Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is it exactly. It is for votes, or the lack of votes. When it comes to education, it is very disappointing. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, has not got his slice of the pie, for whatever reason. He needs to come in and explain it. There is only an additional €190 million in funding, or less than 1% of the budget for education. When we strip out the increases for demographics, pay agreements and the already-announced capital plan, there is only an extra €119 million in resources for education. Across a budget of €10.7 billion, that is less than a 1% increase. That completely and utterly makes a mockery of the Minister's claims of a 6.7% increase in funding. Extra money was already allocated to hire more teachers and support staff to cover a growing population. It is called demographics. People watching are being misled if they believe there is a 6.7% increase. In reality, it is less than 1%.

There is no additional funding to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio at primary or secondary level, as my party proposed in our budget submissions. There is also no extra funding to genuinely deliver a free school books scheme. That would have cost €40 million. The Government is also not listening when it comes to higher level. It has not addressed the issue of student grants or reduced the student contribution in any way. We have a crisis in our primary schools. I have raised it here. In all of the schools where there are working principals across the country, it is unsustainable for them to work five days a week and also to ensure that 43 circulars, as was the number last year, were implemented. Those principals deserve to have one day of administration and they deserve to have that as part of this budget. I see €1 million is being allocated for "leadership". I hope that goes some way to addressing working principals because, otherwise I guarantee we will see them outside of the gates. On spending on capital in education, I have a serious concern about the 95 large scale projects being put forward. The Minister, through a sleight of hand, released plans for new schools a year or so ago. These were welcomed. The allocations given by Deputy Jan O'Sullivan a number of years ago, however, have in many cases not commenced yet. Where are they? I cite Coláiste Phobal in Roscrea as an example, which is probably the largest school in my county.

Turning to rural Ireland, we have the €53 million for the town renewal scheme. That is welcome but it is tokenistic toward rural Ireland if we divide it out. To be honest, this is a type of a makey-upy Department. It is not going to have the impact in rural areas that it should have because it does not have direct budgetary lines to be able to do that. We also need to have considered and targeted grants and tax measures to ensure we have viable businesses and communities in rural areas. When it comes to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Minister, Deputy Ross, who is absent without leave, there is €40 million for new roads and pavements across the country. Averaging that out across local authorities, it is pretty paltry given the cost of roads and pavement repairs. Perhaps we need to improve a few of these pavements because we will be pounding them again in a few weeks, I presume. It is paltry. Anyone who goes running around saying this money is going to solve issue of the rural roads, that are in the Minister's constituency and mine, is only deceiving people.

On travel behaviour, I have also spoken about Irish Rail. We have money for greenways in the measures for smarter travel. I acknowledge that. It is not enough. Measures to deal with the issues I spoke about concerning climate change and carbon are simply not there to the level required. There is lost connectivity in respect of regional airports. It is not getting a fair bang for the buck in this budget.

I will speak briefly about VAT on tourism and the change to 13.5%. I thought there would be some commensurate measures in this budget to help with the small, family-owned restaurants and businesses that are going to be negatively affected in rural areas in west Limerick, north Tipperary, Wexford, Galway, Sligo and everywhere else. How are we going to ensure that these remain viable with this sudden change? What has the Government done or what is it proposing to do to ensure that happens? The answer is nothing.

There is no way that the budget provisions for justice can ensure that the 50 recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland can be implemented. It is impossible given the timelines suggested by the commission. After everything we have learned about policing and justice in this country, surely the Government should be taking it seriously. I note that there is no provision for the use of ICT, in particular, CCTV, across the country, which is badly needed to combat increasing crime levels.

On business, I welcome the allocation of €10 million for the IDA property portfolio. I suggest that it should be targeted and not follow the along the lines of the 2040 strategy, which is a complete joke and should be shredded.

On housing, the measures introduced for landlords are incredible. So that the public is not deceived, the changes relating to interest that can be deducted by landlords for loans - up to 100% - means that landlords are now in a better position to buy property and houses than working couples, for example, a garda and an IT worker or a nurse and a teacher. Landlords are being incentivised by this change, and are now in a better financial position to buy a house than those couples. That is a fact. It is the reality of this budget. Is it any wonder that one of the first organisations to come out and welcome the budget today and to welcome this change was the Irish Property Owners Association? It is an example of Fine Gael targeting its core base.

We have heard much talk from Fianna Fáil about affordability and the measures to be brought forward. We have no detail on the proposals, however. How are we going to ensure that this subsidy is not just going to be added to the price of a house? What is in this budget for those who are renting? There is absolutely nothing for them. Where is the tying of rents to the consumer price index, CPI? It is nowhere to be seen. There must be a mass injection of capital into housing, as the Labour Party has proposed. Local authorities must be given the power to make compulsory purchase orders. The Kenny report must be implemented, and CPI-based rents must be introduced. That is what is required in the area of housing, but it has not happened.

The example of the infamous granny flat proposed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, shows what a mockery is being made of housing under this Government and is one of the best reasons for a general election, which I believe this budget is preparing for. He has espouse the idea at length. He has just announced that it is still in the pipeline; it is going to be tested out to make sure it is viable. It is going to be tested out on one property.

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