Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome much of what I consider to be a reasonable budget, but I will focus on a number of areas in which the Government needs to do more.

The €5 increase in social welfare payments and all old-age pension payments is very welcome. However, I have serious concerns that these measures will remove the focus from the astronomical delays being endured by those who applied for social welfare payments and for those who have been approved. Everyone will be delighted with the extra income, but there are terrible problems at the heart of the process which have been allowed to continue for far too long. A constituent contacted me recently. A decision by the Department of Social Protection to deny her a disability allowance was overturned by a social welfare appeals officer on 14 September. She was then informed that the payment would not be issued until 2 November owing to a number of necessary administrative checks which had to be completed beforehand. This means a six to seven week delay, which is not good enough for a person in that position who is trying to look after her husband in a nursing home. This is not an isolated incident. Last week I received a call from a former county councillor whose husband had been without the financial support of his disability allowance for two full weeks. He had just turned 66 years and was automatically transferred to an old-age pension. The Department told her that it would take four to six weeks for the payment to transfer over.

It was also announced in the budget that the approximately 10,000 people in receipt of domiciliary care allowance would receive medical cards. This is an encouraging measure and I was particularly pleased to hear it being announced yesterday. However, the waiting times for those applying for payments are scandalous. On a very good day the waiting time is eight to 12 weeks. The position has got so bad that parents are forming support groups to raise awareness of the waiting times involved. One such group, the DCA Warriors, has been in touch with my office on a regular basis since the general election to highlight the plight of applicants who have children with severe disabilities and who are forced to wait weeks on end for decisions to be made. I raised this matter with the Minister for Social Protection in May by way of a parliamentary question and was assured that a number of measures were being taken to combat problems, including the hiring of additional staff. However, the problem is clearly getting worse judging from the regular feedback I receive from constituents. The increase of €5 is welcome, but we cannot assume that everything is rosy in the Department of Social Protection because of this. The issue of waiting times must be addressed.

I welcome the measures introduced to help the agrifood sector and small farmers and to increase regional development. The previous Government largely ignored rural Ireland during its term and felt the backlash last February in the general election. The low-cost farm fund will improve cash flow for small farmers, while the new sheep scheme, increased funding for GLAS and the expansion of the farm assist scheme are all welcome to help hard-pressed farm families. The facility for farmers to step out of income averaging is very welcome. The fact that this measure will commence immediately will be a relief to many farmers who have endured a poor year owing to the bad weather and weak prices. However, I will not be throwing my hat in the air on behalf of farmers; far from it. The agriculture industry strengthens the backbone of the country and sustainable investment must be maintained in the coming years to ensure growth and prosperity. I await eagerly the details of the increase in support under the farm assist scheme which we have yet to see. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine polices and penalises farmers more than it helps them. Unfair fines, lack of communication, zero tolerance of genuine errors and incredible amounts of red tape have farmers and the Department more divided than ever. The restoration of CLÁR programme funding and the relaunch of the RAPID programme will benefit regional development, but they must be enacted on the ground quickly and with a minimum of red tape.

Millions of euro can be pumped into rural social schemes and rural development programmes, but the boarded-up shops and empty town centres will remain vacant until the issues with mobile phone connectivity and broadband are properly addressed. The €53 million included in the national broadband plan is obviously good, but those in the rural parts of my constituency are still having problems with mobile phone connectivity. We cannot attract businesses to rural Ireland without functioning mobile phone connectivity and competitive strength in broadband provision. These are essential to any business in the modern world. Indigenous rural businesses will not grow, thrive and create sustainable employment without a basic platform of connectivity.

I am disappointed that the category B and C thresholds for capital acquisition tax were not raised by more than 8%. I commend my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, who fought hard for the minimum increase achieved and ask the Government to look at the issue. Those in lesser categories are being thrown by the wayside. The 33% rate of capital acquisitions tax which applies in all categories is significant and should be examined. Many parents remain concerned that it will place a tax burden on their children when passing on the family home.

I am delighted to welcome parts of the budget. It is one of three and I hope that in the next two years there will be more equity and fairness in the system.

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