Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Is oth liom a chur in iúl don Teach nach bhfuil rian ceannaireachta nó fís ag baint leis an mbuiséad seo agus is easpa uaillmhéine a léiríonn sé, seachas uaillmhian.

For the first time in ten years, we have a balanced budget. Ten years of pain and sacrifice were suffered by many and, unfortunately, many more continue to suffer as innocent victims of reckless financial mismanagement. This budget presented an historic opportunity to do things differently, but it has turned into a glorious mis-opportunity. Budget 2018 had the potential to be a perfect window to begin to make structural and systemic change and to shape a budget for our society, not just our economy. Instead, we have a budget which does a little bit for everyone and nothing significant for anyone. The little bit for everything is an unsustainable con job and it is clear that what the Government has succeeded in doing, at least in the short term, is abating people’s anger, causing a focus on real priorities to be temporarily lost. It is engaged in camouflaging, cleverly distracting people from what should be a pressing and fundamental priority, namely, a caring, compassionate society.

To give some credit and recognition where it is due, however, the Green Party welcomes some announcements in this budget.

4 o’clock

I welcome the extension of maternity leave and benefit for mothers of premature babies, which follows on from the Green Party motion passed by the Dáil in April. For those who point-blank dismiss the entirety of new politics, the breakthrough in delivering a better society for mothers of premature babies should be seen as a constructive example of how new politics has the clear potential to work. This is a concrete outcome. Unfortunately, however, it is an isolated breakthrough that does not give solace or represent the seismic shift in Government policy required to prioritise families and put people at the heart of a caring and inclusive society. This is because there is still a distinct lack of coherent vision in the budget.

Overall, there is nothing new in budget 2018. The Government still operates as if the market can and will solve all problems. It still acts as though climate change is a problem that the private market alone can solve. The Government still acts as though the housing crisis is one that the private market alone can solve. This is a budget of missed opportunities. What could it have been? This had the potential to be a budget for mental health. It could have been used to make a substantial investment in mental health, translating words into action and demonstrating, delivering and making A Vision for Change a reality. Instead, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, speaking with representatives from Mental Health Reform earlier today, confirmed that the €35 million announced for mental health services in the budget includes €20 million promised for this year. A mere €15 million extra is set aside for vital mental health services in budget 2018 when the Government knows that experts in this field are of the opinion that a minimum of €55 million is required. Mo náire sibh.

Our mental health services are struggling. Many hours have been devoted in this Chamber to well-meaning speeches about the importance of mental health. How is it that when push comes to shove and all the cards are on the table, the Government continually comes up short in the context of supporting mental health? By reneging on its commitment to invest appropriately in our mental health services, the Government signalled its utter disinterest, if not contempt, for the human rights of those with mental health symptoms. These are some of the most vulnerable people in society and they simply do not have a voice of their own.

The budget also confirms in the minds of many shattered families that their agonising wait for appropriate interventions and supports for their loved ones will continue under this Government's watch. Tragically for some, this wait has proved fatal. It copper-fastens the sense of hopelessness to which they have become accustomed since A Vision for Change, a blueprint document full of vision but followed with snail-paced change, was launched. According to research, those who suffer from mental illness need a sustained sense of hope. The Government, however, continues to feed them with hopelessness.

The Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care commenced its deliberations in recent weeks. I am delighted to be a member of this committee. However, yesterday's budget does not instil much hope that the Government will pay any attention to our deliberations or recommendations because nowhere in his speech did the Minister for Finance even refer to the Sláintecare document produced by the Committee on the Future of Healthcare. I hope the workings of the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care will not be treated with the same disregard and disrespect. This could have been an historic budget, heralding a new era in attitude and thinking in terms of how the Government treats and prioritises mental health. Alas, it certainly is not that.

This is a budget of missed opportunity. What could it have been? It could have been the budget of investment in education and youth. There is an increase in the levy on employers contributing to the national training fund, which is to be welcomed. However, the scale of the investment needed is not there. This investment will not even be able to keep up with the increase in numbers in third level in the coming years. Again, this is a case of the Government moving forward just to stand still. While the direction is welcome, it is not nearly enough. Investment is not investment if it is just to stand still. There is no evidence in this budget of treating third-level education as an investment in our society and our future. A €250 reduction in fees would have come at a relatively small cost to the State. It would have eased some of the financial pressure students are facing in the context of fee payments. Such a reduction was not made in the budget, however.

Once again, the Government is refusing to prioritise access to education. There is no increase in SUSI grant thresholds and the €200 charge for post-leaving certificate courses, which continues to act as an impediment and obstacle to participation for many students, has not been removed. There is also no restoration of the grants available for Gaeltacht placement for student primary teachers, a mandatory aspect of their studies which students must now continue to undertake at their own expense. Níl sé sin ceart nó cóir.

While the increase in teacher numbers at second level and the reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools are to be welcomed, I do not see any indication that the Government is going to address the significant inequality of treatment in the teaching profession. There is a two-tier, indeed three-tier, system whereby newly-qualified teachers earn more than 20% less than their colleagues. This is despite the fact that they are doing the same job and have the same responsibilities. A recent OECD report, Education at a Glance, found direct correlation between teachers' pay and the quality of education. The teaching profession has been devalued and this will have a detrimental effect on the future quality of education.

Neither has the Government addressed the inequality in pensions. Thousands of women are left in a scenario where, in retirement, they now typically have 37% less to live on than men. Many women who got up early in the morning for years in order to work or to look after the nation's children are now entering an insecure and impoverished retirement. They will have limited access to pensions because of low pay, poor conditions of work and having to take time out for caring responsibilities. The homemaker's scheme only allows for the backdating of pension contributions to 1994. What about all the women who were active prior to 1994? It must be remembered that the State-enforced marriage bar meant that up to 1973, women had no choice but to give up their public service and Civil Service jobs when they got married. The homemaker's scheme should have been backdated to 1973.

In 2012, the previous Government introduced changes to the eligibility criteria for the contributory State pension. This had the effect of increasing the number of PRSI contributions required for the higher payments. Women are more likely to lose out because of periods being out of the workforce due to family responsibilities or being in part-time work or insecure employment. Tens of thousands of women are out in the cold and have been forgotten. They deserve better. They deserve equality. This budget was an opportunity for the Government to end this blatant discrimination by reversing the 2012 changes to pension contributions but it continues to turn its back on thousands of women. This is simply not good enough.

Inequality for young people is also not being addressed. There is the inequality in the area of social welfare, namely, the reduced rate of social welfare payments for young people under the age of 26. Why did the Government not end this discrimination by restoring the full rate of social welfare payments for those under 26?

This is a budget of missed opportunities. What could it have been? This could have been the budget for housing. Instead, we have a budget that does more of the same. It does nothing differently. The announcement of €750 million for the HBFI scheme relates to the planned construction of cheap houses by developers.

The increase in the vacant sites levy is to be welcomed, especially when one considers that, earlier this year, when my Green Party colleague, Senator Grace O'Sullivan, introduced the Derelict and Vacant Sites Bill in the Seanad, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael chose to vote against it. I welcome the Government's recognition now that this increase is needed. However, it is being done without conviction. We will not see the full effect of it until at least 2019.

This budget could have seen a shift to focusing on a cost-rental model of local authority building. Instead, the Government is continuing with its outdated logic to the effect that the private market alone can fix the crisis in housing and homelessness.

Where are the tax reliefs for home owners in whose homes major defects are discovered? Simple first steps would include offering tax reliefs for the undertaking of essential repair works through income tax relief in respect of repair costs incurred, a suspension of local property tax and VAT relief along the lines of the home renovation scheme. However, the Government has not provided any supports for those home owners in this budget and that is not good enough.

It is a budget of missed opportunity. It could have been an ambitious climate action budget but it fails to serve the medium to long-term needs of the country that should be the underlying principle of any budget. It lacks long-term planning and a strategic vision for the people of our country. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, stated in a press release yesterday that "budget 2018 delivers leadership" and that the members of the Government "have been called to be deciders, implementers and change-makers". However, I see no real change, ambition or leadership. The essence of leadership is that one has a strategic and sustainable vision.

This budget was an opportunity to be at the forefront of the new clean industrial revolution that is starting to happen and from which we have everything to gain. Every sector of society will benefit from a transition to a fair, clean, green economy. The scale of the change needed is similar to that made in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Ireland made a strategic decision to go from being a closed to an open international economy. This budget will not be remembered as groundbreaking and change-making in the mould of the work of Seán Lemass and T.K. Whitaker. It is not transformative and, rather, will be remembered as more of the same and providing minute nudges in the right direction. It is a budget of missed opportunity. It seeks to keep the status quotipping along without effecting underlying structural change. Inequality will remain, as will discrimination against young people and women. The Government continues to ignore the opportunity of embracing a just transition to a new, green, fair economy. This budget is definitely not about a just society. It could have been remembered as a budget for mental health, investment in education, housing or ambitious climate action. Instead, it will be remembered only for a lack of strategic vision, fairness, ambition or leadership and as a budget for our economy, not our society.

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