Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak. It is a new phenomenon of recent years that we have these summer economic statements. With growth projections of 4.3%, we are talking about a huge labour market that has increased in the past 18 quarters. However, what kind of jobs are they? They are not all good jobs and many are zero-hour contracts. I am not a mad, raving trade unionist but I know the jobs are not proper jobs. People are being forced to work in situations that are not very desirable and with no certainty. They cannot borrow or have certainty for their families.

With regard to rural Ireland, the Government got enough of it in the last election with its "Keep the recovery going". There was no recovery and the Government found that out, but it still has not learned. The Minister spoke about fiscal space, another term that annoys people and drives them wild. We were expecting a good bit of money but it is now down to a couple of hundred million.

The waste that is going on in this country is what should be tackled first. The Minister should not bother coming in here with economic statements, whether it is spring, winter or summer, or April Fool's Day either. The waste going on in the public system is unbelievable. The hospitals issue has been addressed by Deputy Harty, who knows about this. The Government was boasting about €900 million extra for last year. For what? It was for worse results, year on year. Several Ministers have failed to tackle it. That is one area but, right across the public service, there is massive overrun on projects. The Government is telling us the children's hospital will probably cost €2 billion before it is built, even though it is in the wrong place, as we all know. It is just left there. I put in complaints and have written to the Committee of Public Accounts about the waste in Cashel hospital, where the spend increased from €12.2 million to €21 million or €22 million, but I have not heard anything back yet. I wrote to the HSE and I got back waffle. There is no one with teeth watching these organisations. The HSE is the worst of them all but there are more runners-up in that race and they have their hands around the handlebars of the system. They are not accountable to this House or to anyone else. We need to tackle that to allow the country to survive.

If we lessened the USC and allowed the people to spend money in local shops to give the economy a bit of stimulation, those people would feel better. It is a crippler. There were so many expectations created by the Taoiseach and the Government but nothing happened and we now know that nothing is going to happen. That is very hurtful and mean.

While I might criticise the public service, there are many good public servants, some of whom we met during the week. Retired public servants have been treated shabbily in the past ten years. No union is looking after them. Once they are retired, they are forgotten about. It is a very unjust society.

We want a university for the south east. We are not looking with the béal bocht. We want a proper spatial strategy and we want services in rural Ireland, the same as they have elsewhere in the country. We are not jealous or envious of what they have but we want fair play.

Community people are the backbone of this country. I am talking about those providing home help, meals on wheels and all those services. We must allow them some bit of dignity to work. Above all, I am talking about disabled people, who have to come here again today to sit outside the Dáil while the motorised transport grant has been put off repeatedly. The Taoiseach told me last week that primary legislation was needed but the Government needed no primary legislation to cut it, when it had been in place for a decade or more until it was cut four or five years ago. We have been raising this issue repeatedly in the House but we are told it needs primary legislation. The Government's primary job is to govern, to be fair to the people, to listen to the people and to deliver for all people, not the elite.

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