Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is an avoid the general election at all costs budget. At the same time, nobody was looking for an election. I am glad to have an opportunity to speak about the budget. It comes at a time when the new Government had a chance to start repaying the Irish people for the hardship they have had to endure since the crash in 2008. This, unfortunately, did not happen.

I welcome the €5 increase in the old age pension and across all social welfare payments. Some of these increases could have gone further. For example, carers, who are saving the State millions of euro every year and are caring for vulnerable and disabled people, will have to wait until March 2017 before receiving the weekly increase. At midnight, the Government can implement an increase in the tax on cigarettes, if it so wishes. Why do people have to wait so long for an increase in social welfare but a cut or taxation measure can be introduced immediately? That is very unfair.

The USC was introduced as an emergency measure to relieve pressure on the State at a time when it was most needed. It was never supposed to be a permanent measure, but it is about time that this tax on the lowest earners is done away with completely. I would like someone to explain to me how someone earning €70,000 per annum is classified as a middle earner in the same way as someone earning €40,000 per month. This makes no sense and, again, benefits high earners in the country. Yet again, I call on the Government to scrap this tax which has crippled low and middle income earners for many years. They have kept their shoulders to the wheel and taken on a very difficult burden. It is time they got a break. Tinkering with it, as announced in the budget today, is simply not good enough.

I welcome measures being introduced to tackle social housing waiting lists in 2017. I commend the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, for the measures he is trying to introduce. Housing is a major problem, but the right Minister is in the right place. We need to work with him in order to try to address this major problem. Local authorities are struggling. Not only do we not have enough social housing, we do not have enough privately owned houses or apartments. The crisis is beyond belief. Waiting lists are enormous and people coming into clinics every day are asking whether they can get a house or where they are on the list. The situation in which they find themselves is very unfortunate. There is a real crisis.

The needs of 21,000 applicants are to be met next year, but while this is welcome in principle, it is simply not good enough. Houses are lying idle throughout the country. What is being done to tackle this problem? Why are these houses not being renovated and given to local authorities?

While I welcome the pilot schemes introduced by the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, recently, overall action on the housing crisis has been too slow. I call on the Government to act more swiftly, using common sense, to resolve these issues and address the hundreds of thousands of vacant houses in Ireland.

If the Minister visits any town or village, the first thing he will see is vacant properties. At one time they were workshops or businesses with living quarters upstairs, but they have now been abandoned and are lying idle. We have to convert these buildings into homes in which people and families can live. If we could pump life back into these communities, it would transform towns and villages throughout the country.

While the extra €497 million being spent on health in 2017 is welcome, is it a true reflection of the major health crisis we face? An additional €15 million in funding to alleviate waiting list is welcome, but it is not enough to stop people who are suffering from cataracts from going blind. I know of many people in County Kerry who have gone blind in the past few months while waiting for operations to remove cataracts. I will never be able to forgive a state that will allow a person to go blind while waiting to have an operation that costs, on average, €2,700. It is beyond belief. If this happened in part of Africa and we heard about poor people going blind, we would say it was a disgrace. It is happening on our doorstep and is not good enough.

The €20 cap on prescription charges for those aged over 70 years is welcome. Like the increases in social welfare payments, why are we waiting until March 2017 for this change to take effect? Automatic medical cards for children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance is obviously most welcome for all families caring for children. While I am on the subject of medical cards, I hope the increase in spending on health will ensure those who are sick are allowed to get discretionary medical cards. Many people who are genuinely ill and suffering want to work and they worked until they became ill, but now find themselves receiving medical treatment at home or in hospitals. They cannot get access to medical cards. They do not want medical cards for life or for one day longer than required. They only want medical cards while they are sick or down.

Like anything in life, every family goes through its ups and downs.

Regardless of a person's income or what assets he or she had beforehand, I passionately believe that if people are sick and things are going wrong and against them, they should be entitled to what is called a discretionary medical card. I seriously ask that after today medical officers inside the medical card section be called to one side and told that additional funding is available in the health sector, that there is an increase in social welfare funding and that the one thing that should be reflected on is that more medical cards be issued temporarily to people while they are sick. Please God, when they recover, they will be the first to hand up their medical cards because if they are not sick, they will not want them.

The additional 2,400 teaching posts, of which 900 will be resource teacher posts, are most welcome. I hope they will be filled sooner rather than later. Small schools are really suffering. Many schools are in danger of falling below the number of pupils required for an additional teacher. Perhaps they might be marginally below it and lose a teacher. All of a sudden, a school would change from being a three-teacher to a two-teacher school and if anything was to happen to one of the two teachers, it would leave the sole teacher remaining in an awful position. We want to see the pupil-teacher ratio improve to allow schools to operate and continue to do what they do well, which is to provide a first-class education for youngsters.

The announcement of the recruitment of 800 new gardaí and 500 new civilian staff is most welcome at a time when the force is extremely understaffed and when we need all gardaí on the streets and patrolling the countryside. Recent operations such as Operation Thor were welcome in tackling rural crime. I am sorry that the Minister for Justice and Equality has left the Chamber, but I suggest 2017 will be a year in which to revisit the closure of many rural Garda stations by the now retired former Minister Alan Shatter.

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