get on in life.

I listened to an interview with a representative of a body that looked into the medical cards issue on "Morning Ireland" this morning and they dressed it up and danced around it but the reality is that a child who is brain damaged in Sligo tonight has been left without a medical card. We can stay here all night and talk about human rights budgeting but we should be honest and if we are going to say something, we should stand behind it. As a nation, we must decide if we are going to give everything away to someone only to find they will then come back and hit us by telling us that we have to pay the bondholders?

There is talk of the provision of social housing but we let vultures come into this country and buy houses for nothing. There is talk of a plan to build 35,000 houses with an allocation of €3.5 billion in the first year. I know a little about building and I can tell the Minister of State that the Government needed to start four or five months ago with the foundations to get ready for next year. It needs to line the ducks up. There was an announcement in the budget and there was another announcement today and we welcome all those initiatives but if we do not fast-forward all these projects more and more people will be living in places that they will not have any hope of owning.

There are families who will be evicted from their homes in the next few weeks and we have not done anything for them. There will face a court on their own and many of them will not even turn up. As a nation, what are we doing for them? We pay the bondholders and we decide to leave the people who are in trouble on their own.

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