Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the eve of Garda Anthony Golden's funeral, I extend my sympathy to his wife, his children and his extended family. As the mother of a member of An Garda Síochána, I know the challenges the men and women of An Garda Síochána face every day. My son made the choice to join the Garda; he was not forced to join. He made that choice believing, just like Garda Golden, that the duties he performed would protect communities and families and allow them to live in safety. I am glad the Minister announced the recruitment of an additional 600 gardaí.

The Traveller community lost beautiful young families over the weekend. The heartbreak of losing a family member is very difficult but there are few words when one sees a family completely wiped out. Perhaps at this time we can offer only prayers to comfort those who have lost and will grieve for years to come on the loss of their wonderful and lovely children.

I thank my family, the community I live in and the constituency for playing their part in bringing this country back to recovery. It was not only what the Government did, but what was done by the people.

I listened to Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin members speak on a television programme last night. They said they would do things better. Unfortunately for Fianna Fáil, it did not do anything better. It left this country on its knees. It left young couples and families living in houses and apartments that are falling down around them, with very little opportunity of them ever moving out of them. As for Sinn Féin, if anyone is interested in getting an education or even have aspirations of becoming a doctor, a nurse or a garda, Sinn Féin wants to tax them out of existence. If a parent has a son or daughter to whom they want to leave their house and it is valued between €300,000 and €350,000, it will cost that son or daughter an extra €3,750 more in tax.

This budget will build the recovery and bring about stability, equality, opportunity, education and skills. In Fine Gael, we believe in work for everyone. We need people to go back to work. We need to provide those jobs. We have an ageing population. Many citizens have long-term illness and disabilities. That is the reason we need people at work.

I welcome the different measures, namely, the changes in the universal social charge, the minimum wage increase, the €85 million for children's measures, the extension of the free school year and the provision of two weeks parental pay. I welcome also the extension of GP cards to children aged under 12, the extra €5 in child benefit, the respite care grant of €1,700, the recruitment of an extra 2,260 teachers and an extra 600 gardaí, the home renovation grant and the provision of housing.

We have a long way to travel to make sure we can house people. I agree with Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan who, like myself, lives in an area where housing need is critical and is at crashing point at this stage. It is wrong to see young families having to live in a hotel room and not being able to go to bed at night in their own little space, even to read a book or do their homework. We need to continue to do what we are doing, but do it faster. I plead with Dublin City Council and Dublin South County Council in my constituency to do as much as they can to make sure buildings can be put in place as soon as possible, and difficult planning applications overcome.

There is another opportunity we have not examined, that is, the family home. As I walk around my constituency canvassing and doing leaflet drops, I meet many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who live in two and three bedroom houses that they can no longer manage; some of them do not want to manage them. There is an opportunity to build more senior citizen accommodation to allow people move into smaller accommodation and give family homes to families who need them. If we examine that issue more carefully, we might be able to help some of those parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, if they were able to keep some of their benefits, to bring some of the people who are homeless in their families back under their roof, if only for a short time, until we can manage to build the houses we need. This Government is committed to providing €3.6 billion over the next few years to build housing. We need to do it now, and quickly. Above all, we need to do it for young families living in one room: families comprising two adults and four children are living in a bedroom in a hotel. That is totally unacceptable.

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