Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In the run-up to the budget, people were treated to a phony war between Fianna Fáil, who are the architects of the crash in this country, and the Government, which carried on the baton and continued the austerity measures that ordinary people have faced over the last eight years. We were led to believe the key question in the budget was a dispute between Fianna Fáil and the Government over whether a €5 increase in the old age pension would be paid and when it would be paid. I was out knocking on doors last Saturday morning. I met a pensioner who said he did not know what he would do with such a bonanza. He said he might go and have a pint to think about it, but then the bonanza would be spent and probably well before he was due to get it anyway.

I welcome the increase in the old age pension, along with the increases in the welfare payments, but they are absolutely pitiful compared to what is needed. I note the Minister for Finance made no commitment to restore basic welfare rates to their 2009 level, which would mean an increase of €23 per week for a couple on the basic rates. Other points have been made about the 2009 rates for people with disabilities, lone parents and jobseekers which this budget fails abysmally to move towards restoring. I said it was and is a phony war because in all the essentials there is no disagreement between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents in government. There is no disagreement on continuing austerity, which is the result of keeping borrowing within the limits of the fiscal compact treaty with no effort to think about off-the-books borrowing or increasing income by taxes on wealth, big business and very high earners. There is now a growing consensus internationally of people who are not by any means radical socialists that, faced with a stagnant world economy with very low levels of private investment, austerity needs to be replaced with a programme of state-funded infrastructural investment. This country is crying out for such an approach, particularly regarding social housing, but this budget continues with the muddle of low personal and business taxes and extremely low investment in public services, one of the lowest in Europe.

One hundred years after 1916, we are now one of the most unequal societies in Europe. There was no mention of inequality or measures to lessen it by either Minister in their speeches today or indeed the two Fianna Fáil spokespersons who contributed today. The recent report from TASC on inequality in Ireland makes for shocking reading. In 2014, 29% of people experienced deprivation, double the rate of 2008. This shows the effects of austerity and increasing poverty and inequality. The word "inequality" was not even uttered today in the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil interventions. In 2014, 26% of children lived in deprivation, again a doubling of the rate since the crash, and a staggering 58% of lone parents are in this situation.

The "recovery" has been for the better off only.

A staggering 50% of the increase in income in the past five years has gone to the top 10% of earners. The bottom 50% got just 6%. That is the inequality that the last Government and the previous one created, and the present Government is continuing to stoke it up. In this situation, a commitment to phase out the universal social charge is completely incomprehensible and reprehensible.

I welcome the increases in spending on health and education and the employment of more public sector workers. Even the Government and its loyal opposition in Fianna Fáil are not immune from public opinion. A recent poll by The Irish Timesindicated mass support of over 70% - consistent with other polls - in favour of greater public spending over tax cuts. Free health care, genuinely free education, affordable housing, cheap public transport with proper subvention from the State, and affordable child care would greatly increase the real standard of living for the huge majority of people. This would benefit the so-called squeezed middle far more than further tax cuts.

I welcome that Government is talking about recruiting 1,000 new nurses. However, without changes in their workplace conditions and restoration of their pay, the majority of those nurses will go abroad and will not come into our health service where we need them.

The establishment of a living wage and stronger rights for unions and workers would raise wages generally - these are the real solutions for the working poor. With a 10 cent per hour increase in the minimum wage, I am sure they will all be saying "yippee" and skipping into work with such a huge increase in their wages.

After this budget, we will still have the lowest level of public expenditure as a proportion of GDP in the entire EU. We will still have the lowest level of investment in infrastructure in the history of the State. I ask Deputies to think about that - a lower level of investment in infrastructure than in the poverty-stricken State of the 1930s.

This brings me to housing and specifically the urgent need for action on social housing. The budget contains nothing new on this issue, with an allocation of just €1.2 billion. By my reckoning, €1.2 billion would build 6,000 to 7,000 houses, when the housing lists run to more than 90,000. The approach here is completely complacent given the urgency of the situation. Money is available: €5 billion in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and €1 billion to €3 billion from the credit unions. We need an off-the-books agency, a not-for-profit agency, to borrow these funds on a commercial basis to build and rent homes.

I will give two examples of how the budget will fail to improve certain people’s lives. A 48-year old woman came to my constituency office on Friday. She had lost her rented accommodation in the area. She is a recovering alcoholic on a CE scheme and is homeless. She did not want to go into an emergency hostel because she was a recovering alcoholic and did not want to be too near people who would be more chaotic than she is - she wanted to stabilise herself. She is sleeping in a car every night.

When I contacted the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, I was told it could do nothing. It did not have access to rooms that would give this woman a bit of protection and security in the night. I asked if she could go on the six-month bed contract list. I was told that she could go on the list but she would be No. 69. That means 69 women waiting to go into such accommodation. I was also told a further 130 men are in the same circumstances. That is absolutely incredible.

A mother with two children and one grandchild, who had been in the Burlington Hotel for three months, was informed about three weeks ago that she had to move out by the following Monday. Again, we had to contact the housing executive. The only place they could get her a room was in CityNorth Hotel in County Meath. They had to get a taxi that cost €95 to the hotel because a young child attends a school in Walkinstown. That is the madness we are facing. That is the sheer chaos of people’s lives on the ground and the budget will have no impact on them.

The budget gives certainty to landlords, whose interest relief has been increased. They have been told it will be brought up to 100% over a period of time. We are told that the corporation tax will remain at 12.5%, so there is certainty for the multinationals. They will still get away with the double-Irish and the knowledge box will continue. The USC is to be phased out over a period of time. Some high earners are certain that will be cut and they will be back into the system again. The inheritance tax threshold has been increased, which is not necessary at this point. It would be far more important to give 24-7 mental health access for people who need it.

There is no certainty about increasing the minimum wage to a living wage. There is no certainty for people on social welfare to restore their benefits to 2009 levels. There is no certainty for the 1,000 nurses who will graduate on whether they will be able to go into decent jobs with decent pay in a health service that is fit for purpose. There is no commitment that future budgets will be equality based and there is no certainty for 24-7 mental health access.

The refund of up to €20,000 for first-time buyers does not make sense. It is a joke to say that the building industry would be spurred to meet demand by such a measure. This is nothing more than a conduit for a subsidy to developers and bankers. When young couples are trying to get on the housing ladder, they will go out and start bidding. They have an extra €20,000 that they know is there. They will go for €20,000 extra and keep pushing it up again. This will not solve the problem facing ordinary people.

If we are offering tax breaks for private landlords, what planet are we on when people cannot even access the rent these landlords are imposing on them?

We need a new approach. We need to tax those who have the wealth and get them to contribute more to society. We need restoration of pay for those who need it. We need to start fighting for a new republic and not the old one that we thought we had.

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