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

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak about the budget. I thank the Ministers and the Government. Every man sets out to do his best when he gets up in the morning, or at least most people try to do so, but at times their best may not be good enough. However, when they try to do their best, they have to be complimented.

It is welcome that medical cards are to be extended to children in receipt of domiciliary care allowance. Many have agitated for this extension in the past few years. It is only fair that the families who find themselves in such situations receive some solace in the budget.

I welcome the increase of 2,400 in the number of teaching posts. Education is very important and if we do not a provide a proper education for children, we are going nowhere.

I welcome the €5 per week increase in the old-age pension and for social welfare recipients. However, I am disappointed that they will have to wait until practically halfway through the year for the increase to reach their pockets. One wonders whether it is next year's budget we are talking about when we are talking about having to wait until May for the increases to take effect.

I very much welcome the restoration of the Christmas bonus at the rate of 85%. It is much needed and very important for the families who depend on social welfare or pension payments for their total income.

The very small reduction in the universal social charge is to be welcomed, but it is not enough. All of us here must realise that it is working people who are paying for each and every one of us to be in this House. Whether it is dark, raining, cold, snowing or otherwise, they have to go to work every morning and are not assured of anything. Some of them are farmers. Others are sole traders, hoteliers and fishermen, but they have fierce responsibilities and it is they who are keeping the country going. As a Parliament, we need to recognise that we depend on them for the whole lot. I call him the working man and we depend on him for the money to pay social welfare recipients and for all public services, as well as those working in local authorities.

I welcome the extra €500 million to be allocated to the Department of Health. However, will the Minister for Health ensure the money will go to where it is urgently and most needed? I do not want it to be consumed by the HSE such that those in need of help and assistance will see none of it. I want them to see it. Will elderly people in County Kerry be allocated more home help hours? They are not getting their fair share. We were told by the Minister in June that €900,000 had been allocated to increase the home help budget. What is happening? An 89 year old woman who was being helped two hours each week had one hour cut. I can tell the Minister that the €900,000 has not manifested itself since June.

Will the closed wards in University Hospital Kerry in Tralee be opened to curb the trolley crisis that has been ongoing for the past five or six years? If that does not happen, we will not be able to appreciate the €500 million to be allocated to the Department of Health.

Will the Government open the new facility built one year and a half ago in St. Margaret's Road, Killarney to help people with mental disabilities? It cost almost €8 million, but it lies idle. We hear there is a disagreement about staffing, but there should not be. Nurses and all other staff on the front line in Kerry University Hospital and the community hospitals in Killarney, Dingle and Kenmare are open to the board, but the Government should not take from these staff, rather it should provide more staff to open the facility. I hope that is where some of the money will be going.

The Minister must take responsibility. Many people feel let down because there does not seem to be accountability. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae referred to people with cataracts - I know a good few of them - who are practically blind, yet they have been told they will have to wait for two years for treatment. That is not good enough. Will the Government address the issue? It is happening in County Kerry outside my door. However, it should not be. Furthermore, if the Government is providing extra funding, it should not give it to the HSE without ensuring it will be spent properly. Likewise, youngsters in need of orthodontic treatment are being told that they will have to wait three or four years for treatment. That is not fair and we must ensure the position is reversed. Others are waiting for operations. They are being told that the surgeon is ready to operate but that he will not have a bed for them after the operation has taken place. That should not be happening. Will the Minister ensure this issue is addressed?

On the child care package that has been announced, I am told that those who qualify will have to have a FETAC level 5 qualification and register with Tusla. By all accounts, from what we hear about Tusla, it has more than enough to do, if only it would do it.

The rule that a person cannot become a foster parent if he or she is more than 40 years older than the child is ridiculous. I knew and still know a good few parents who were 40 years old or older when they had their own children. Who better to look after a child if something was to happen to a parent or if he or she had to go away to work than a grandparent? If the mother had to pay the full cost of childminding, she would not be able to work. If she has a second child, the honest truth of the matter is that she cannot work. There is fierce pressure on single income families who are struggling to keep going. Will the Government consider providing a better child care system for those who do want to work?

I welcome the increase in the inheritance tax threshold for farmers' sons. The importance of this measure cannot be overstated. In recent years farmers' sons have refused the land that was to be handed down to them by their fathers which had been handed down to them because they could not afford to pay the inheritance tax and could not borrow the money needed to ensure they could take over the farm, resulting in it being sold. Taking the value of farms into account in the assessment under the fair deal scheme is very unfair. If 7.5% of the value of assets is taken into account over three years, it can amount to a massive sum and the young fellow concerned may not be able to keep going. Where will he go then? Will he have to go on the dole? He may finish up having nowhere to sleep or perhaps the Government is asking him to sleep with the crowd down the street. There are enough of them as it is. If I had my way, there would be no inheritance tax in handing down family farms because farmers have to go through an awful lot to keep a farm going. It is only an asset that ensures they have a job and most of what they make is put back in to ensure it will be left in as good or a better state than they when they received it from their father before them. Young farmers, when they do take over a farm, spend a lot of money and the local economy benefits from the spin-off. There should be also a special allowance for the favoured nephew or niece or grandchild. It is often the case that it is a grandchild who inherits a farm.

Farmers are under serious pressure this year. The price of milk and beef is reducing at an enormous rate. In Castleisland mart last week the price farmers were getting was very bad such that many farmers took their livestock home. Brexit presents a very serious problem which is playing havoc in farming. I am very disappointed that grain farmers who have lost so much this year because of the bad weather have not received any compensation. The problems affecting grain farmers affect many other farmers in the beef and dairy sectors as they must pay more for grain and straw.

I welcome the increase in the number of qualifying places under the farm assist scheme and the change to allow farmers to pay less tax in a bad year.

I again note that the Macroom bypass project has been bypassed in a budget, despite the fact that the land has been acquired and the project is shovel ready. Deputy Brendan Griffin erected signs last year claiming work on the bypass was about to start. The failure to build the bypass is one of the reasons County Kerry is not attracting investment. It also affects people who travel to Cork for cancer treatment. I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, to put his shoulder to the wheel. The main street in Macroom runs outside his front door, while the mart is at his back door. Many people cannot get in or out of the mart. I ask him to use his presence in the Cabinet to ensure we will not be left out. Surely he will not leave office without having secured funding for this badly needed bypass.

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