Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom i dtosach a rá go bhfuil rudaí ag feabhsú sa tír seo. Ní aontaím leis an bpáirtí thall atá ag rá nach bhfuil rudaí ag feabhsú. Tá sé soiléir i mo chontae féin go bhfuil laghdú mór tagtha ar an méid daoine atá dífhostaithe. Bliain ó shin, bhí 2,000 duine níos mó dífhostaithe i gContae Lú ná mar atá sa chontae sin anois. Tá sé sin ag titim amach timpeall na tíre. Measaim go bhfuil rudaí ag feabhsú mar thoradh pholasaithe IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland agus daoine eile. Tá rudaí ag dul chun cinn ó thaobh fostaíochta de, ach go háirithe.

This important budget marks a tipping point in terms of how the economy stands at this time and in the context of our future as a country. For the first time in many years, the budget has not imposed a clawback on any sector of the community. Everybody has benefited to some extent. Some people need to benefit a lot more. I do not agree with the suggestion that the centre is holding and this country needs to maintain a centrist position from a political perspective. Now that we have more money, and more funds are coming in as employment increases, we need to improve our social welfare, health and family support services. We need to look after people with disabilities even more significantly than we have been doing. While I welcome the changes that have been made in our social supports, we need to build on them.

I welcome the improvement in disability provision. People with disabilities suffered most in the recession and need the most support now. Although I welcome the €30 million that has been allocated in this area, this country continues to have significant problems with disability services. I would like to mention one such problem in County Louth. The lack of proper respite care for people with intellectual disabilities who live at home is having an adverse effect on a number of families. During the summer, there were many problems with respite services in County Louth for people who need such services. It would be unacceptable if this were to continue into the future. I met representatives of St. John of God Services during the week. I hope changes will be made, even though such changes will have to be made by the Minister rather than by St. John of God Services because of the closure of the congregated settings and the movement into communities.

I would also like to speak about the need for improvements in social and medical supports, such as speech therapy. It is very important for children who cannot speak properly because they have problems with their speech development to get access to speech therapy as quickly as possible. I do not understand why the HSE has decided to designate for County Meath six of the nine new speech therapists who are coming into counties Louth and Meath. Just three of them are being assigned to County Louth even though there are ten times more people who have been assessed as having an urgent speech therapy need on the waiting list in County Louth than there are in County Meath. The figure in County Louth is 270, but it is less than 30 in County Meath. We need to have equity in the allocation of HSE resources across various counties. People in counties Louth and Meath who need speech therapy should be on a universal waiting list. A person in County Louth should not be ten times worse off than a person in County Meath.

The question of new emerging needs in disability services is arising in my county. Since it was decided to move from congregated settings, which was a decision I welcomed, a significant number of additional people who need proper and adequate living conditions in residential care outside congregated settings have emerged. I have been told there is no provision for such people in this budget. It is not good enough.

I continue to have concerns about medical cards. While I welcome the health allocation, it is neither good enough nor acceptable that people in my constituency who suffer from cancer are still being refused medical cards on appeal. There is a lack of transparency and accountability about many of these decisions.

I welcome the increase in home help allocations because it is a very important area. If people can be looked after in their own homes, it is better for everybody concerned. It is far better to have people looked after in their homes than to have to spend approximately €50,000 a year to keep them in nursing home beds. The cost of keeping people in their own homes with proper home help support is a fraction of that. It is unacceptable of the HSE to give people half an hour of home help.

I know a person living outside the town of Drogheda. The parent has dementia and lives with just one family member, but they cannot even get into Drogheda to shop, go to the doctor or do anything because the home help time expired so soon and someone always has to be present with a person who has dementia.

One good thing about the budget is the action plan for housing. It is critical that this funding increases and I welcome the new repair and leasing arrangements. I welcome the vacant site tax that will come in next year. I welcome the buy and renew facility for local authorities to buy and renew homes and I also welcome the vacant site levy which will come in next year for under-used lands.

However, there is one point I wish to make clearly. There is a responsibility on people who own homes but do not let them or live in them. They should put these properties on the market because of the extraordinary crisis. There are significant additional supports for landlords to bring homes that are not necessarily in good condition back into use. We should consider the arrangements in the United Kingdom. In the UK, houses remaining vacant for two years or more incur a significant increase in property taxes. Local authorities there can put a property tax increase of up to 50% on those homes. It is not fair on people who need homes here to others with a buy-to-keep or own-to-keep mentality. These are furnished empty homes vacant in this country and they number more than 193,000. These 193,000 homes are not holiday homes but they are vacant. It is a disgrace that this scandal continues. I understand from academics that the vacancy rate is twice what it should be. The vacancy rate nationally is approximately 12% but academics believe it ought to be approximately 6%. Are people holding on to homes? Are they speculating? Are vulture funds buying and holding on to properties for the prices to go up? I am deeply concerned about it.

I welcome the commitment in the budget on the part of the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. He spoke about the significant further work being done in this area. The bottom line is that we must be able to tax furnished properties that are vacant for two years or more. They should be and must be made available for others. It is a question of the greatest good for the greater number. Let us get our people into those homes. Landlords get paid an increasing price under the housing assistance payment.

We have a significant problem with the nursing crisis in our country. We cannot get nurses to come home. I welcome the initiatives and extra funding to encourage nurses to come back to Ireland. It is unacceptable to have a situation like that in Drogheda Cottage Hospital, which has nine beds vacant. These beds are for people who need care before they can go home. Moreover, in the St. Oliver Plunkett community nursing unit in Dundalk a further nine beds are vacant. This means there are 18 beds vacant in County Louth. What does that mean? It means as the winter crisis and influenza come along 18 beds are unavailable. Yet they are essential to take the pressure off our accident and emergency units and provide people with a proper and safe place to recover before they go home. The absence of nurses in these wards is a critical problem for the future of our health services in County Louth. Every effort must be made by the HSE to attract nurses home. The Government must provide increased supports to nurses to help them to come home, including special allowances and extra pay, if possible, to ensure a proper health service and to ensure that every available bed will be filled by a patient who needs it.

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