Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Finance Bill 2017. Fine Gael and its de facto junior coalition partner, Fianna Fáil, provided for €335 million in income tax cuts and USC. This was much needed money that could have been spent on housing, education and especially on health services.

I am sure the Minister of State is aware of the impending flu epidemic and the winter crisis that is heading towards us in the health services. This was reported by Dr. Muiris Houston in Monday’s Irish Timesand was also recently reported by RTÉ’s "Prime Time" programme. Have these reports and the weeks that followed the delivery of the budget speech changed the Government's mind in any way or convinced it that the health service needs more funding?

I understand that many of those who sit on the Government benches will never have to rely on or use the public health system, but I can tell them that it is in a state of absolute, total and complete crisis. It is in crisis because of the current policies of the Government and the previous failed policies of Fianna Fáil's government. The health service immediately needs additional funding in order to increase capacity by reopening closed beds and hiring more front-line staff. We have a problem in that we cannot even keep the staff we have. We are struggling to recruit any more.

The biggest failure of this budget and the measures before us in the Finance Bill is the absolute and utter failure to tackle the crisis in our health service. The measures, such as they are, are short term and some are populist. The National Treatment Purchase Fund has its cheerleaders in Fianna Fáil, but these measures will not help in the longer term. They are short term if anything. This is one of the most important Bills of the year on which we as legislators will work and days such as this provide us with the opportunity to assess critically the ideas laid out, away from all the hoopla of budget day, as was referred to earlier. We need to look at ideas that are bad and offer up good ideas where we can.

We heard the leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Micheál Martin, giving out at his party’s Ard-Fheis that Fine Gael has gone too far to the right. Sinn Féin rejects right-wing politics and right-wing policies, but we do not abstain on them. We vote against them. Fianna Fáil is happy to abstain on such policies because they too are on the right and support those policies. They do not fear the out workings of the bad aspects of this Finance Bill because it will not impact them.

What is missing from this Bill tells us the real story. There is no attempt to crack down on exemptions which encourage land hoarding. The failure to do this will only exacerbate and perpetuate the housing crisis. This is good news for developers and good news for landlords, but it is not good news for ordinary workers. Again, as with the crisis affecting the health service, the housing crisis is not too likely to impact those on the Government benches. Maybe this is why it is not a priority.

Where are the moves for pay equalisation for teachers, nurses, gardaí and others? Where is the funding for the much needed commission on nursing? These workers, who provide front-line services, are very likely to be suffering from the crisis in the rental sector, paying 60% of their wages on rent, and more on motor insurance, health costs and the cost of living. They are left with little or no hope despite the fact that they are the people who get up very early in the morning. How does it look to them when they see no action on the tax-free status for the banks for the next 20 years? They see things for what they are, and they see that they are carrying the can so banks can enjoy their status.

I also want to raise the fact that there have been no changes to betting duty, some of the money from which could have been ring-fenced to help with addiction services for those with problem gambling habits. There is a clear lack of urgency in dealing with gambling addiction in Ireland despite all the indicators showing that Ireland has a serious problem.

A recent report showed Ireland has the third highest gambling losses per head in the world, and the highest online gambling losses anywhere. More needs to be done to address this problem which is escalating year on year. I am sure many Members here watched the documentary last night on RTÉ, "Living with an Addict", where we saw the impact gambling addiction has had on Galway hurler Davy Glennon’s mother and brother. It was powerful and emotive viewing and it illustrates how much we need to do to protect those people who have vulnerability in this instance and to protect their families who very often bear the brunt of this addiction.

Currently there is no ring-fenced funding to tackle gambling addiction. The betting tax, already one of the lowest in the world, generates nearly €30 million, with some €6 million of this ring-fenced to support the bloodstock industry. Not one cent of this fund goes to support those with gambling addiction or their families. An increase in the betting tax could have been used for awareness campaigns and addiction support for those who suffer from problem gambling, but yet again the Government has shown its lack of backbone when it comes to dealing with the gambling industry, just like it has done with the banks. For these reasons and many more, I will be opposing the passage of this Finance Bill.

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