Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As did my colleague, Deputy Kelleher, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Finance Bill. I want to highlight areas for further expansion and engagement in various areas and Departments as Bills emerge in the time ahead. Fianna Fáil's input, as per the confidence and supply agreement, as my colleague has outlined, ensured a fairer budget for all with a ratio of 3:1 between spending and tax cuts.

With regard to the first-time buyer scheme, I hope the Minister will actively engage with all in the coming weeks prior to Committee Stage so the legislation is amended where necessary to show fairness to all those who wish to participate in it. In particular, I believe the first-time buyer's grant should be available to all those purchasing a house for the first time and not just those buying new properties. The difficulty at present is very few new houses have been built, for the reasons we know and have outlined in the House on many occasions. Excluding second-hand homes being purchased by first-time buyers is a great mistake in my view and opening it up needs to be considered. The timing of the introduction of the grant also needs to be considered.

The establishment of the budgetary oversight committee is to be welcomed, as the lack of an impact assessment meant some flaws in the help to buy scheme. These have been rectified by the Central Bank. Another area that needs to be looked at and has not been touched on is people trying to trade up. Many families are living in houses with negative equity. Their family circumstances suggest they need to move into a larger home, but they cannot afford to rent somewhere larger. They are being caught for tax on their own property if they rent it out, and if they sell it they will find themselves at a loss. This area is catching out many families and needs to be looked at.

The reduction in the rate of USC is to be welcomed, as it reduces somewhat the burden on low and middle income areas. The modest increase in people's take home pay ensures some benefits from the growing economy for the squeezed middle. The only issue with this is that at present the break given to people in USC is being consumed in other areas, such as motor insurance. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, will bring forward measures next month in this regard. Motor insurance has increased by 40% over the past 18 months to two years.

The reduction in USC and more will be consumed by the 40% increase in motor insurance costs. Unfortunately, that reduction will not have a positive impact on families or on local economies. There will be no local spend because the modest reduction will be consumed by increases in motor insurance and so on.

The provision for the capital expenditure programme is disappointing. While the additional €250 million is welcome, the programme falls short in many areas. More investment is needed in bus and rail services to encourage more people to use public transport. They will avail of it once services are provided. Reduced fares and improved services need to be examined to reduce congestion on our road network. For example, there is terrible congestion on the M50 at the moment. The only way to get people out of their cars is to provide an adequate public transport system. The current capital expenditure programme falls short in this area. The interest rate on State borrowing through the relevant agencies is almost at 0% and, therefore, this was a missed opportunity for an improved and more ambitious programme. Previous Administrations invested heavily in improving our road network to bring it up to motorway and dual carriageway standard. The standard of roads such as the N3, N4 and N5 needs to meet dual carriageway or motorway standard. That will enhance access to hard-to-reach areas, make them attractive for foreign direct investment and assist businesses and people living in those areas. Tourism is also a massive industry and if people can access these areas and the right services are provided, they will certainly do so. That is why the Government needs to invest in and protect the road network. There are proposals to build more centres of excellence in the health sector but people need to be able to access them. Currently, there is a deficit in this regard and this is another missed opportunity that needs to be examined. There is a massive transport deficit in Celbridge in my constituency. A bridge costing €15 million is required to assist further development in the town, which has a population in excess of 20,000, but it has not happened. Ring roads need to be competed in Clane and Maynooth to facilitate further public transport links to those towns while Kilcock and Leixlip need park-and-ride facilities to promote public transport. The transport sector needs to be addressed under the capital expenditure programme.

The child care measures announced in the budget amount to a start and I welcome the Government's commitment to the quality of child care provision but it still has a long way to go, in particular, in respect of the support for lone parents who wish to access third level education and for mature students. People who want to access FETAC level 8 courses do not receive the same supports as those participating on level 6 and 7 courses. That is wrong and they are at a disadvantage. This needs to be considered and provision needs to be expanded.

The €5 increase in the old age pension is welcome, as is the increase to 85% in the Christmas bonus. However, the Minister for Social Protection should work to increase the bonus to 100% as quickly as possible. It is important that his Department adjusts the pension means test limit in order that the increase does not negatively impact on services such as medical cards because the increase could lead them to losing a service they need. More needs to be done for the self-employed. They contribute hugely to the Exchequer and to the economy and they need to be able to avail of social welfare supports if they find themselves out of work or if they are out sick but that is not the case currently. The Minister also needs to focus on this. The approach to child benefit was hugely disappointing given the previous Administration cut the rates in two successive budgets. The Government parties chose to ignore it on this occasion. I made a proposal to extend child benefit to those in full-time second level education, which the Minister accepted. He said it would examine it seriously. It would cost the taxpayer €60 million but this opportunity was also missed in the budget. It is an expensive time for families when children are in their final year in school. They are struggling and hard pressed and the fact child benefit was not extended was a mistake. Hopefully, it will be considered in the upcoming social welfare Bill.

The increase of €15 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, is welcome. However, the increase needs to be closer to €50 million for the fund to have an impact on waiting lists. Yesterday, I raised the outpatient waiting list for spinal surgery in Tallaght hospital in the House. Currently, more than 400 people are on the list in the hospital's catchment area, which includes counties Kildare, Longford, Westmeath and Dublin. There has been a lack of investment in a dedicated spinal surgery theatre. It would cost €4 million and €300,000 per annum thereafter to service it. This should come under the capital expenditure programme and such investment needs to be made to deal with the waiting list. While the NTPF deals with emergencies, it does not have a long-term strategy in this regard. The Government must invest in this infrastructure and in supports to meaningfully tackle the problems in the health service.

No funding was provided to fast-track the national broadband plan. People, for example, in the north west of my constituency, cannot even study from home, never mind operate a business or work from home because of the lack of broadband services. It is a huge problem.

A special fund should be administered by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to assist Irish businesses to promote themselves in light of the UK leaving the EU.

I welcome the additional funding for An Bord Pleanála to enable it to fast-track large residential developments in the recently introduced planning Bill. The irony, however, is there are sites zoned in my constituency and elsewhere with planning permission and companies funded to build on them but they cannot do so because Irish Water has told them the necessary infrastructure will not be in place for between three and six years. We have a housing crisis and this is crazy. Companies cannot build because of the lack of infrastructure. This needs to be examined and the additional €200 million provided must be focused on the areas in crisis in order that both housing and infrastructure can be delivered in tandem.

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