Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. The budget is basically built on shaky foundations. It is like a three-legged stool with one of the legs badly cracked. The budget is built on generating an additional €360 million from stamp duty, yet we can see already the problems this is causing in certain parts of the country and for certain people, especially in the farming community. I will deal with that in more detail later.

I will first deal with the positive developments such as the provision of additional teachers, gardaí, SNAs, and front-line staff in hospitals, which is welcome. I hope when we examine the figures this time next year, they will reflect these increases and these additional staff will not just be replacing retirees. We will count these figures at the end of next year to see if these staff have been delivered.

I welcome the increase in the old age pension. It may not be a lot but it is at least going in the right direction. I also welcome the increases in the FIS and the telephone allowance. Many people wear a pendant and if they get into difficulty or have a fall, they can press a button and emergency personnel will come to their aid. That increase is ferociously important because some people were walking away because of the costs associated with the pendants.

I also welcome the decision to leave the corporation tax rate as it is. I checked in on what was happening in Strasbourg over the past few days to see what Mr. Juncker was saying. President Macron and a few other leaders are pushing for changes to the corporation tax regime and I hope Ireland will stand up and be counted in this regard.

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It is welcome that a fund is being put together for builders. At present, there are vultures who are charging builders up to 15% interest and a share of the profits. However, we should keep the funding of this in-house. I have been contacted by several credit unions. Credit unions currently have €15 billion to €16 billion in accounts around the country and they are anxious to get on board with this. I am aware that the credit unions were consulted when the programme for Government was being negotiated but, oddly enough, there has been no movement since. If anything, the Government has gone backwards in helping credit unions. Whether we like it or not, the banks have walked away from most rural areas. People cannot even get change in some of them and they wonder if they are going into a confessional box in others because one can see nobody unless one goes into a room. We have to reach a position where the credit unions are given the freedom to be the banks of 25 years ago, where one could say "hello" to somebody and where one could be facilitated in whatever one was seeking. That freedom must be provided, especially in view of the amount of money they have. The first step in that regard relates to the €750 million from a fund in Europe. That money, and even €1 billion, is freely available in credit unions. In fact, there is €7 billion or €8 billion available immediately in credit unions. That should be used because at least the dividend from it is helping somebody in Ireland when the interest is paid. I ask the Minister to consider that.

On the housing measures, houses are not going to be built overnight. As I have said repeatedly, no council is fit to build houses because councils do not have the resources or the staff. Second, consider the number of vacant houses. In this country we do not have a bull's notion of how to get a subcontractor in, have everything priced as the work proceeds and have something turned around in a month or two. There are houses that have been left vacant for years in every county in the country. They could help the housing situation. Whether one is a Minister or otherwise, this is not a light that one can just switch on. We must ensure that there is delivery. Unfortunately, we are great at policy. I have read five or six policies over the last few years. Ultimately, however, people who are good at policy do not know how to deliver. They are a different breed of person. Unless we go down the road of delivering, we will get nowhere.

The pensions issue is very disappointing. Many women in this country gave up work to rear families but now that they have reached pension age they have been left behind. A budgetary measure in 2011 has put them in this situation. These people are now classed as second class citizens. Their stamps are divided by 50 and they end up with perhaps half a pension. We should appreciate that these are people who gave up work to bring up another generation. As bad as child care is at present, that facility was not available at that time. It should be the Government's priority to ensure that these people are treated as equal citizens, given their sacrifice and what they have done for this country. That is most important.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is present. With regard to roads, perhaps the Minister for Finance was only referring to a few areas but it was interesting to hear him mention Osberstown and an extra lane for the M7. That is undoubtedly necessary because I travelled that road lately beyond Naas and it is chock-a-block. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, will thank me for saying that. The Minister also referred to a new connection for trains in Dublin. What is worrying is that I heard of nothing for the west of Ireland. Many people have lost their lives on the N4 while works are required on the N5. A ring road around Galway is needed. The new M6 motorway is a magnificent piece of work. However, it is built and we must move on from that and ensure that where it finishes there is an interconnection of roads to Knock and Charlestown to let other parts of the country develop as the areas around Dublin have. I am not saying that Dublin does not need infrastructure. However, all the Deputies in the west attend meetings with businesses once or twice a year. These businesses are run by people who are creating jobs, employing people and keeping them in their local areas. When one hears those people say that up to 20% of their goods are damaged because of the roads, that is worrying. It is tougher to bring businesses to those areas if there is no infrastructure.

We also need broadband infrastructure. I do not know what the current position is but we appear to have been getting ready to roll it out for the past 18 months or two years and we are no further advanced. All I can see in that regard is that it now appears that one company will have a monopoly, which is not good.

With regard to renewables, we hear lovely statements about Ireland getting greener. There is a budget of €17 million of which €10 million will go on electric cars. They will be suitable in and around cities if one drives 4,000 km or 5,000 km per year, but let us be realistic about the situation in rural areas. At present, gas is the only alternative and that costs extra money. The Government must lead from the front with regard to transport. If one has ten buses at present and one wishes to change them or buy new buses, one will get about eight, but the running costs for them if they are run on natural gas will be much lower. A front-loading budget must be provided. One leads by example. It is no good taking advantage of people living in rural areas by telling them that they must buy this, that or the other to be greener. They might not be able to afford it and they do not have a public transport service where there is a bus or taxi service available when they leave the house. We have to start living in the real world.

As regards the renewable heat incentive, RHI, there is a sum of €7 million to be shared. In the case of biomass, I believe we are letting Bord na Móna head off to Georgia to set up a plant there. It will have the benefit of an Irish RHI being transferred to it. The product will be shipped back and we will burn it at 40% efficiency. That makes sense for whoever came up with that brainwave. The RHI for biomass, biogas and wind is €7 million, so it will not shake up the world despite all our talk about so-called climate change.

Turning to agriculture, Deputies will recall that I sought €25 million for the ANC scheme. In fairness, that has been delivered and I welcome that. The sheep grant was also delivered. In the case of the loans, the €300 million in the budget could be increased to €500 million if we did a deal with the credit unions to fund it and the Government provided a backing system. However, there is one issue that must be tackled. I am currently inundated with representations from people from all parts of the country whose loans have been sold by the banks. The vulture funds are taking over. It is widely reported that they have bought most of these loans from the banks at 30% and 40% and now they are trying to skin the cat by looking for 100%. There appears to be no talking to them. The people involved cannot get money anywhere else. At a time of recovery in the country we must ensure that part of this loan fund is given to those people, so we can buy those loans back and set them up once and for all at realistic figures.

Whatever has to be done to put a stop to what vulture funds are doing, it should be done because this is a downright scandal.

As Deputies will be aware, the increase from 2% to 6% in the rate of stamp duty on commercial sales is the main talking point of the budget. I spoke to many people involved in agriculture yesterday. I am not saying the Minister tried to do this - it may be a consequence of trying to tame the vulture funds - but farmers have been caught in the crossfire. Most farmers are not inclined to transfer land until they are at least 70 years of age or maybe even 80 years old. Unfortunately, the children of farmers who may be 37, 38 or 40 years of age have been caught in the crossfire of the increase in stamp duty.

I found out today that when a farmer transfers assets it becomes problematic on the deed of transfer with entitlements. This will cause serious problems in rural areas. Moreover, if shares in a co-operative are being transferred and the special criteria, namely, that the recipient must be under 35 years or the transferee must be under 67 years, do not apply, the parties will also be in trouble. I tabled a reasonable amendment the other night but unfortunately no one had the good sense to accept it. We must level the playing field on this issue in the finance Bill. I will table a further amendment on the matter.

The budget has another worrying and possibly unintended consequence. Rural Deputies will have seen many businesses closing in their localities during periods of recession. Deputies from all parties try to encourage people to buy or set up businesses in our local areas. In fairness to the Government, it has introduced incentives to do this. However, a further consequence of the increase in the rate of stamp duty is that it will also affect people in rural areas who decide to buy a business. They may have only set out on the road and may only have a few employees. If someone buys a business that has closed and starts a new business within six or nine months, the company will generate revenue, create employment and pay VAT. I propose that a rebate should be provided in such circumstances, provided a business is reopened within six months, similar to the rebates that apply and which I support in respect of housing. Without such a measure, the increase in stamp duty will stifle property purchases in smaller towns.

The Minister spoke of the stamp duty increase generating €360 million of revenue. Sometimes one has to lose or spend a euro to make €2. From what I can see, however, this measure will stop investment. That is my concern. I am aware of a case where a great deal of work was done trying to persuade a person to buy a business which had been closed for eight or nine years. In fairness to the individual in question, he took a punt on the business but unfortunately the measure the Minister introduced the other night will cost him more than €20,000. This is one of the consequences of the measure. I am not attaching blame as it may have been unforeseen but sometimes when one reaches for the stars, one hits something on the way up. Politicians have a duty to sort out this mess because it will stifle businesses. Like all politicians, I do not have much regard for vulture funds but this measure will hit small businesses.

I ask the Government to increase the loan facilities available. Credit unions offer an opportunity to do so.

I read that the budget for the Department of Rural and Community Development will increase by approximately 12%. The Department will receive the smallest budget of any Department, yet it covers the majority of the country.

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