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

I too appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this important Bill which will implement the changes contained in the budget. I refer, first, to the USC and the fact that when it was introduced during the financial crisis, we were told it would be a temporary tax. The charge is crippling all workers who have put their shoulders to the wheel to try to turn the economy around. While the proposed changes are welcome, this is only the start. We want to see a sustained attempt to do what should be done, which is to eliminate the charge. It was a temporary, emergency tax at the time it was introduced and will have to be examined in future budgets because that is what people want and expect.

On the increases in pension and other social welfare payments, one question is being asked continuously. If a budget measure is being introduced to increase taxation, it can be done before midnight on budget day, but social welfare recipients are being told that they have to wait until next March for the increases in their payments to be made. That is unfair on those who are struggling with high increased insurance costs, other charges for health care and day-to-day living expenses. They are genuinely finding it difficult to manage.

Deputy Noel Grealish referred to the squeezed middle. Recently, I was approached by a young garda who had graduated from the Garda College in Templemore and had been deployed in Dublin city. He told me straight to my face that he could not afford to be a garda in Dublin. When accommodation costs and the fact that he is away from home are taken into account, with the reduced money for which gardaí are working, he said, "I cannot afford to be a guard anymore." It was an awful statement for a young person to come out with. It highlights how tight and how tough some people are finding it.

With regard to the self-employed, it is of tremendous importance that people who create employment have the opportunity to avail of State assistance if their business gets into trouble. This has happened through no fault of their own and there was nothing available for them. Even if they had savings, they would only have lasted so long. I have always felt strongly about this issue.

Revenue and the Department examined the equalisation of the rebate on diesel and petrol when drafting the budget. I am glad that it has been desisted from at this time, but in future budgets any attempt to equalise the rebate would have absolutely massive negative consequences for the economy because the rebate would not be equalised downwards to the cost of diesel. In other words, the price of diesel would increase at the pump to the same price as petrol. This would have knock-on negative effects on all aspects of our lives and be detrimental to the haulage industry and everybody involved in the delivery of goods. All costs would increase because of the proposed measure. I want to ensure the people who were dreaming it up will not consider it again because it would not make sense.

I refer to housing. In case anybody says I have a vested interest, I am involved in the business in a small way and want to declare this in case anybody accuses me of anything afterwards. Helping young people to get on the property ladder is of massive importance because young couples want to get out of rented accommodation and do not want to spend the rest of their lives renting. Other European countries have a model whereby people rent all of their lives, but young Irish families want to have their own homes and security of tenure and be able to pass them on to future generations. I welcome some of the measures proposed, but the one elephant in the room when it comes to property is the unused buildings in towns and villages. There are unused properties with shop units downstairs and living accommodation upstairs in every town and village. Every incentive that could be brought forward to ensure investors and others willing to purchase them should be encouraged, whether it be through tax rebates or the provision of grant assistance. Whatever help is provided would breathe new life into communities. Many villages are dead.

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