Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome many aspects of the budget, I fear the devil will be in the detail and we will not see what will really happen until the coming weeks, as has been the case many times previously.

I sincerely hope the Government's actions to relieve the pressure on housing will work. Whether one lives in Castletownbere, Bantry, Bandon, Dunmanway or Clonakilty, the story is the same - there is huge demand for housing and a complete lack of houses.

I welcome an increase of €9.6 million in transport funding for road infrastructure. I note, however, that the Oberstown interchange and Sallins bypass will receive funding. I wonder if any investment will made in roads outside the greater Dublin area. For far too long, roads in west Cork and other rural areas have been left behind. I refer, for example, to the N71 from Inishannon to Ballydehob, the R581 from Bandon to Castletownbere, and the R582 from Coppeen Road. In terms of our road network, Cork South West is simply and sadly closed for business.

It was great to hear the Minister speak of investment in bus services with the aim of making the public bus service faster and more efficient. The biggest issue facing my constituents is whether they can get any type of bus. I ask the Minister to consider rural areas beyond the Pale for investment. Unfortunately, without the hard-working organisation, Local Link, people in my constituency would not know what a bus was.

I welcome the recruitment of 800 new gardaí and an additional 500 lay staff to work in the Garda next year. When these jobs materialise I hope Garda stations that were closed in recent years, such as Ballinspittle, Goleen and Adrigole Garda stations in west Cork, will be reopened. These closures had no benefit in terms of saving money, as they resulted in an increase in rural crime and theft and left people fearful in their homes. Does the budget provide for the reopening of any of these Garda stations?

The decrease by €10 in the threshold for the drugs payment scheme is also welcome as it will help in a small way to alleviate pressure on middle income earners.

The increase in the health budget by €685 million is most certainly necessary. However, the devil will be in the detail. I will await publication of details on where and to whom the additional funding will be allocated. Will any funding be allocated to Bantry General Hospital? Today, in an extremely serious development, a top consultant at the hospital whose patients travel from as far away as Cork city and rural County Kerry to have operations performed in the state-of-the-art surgery at the hospital, found out that his contract may not be renewed. It is feared by many people that scheduled operations, such as biopsies and scopes, will not proceed and this development is the first step in the closure of the hospital's surgical theatre. It is an outrageous attack on every single person in west Cork. Funding must be found immediately to prevent the theatre's closure.

I also hope hard working, self-employed and farming families who have been discriminated against in the nursing home support or fair deal scheme will receive some help and the Minister will take into account aspects of the motion on the fair deal scheme tabled by the Rural Independent Group and rejected by the Government last July.

The increase in the carer's allowance will be gladly accepted. We must acknowledge the great work done by family carers. A number of concerned constituents who visited my clinics recently indicated they had been waiting 15 weeks for a payment to come through.

I urge the Minister of State and every other politician present to examine this matter. Would any of us wait three months for our wages? I do not believe we would.

I am glad to see that an additional 250 jobs will be introduced through the rural social scheme next year. How are these going to be allocated? I urge the Minister of State to consider west Cork. The last time these jobs came on stream, my constituency received the lowest number despite being the largest area covered. While the additional jobs are great, the devil is definitely in the detail.

The €2.50 is a positive step towards reinstating the telephone rental allowance for the elderly, but the Government should keep it in mind for further increases in next year's budget. Many of my constituents who rely heavily on the telephone to call their friends and families felt it was an added security measure where mobile phone and broadband coverage has been weak. While the increase is welcome, €2.50 will not get them far with today's expensive landline-to-mobile calls. Where would €2.50 go on a telephone bill per week?

Recently, I met INTO delegates to discuss with them their pre-budget submission. While it is good that the pupil-teacher ratio has been reduced to 26:1 and 1,300 new teaching posts are to be created, I am disappointed that there has been no increase in the primary capitation grant. Many schools are struggling to cover costs and they rely heavily on parents fundraising. The Government promised an annual increase in the capitation grant in the programme for Government. Why has it not kept its promise?

The additional €2.5 million for the Irish language and Gaeltacht affairs is welcome. The Gaeltacht islands, such as Cape Clear in my constituency, will be glad of that. However, I am disappointed that islanders who have sought a chaperone to accompany children to school on the mainland have been forgotten about. There seems to be no budget for this. Many of my constituents spend hours every day taking their kids off the islands to school in the morning, returning to the island and then heading back to the mainland again in the afternoon to collect their kids because all schools on the likes of Sherkin Island have been closed. Keeping this up is unsustainable for those parents because they are unable to maintain their jobs at the same time.

I am disappointed that the equalisation between the earned income tax credit and the PAYE tax credit that the Irish Farmers Association sought has not happened and that the Government's promise to deliver this by 2018 was not kept.

I have called for increased funding in the targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, TAMS, and investment aid in horticulture, but I do not see how these calls have been delivered upon. That is disappointing. I pushed hard on the beef data genomics programme, where an increase in funding to the tune of €25 million was needed. This does not seem to have materialised. Was there any additional funding for sheep welfare, which is a significant issue for many farmers in my constituency?

The budget contains further incentives for solar farms, but 200 solar farms have already gone through an unregulated planning system. It is time to stop giving a free run to companies in erecting solar farms under the noses of ordinary residents. This is a major cause of concern in my constituency, especially in Kinsale, Bandon and Enniskeane, given that no planning regulation is in place. While I support and acknowledge the importance of the uptake of renewable energies, I call for the immediate introduction of regulations in respect of these solar farms before any other funding is allocated.

Youth Work Ireland and Scouting Ireland are two excellent organisations that work with young people up and down the country. I have not seen much help for the likes of them materialising in today's budget allocation to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. While I am delighted with the extension of the preschool year to two full years, I am disappointed that organisations for teenagers and young adults have not received much, or any, additional funding.

Many people are calling this "The Late Late Show" budget, with something for everyone in the audience but not much for anyone.

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