Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The 2017 budget proposals are now a week old. It was not a Fianna Fáil budget but I welcome its overall thrust. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, stated in his opening address that thanks to the sacrifices of the Irish people, we are back on the path to a dynamic economy and a just and fair society.

My concern is that a vacuum is being created on the right. I read with interest an article by Kevin Doyle in last weekend's Sunday Independent in which he expressed concern about the parties in this House. My party has always been seen as being just left of centre but Mr. Doyle suggested that the biggest party in the House is also going to the left. The concern that arises, as epitomised by Brexit and Donald Trump in America, is that we are creating a void for the militant far right to evolve in this State because hard-pressed, middle class people feel they are being left behind, with no incentive to work.

I am my party's junior spokesman on sport. My concern in this area is the overall cut to the Department's funding of 17%. No matter what the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, says, there is a 17% cut across capital and current expenditure. That is a fact. I welcome the announcement that the Department will be providing sports capitation grants in the coming year but we are two years behind schedule in that regard. We are all aware of the positive contribution of sport to people's general health and well-being and the fact that this reduces the pressure on our health system. The big announcement I must welcome relates to my own backyard, that is, the commitment of the Government to provide funding for the development of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the well-known GAA ground in Cork city. I would ask that we support wholeheartedly the IRFU in its efforts to secure the Rugby World Cup for this country in the future. The union has been successful in moving forward in the tendering process but it is important that we continue to support it. On that note, I wish to express my sympathy to family of Anthony Foley on his untimely death.

Transport, as Deputy Ó Cuív said, is becoming an east-south issue in terms of the availability of funding. Having read the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport's speech last week, the only good news for people from the south west is the upgrade of the Naas bypass. Why is that the case? At present, if one is driving south on the M7, the outer lane is slower than the inner lanes because of the congestion approaching Naas and so forth. What is wrong with upgrading the M20? When the previous Government, which included the Labour Party, went into the general election campaign, all we heard from Labour Party and Fine Gael Deputies was that the M20 was back on the agenda. One would think that if it was on the agenda, progress would be made. However, there was no reference in the budget to the M20. The Acting Chairman is also affected by the M20, which, if upgraded, would be a motorway that would run from Cork up into the western corridor. Both from an economic and commercial perspective, funding is needed for the M20 project. It is urgent if there is to be growth in the west.

I welcome the jobs announcements in various sectors, including the posts relating to new teachers, gardaí and nurses. I am concerned, however, that we might just be putting more people on the picket lines because we are not paying the requisite wages.

On agriculture, I welcome the tax adjustments and the new €50 million low-interest loan fund.

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