Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be sitting beside my good friend and colleague Deputy Jan O 'Sullivan who, at the beginning of the term of office of the Government, described this as the "do nothing Dáil". To continue the analogy, this is a do nothing budget. In fairness to my colleague, it is the defining description of the Dáil, and will be for its lifetime. This Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent Members conglomerate or tripartite Government or, the new phrase, centrist experiment or love affair has adopted a scatter gun approach to the budget. The budget has been called many things, including the €5 budget, but it is quite obvious that, having been designed by this conglomerate committee, it will achieve nothing. Politics is all about choices and priorities and the budget made none. Politics is failing the State because the Government, including the Independent members and Fianna Fáil, as well as my colleagues in Sinn Féin, are, unfortunately, chasing the populism agenda, as demonstrated once again in the budget. Someone said yesterday that in trying to please everyone, this conglomerate had ended up practically helping nobody. That is the feeing of the public.

There are, however, some initiatives included in the budget which I welcome. To show balance, I welcome the recruitment of additional gardaí to the Garda College in Templemore, something the Labour Party had agreed to last year while in the previous Government. I also welcome the extension of the CCTV programme to include coverage of motorways. As someone who comes from County Tipperary, through which two of the largest and popular motorways run, the roll-out of the CCTV programme to cover the entrances to and exits from motorways is a very good initiative. I know this because I piloted the measure and suggested it as part of the funding programme last year. With former Senator John Whelan, Superintendent John Scanlan and Mr. John Bonham, I initiated the Durrow-Dunmore rural CCTV scheme pilot.

The initiative on the domiciliary care allowance is a move in the right direction and very welcome. I do not believe, however, that the increased taxes on tobacco go far enough. The Minister of State may agree with me, but they are welcome nonetheless. The increase in the earned income credit is also welcome, although it is lower than it should be.

There are, however, so many holes in the budget. When one looks at the health service, the €10 million prescribed for home help and home care packages will go nowhere near meeting the €18.2 million required to clear the backlogs. It is not clear if the entire €10 million is for home care packages, but I believe it is not.

The proposal to provide medical cards for those under 12 years has been dropped. I can see absolutely nothing which has been allocated for early intervention teams for children, an issue which really needs to be dealt with. The backlog in providing occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech and language therapists is incredible. Let us be honest - we all talk about the issue in the Dáil, but what is happening is not acceptable. A total of €25 million could be found in the budget to promote sheep welfare, but the Government could not find funding for early intervention teams for children. It reminds me of the line from Animal Farm- "Four legs good, two legs bad." It is ironic.

On the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, it simply has to do with privatisation. It is unfortunate that we keep coming back to this, instead of addressing the real issues involved.

There are others issues in health care which are worrying. There is no definition of the funding for mental health services, for which, in the previous Government, we fought so much.

The roll-out of community intervention teams is also a huge issue. There is no standardisation across the State. I expected funding to be provided in the budget, but it did not happen.

I turn to education. I am glad that the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, has come into the Chamber because I expect him to talk to the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, in the next week or so. The INTO took it for granted that the pupil-teacher ratio would be changed. It is absolutely incredible that the issue has not been addressed. We began the process last year, when I sat beside the Minister at the Cabinet table. He has failed teachers and pupils by not being able to deal with the issue this year. The fact that we are only providing enough teachers to meet future demand says an awful lot about the priorities in the primary education sector, in particular.

I support the child care initiatives in principle, but I am worried that there is some trickery with regard to funding as the figures do not add up. The sum of €32 million to be provided next year, from September, means a total figure of €96 million. I am worried that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, has not done her sums. I am also worried that she is promising more than she can deliver in the timeframe about which she is talking. It remains to be seen if she will be able to deliver. For her sake, I hope she is not bluffing.

My real concern is for child care workers and the capacity to provide workers if they will not be able to earn a wage that will give them a decent standard of living. In its budget submission the Labour Party proposed a living wage for these workers.

There is a real issue in the area of social protection. This is a lesson for everyone in the Dáil and the Oireachtas. Work must pay, but the budget goes in the opposite way. Liam who works in the security industry was in touch with me yesterday. He asked me whether it was true that somebody on the minimum wage and working 40 hours a week in the security industry would receive €4 in the budget, while somebody who, unfortunately, was not working would get €5. This does not ensure work pays. I assure everyone in the House that nothing annoys and upsets members of the public more than when they can see a situation where they work very hard but it does not pay them to go out to work. The Government is pushing an agenda where this is the case and this demonstrates it. People are absolutely infuriated.

I wish poor old Deputy Willie O'Dea was in the Chamber because he went absolutely insane last year when we introduced a package for old age pensioners which included the Christmas bonus, the fuel allowance and an increase in the State pension. Amazingly, the increases this year are considerably lower than what we brought about as a Government last year. The figure is €245 versus €336. It is a pity that the Deputy is not present to demonstrate his anguish and how horrified he is at the fact that the figure is so low.

It is absolutely deplorable that the Government did not see fit to increase the minimum wage by more than 10 cent. The previous Government was able to increase it by €1.50. This would have been seen as a progressive move. I hope the Government, if it lasts further, will return to this issue.

Fine Gael kept its promise on the USC, but it need not have bothered. It would have been better off if it had abandoned the promise because what it has done will make very little material difference to absolutely anyone. The real issue on taxation is the level at which those on a modest wage of €33,000 enter the higher band. That is the issue that must be dealt with to make a material difference to people's lives.

I have always been progressive and welcome many of the housing initiatives the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, has delivered. Many of them began prior to his tenure, but we will leave that matter aside. The help-to-buy scheme, while okay in theory, will not work in practice because it will drive up house prices. When it was discussed previously, it was with reference to a €300,000 purchase price. I know very few, if any, first-time buyers who will buy houses for up to €400,000 or €600,000. It is absolutely incredible. We needed measures to deal with the supply side, not the demand side. We needed to cut the cost of building, particularly from the point of view of taxation, but this has not been done. Instead we will have first-time buyers competing with one another, driving up prices, particularly in Dublin. I was astonished yesterday when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, actually acknowledged the Construction Industry Federation and Mr. Tom Parlon on the "Six One News" and stated they had assured him it would work. For God's sake, when did a Minister actually take as gospel what a lobbyist was saying? It is amazing.

It is a pity the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, is not still here because he forgot about his own Department in terms of transport. He must have been too busy fighting for sheep. The allocations for the transport budget are very disappointing, particularly sustainable transport initiatives. It is incredible that there has been a 17% drop in the budget for sport, but a sugar tax will be introduced. Is this not a contradiction in some way? Can the Government not see how this is hilarious to people? However, we do not have the conviction to introduce the sugar tax before our near neighbours in Britain. There is no logic to this decision.

There is no provision for extra funding for IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to Brexit-proof the country. I am disappointed in the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. She needs to start to stand up to meet the requirements of the Department in this area.

There is a 16% cut in funding for the arts; therefore, we will not be able to continue the fantastic creative work we have seen in 2016, which is hugely disappointing. The spinning on this issue has been incredible. Just because the allocation for the Arts Council and a few other organisations has been increased does not mean that the Government can hide the fact that the total budget for the arts has been cut by 16%.

Is this really a budget? We actually do not know the total cost or the figures involved. The Taoiseach, the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform and numerous other Ministers are incapable of telling us when many of the social welfare provisions will commence. This changes the total cost of the budget. That is why we know this is a do nothing budget because this is a do nothing Government in a do nothing Dáil.

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