Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

If what occurred today was a film, it would called "Back to the Future". The budget is a sequel to budget 2002 which was a giveaway budget in the context of the general election of 2003 and its successor, budget 2007, and we all know what happened in that regard. This budget is all about making people feel good next February or early March in the context of the upcoming general election. It is not what it should be about, namely, the next generation.

In regard to primary education, the provision of an additional €103 million would have made primary education free and the nightmare for families of having to find the resources in July and August every year for books, school transport, voluntary contributions and so on would have been a thing of the past. Budgets are about the cost of living for these families and doing things differently in a way that would benefit society in the longer term.

The first democratic programme of the Dáil states: "It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training as Citizens of a Free and Gaelic Ireland." Next year - 100 years since the Rising - will be a benchmark year in this regard. Not only should we be marking this declaration in the context of the centenary, we should be living up to it. We can predict at this point that when we come to mark the Risking next year, there will be families and children homeless. This budget does not provide in any meaningful way for the addressing of that issue. The sum of €50 million has been allocated for commemoration events, while only €17 million has been provided to address the issue of homelessness. The cost of the housing crisis in real terms is distress for families in terms of the uncertainty with which they are faced and the cost to the State of increasing rents. The Government has failed to even raise rent caps, which would have provided certainty in the medium term. The housing crisis is also costing us in terms of job creation because companies will not invest here because the cost of living is too high. This is the crisis about which many of us having been speaking for the past three years. Yesterday I spoke to a garda who was experiencing mortgage difficulties and had been told by his bank that to ensure he could meet his mortgage repayments, he should cancel luxury items such as his pension, life cover and critical care cover, on which he has had to draw for months this year. That is what the banks are doing to individuals in distress, many of whom put their lives on the line for the country every day.

This budget has been framed against the backdrop of the fiscal compact, one of the nonsensical rules of which will kick in next year. In other words, regardless of how much money we will have next year, we will be forced into doing only one thing with it, namely, repay debt. We will not be allowed to invest in a real and meaningful way to ease the demographic pressures we are under in terms of a growing population or to provide the infrastructure required for a country that is growing, including public transport, housing and primary health care services, which with proper investment would change the way we deliver health services such that we would be delivering to promote health rather than deal with illness. This budget is a big disappointment and a squandered opportunity. In terms of look-back, budget 2016 will be talked about as another sequel.

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