Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Billy Kelleher for sharing his time.

It is important to remind some Members and the public that Fianna Fáil entered into a confidence and supply agreement in May 2016. I was a new Deputy at the time and could not understand why it was taking so long to put a Government in place. There was stalemate. In fairness, Fianna Fáil took a brave decision and did the right thing in working with Fine Gael to put a Government in place. Does it suit every Fianna Fáil Member or grassroots supporter? No, it does not. Does it suit Fine Gael? No, it does not, but it was the right thing to do for the country. I am convinced of this because many of the electorate to whom I speak tell me to get on with the job and do it correctly.

In the confidence and supply agreement we have achieved certain measures. By the way, it was to cover three budgets, of which this is the second. As far as I am concerned, our conditions are being honoured. It does not solve everything, but we are not the party in government. We have had certain measures included in this budget, as in the last one, which will alleviate some difficulties. It is important to realise that as part of the deal with Fine Gael, there is a 2:1 split in favour of expenditure and investment in public services over tax reductions. Again, the public believes that is a good way of progressing.

We must ensure that services are improved at every opportunity. There are major problems in housing and health.

I welcome the increased funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. It has been proven to work. Some Deputies are very critical of it but the figures from when it was previously in place under a Fianna Fáil-led Government show that waiting lists were reduced. I have no doubt that the funding for it this year will result in many operations being speeded up and waiting lists reduced in many areas.

I also welcome the €25 million allocation for the areas of natural constraints, ANC, schemes that are very important to farmers, as Deputies Kelleher, Kyne, McLoughlin and O'Donovan will know.

The retention of mortgage interest relief at 75% is crucial. Deputy Kelleher has spent much of his time in the Dáil talking about the cost of houses and that so many people are homeless in our society. It is important that mortgage interest relief is maintained at 75%. It pierces my heart every time I hear about children not having a roof over their heads. I always think of my own two children who are now 19 and 14 years of age and wonder how they would feel or react if they were living out of a hotel room or bad accommodation that they would have to leave in the morning when their parent or parents would try to get them to school and then be collected after school, be fed at some stage and then go back to the bad accommodation in the evening. It is horrifying and an absolutely horrible situation that we cannot solve the housing issue. I am very concerned for people who grow up in those types of situations.

There are failures in the budget. I am not happy with the provision it makes for broadband or child care. The funding provided for child care is poor.

I am still looking for the rainy day fund. As Fianna Fáil spokesman on flood relief and the Office of Public Works, OPW, I am not talking about the rainy day fund that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, referred to yesterday in terms of putting a few bob away for a rainy day. I have been talking to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, about this issue. Another rainy day fund needs to be discussed in the House, which is relief for those who have been hit by flooding. Climate change is now a massive issue here and unless we get more funding and put more ideas in place, many parts of the country will encounter grave difficulties. Members know what recently happened in Donegal and what has been happening along the River Shannon for many years. It is getting worse and rainfall levels are changing. We are facing a massive difficulty in that regard.

There are many other issues I want to address and I will probably speak on them when there are further discussions on the budget next week. Overall, the budget was as fair a deal as we could get. There are failures in it and they need to be addressed but overall I hope it will go through and we will see what will happen in budget 2019.

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