Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. These fat cats will not be touched. They are wreaking havoc in our county. They will not allow any small farmer to exist. The farmers will not even go to the auctions. Farmers will not even go to solicitors or auctioneers to try to put the money together because they know they have no hope. It is a scorched-earth policy that we resisted from Oliver Cromwell and the landlords. We have a proud record of resistance in Tipperary, where the first shots were fired in the War of Independence and where we will celebrate the anniversary of the Soloheadbeg ambush in 2019. This is what we have now. The eerie silence and fear among people is shocking. The media will not cover it. Nobody wants to touch it because this is a glamorised, lucrative industry. It is all nice and glossy and it is big business but it is not being tackled. Questions can be answered by the relevant people. We know what is wrong.

Small business and SMEs are being crushed again. I welcome one part of the budget. I welcome the extension of the PRSI to the self-employed who will be able to make claims next year if they are sick. During the recession, the work available to many self-employed people collapsed. All of their employees rightly got their social welfare payments, but private employers could not get anything. Although this measure will not take effect until 2019, tús maith leath na hoibre. We need to support and nurture those people so that every second letter they get from Revenue is not threatening them with imprisonment if they do not pay within so many days. I support the retention of the corporation tax rate. We have nearly 5,000 foreign direct investment jobs in Tipperary. We need to keep those.

The Government has abandoned the tourism sector in its hour of need. The one little scheme the Government had was the 9% VAT rate for the tourism sector. These businesses are doing fine in Dublin. They can charge what they like because they have the population base and people flocking into the city cannot get any place to stay or live. However, in places like Naas and Kildare, the streets are empty at night. Buses and buses could be parked on them. Hotels are empty. They needed that 4.5% reduction in VAT. I could understand increasing the rate by 1% and flagging the intention to raise it further, but this is a smash-and-grab raid. I read the sector's employment figures into the record last night. The businesses have done the work. The visitor numbers and the additional revenue earned in the country because of that policy has been huge. The Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, is an east Galway man. He knows how badly this was needed in towns like Tuam.

Every town in the country is the same, apart from Killarney and Galway city. We do not have the footfall or the incentive to keep tourists. We have wonderful community efforts and endeavours creating greenways and blueways and trying to develop fishing or developing hillwalking in Tipperary. The Munster Vales is a huge organisation doing tremendous work under the guidance of Ms Triona O'Mahony. It is a three-county project covering Limerick, Tipperary and west Waterford. It is a great project but we cannot get the people to come without support for small businesspeople who benefitted from the 9% VAT.

The Government has abandoned climate change and shied away from it, but it is going to have to deal with it.

Agricultural and rural issues have been abandoned in their hour of need. We had a massive fodder crisis this year. It was very acute where I am as well as in east Cork, south Tipperary, parts of north Tipperary, south Kilkenny and east Waterford. The Minister told me the deficit was 20% and now it is only 11%. It is much more than that. Farmers made no second cuts. They are making them now, thankfully, but the crops are diminished. The Government has made no efforts in this regard. The IFA, ICMSA, cattle breeders and others begged us to do something about the suckler herd. It is evaporating in front of our eyes and the Government abandoned them in the hour of need. Those farmers wanted €200 a head, which was needed. The Government gave them €40, and there is so much red tape surrounding it that they will not be able to draw it down.

I refer to crime and justice. I said last night that the situation on that front is unbelievable. There was a lot of rhetoric and we have a new Garda Commissioner. I wish him well. The gardaí who are our front-line defence had their overtime restricted in September and face cuts for the rest of the year. There is no problem providing overtime for members in Dublin. Everyone is in gangs here in Dublin and the Government has to deal with them, but we are entitled to protection in our communities as well. The fear in rural areas is palpable. I salute the members of An Garda Síochána in doing what they do with the numbers they have. The cuts are just outrageous.

I refer to taxation and the USC. I certainly welcome the changes because they were needed. I welcome them but the change is too little and too slow. I welcome the restoration of the Christmas bonus and the payment increases in social welfare. However, there is a continuing situation here every year where the Government gives more to social welfare than to the working man. There is something badly wrong. We must make it profitable and viable for a man or woman to do a day's work. An honest day's pay for an honest day's work must be supported. The Government and the system are not supporting that. I met people in these Houses last night. They told me the budget gave €5 to people who have no work and €4 to the likes of them. That is wrong. I welcome the social welfare increases, but there must be balance and fairness. We must support the people who want to go to work. The Taoiseach is always talking about the fear agus an bean that get up early in the morning. However, he is not showing his regard for them. This is the fifth or sixth consecutive budget that does not support the man who wants to go work.

Many areas in the budget that leave a lot to be desired. The Government had golden opportunities to tax the fat cats. It failed and shied away from them. I welcome the policy on carbon tax. I did not want that applied to fuel because we are going to have fuel increases anyway, in spite of the fact that we have an energy regulator who is doing nothing.

The Government has not tackled the banks. It has not touched the receivership industry. I was contacted by a family in Fethard earlier. They live in one of four houses in a complex with all residents able to make their payments. The landlord who owns the property is in trouble with the bank and the houses are being handed to a vulture fund. That fund's staff will not even answer phone calls. The man who contacted me employs six people. His wife is self-employed in a different business. He pays his rent and wants to buy the house but he cannot get engagement. Just because the small developer - a small vulture one might call him - that owned the four properties did not pay his mortgage on his own house, they are being made to suffer and will not be allowed to engage with the vulture fund. The Government is allowing these entities to get away scot free. They are given carte blanche. The Government allows them to employ a third force, which is despicable. Mercenaries have been deployed, in some cases from Northern Ireland, to attack householders in their houses. They threw a 74-year-old woman out last week and broke her wrist. This is a Third World practice. It would not be tolerated in Dan Breen's time. It would not be tolerated by the men that fought for Ireland, and it should not be tolerated in our democracy that people are treated like that in this day and age. In many cases, gardaí are forced to intervene or to stand idly by while it is happening. It is totally wrong morally, physically and financially. Those people are being threatened and intimidated. They become sick, their families cannot develop to their full potential and the worry and strain is causing marital breakdowns and all kinds of mental health issues.

The Government just wants to ignore all that because it is cosying up to big business. What big business? We saw it last night. The big four accounting houses insisted that the Government amend the EU directive provisions in the House before midnight last night, because they have the power. I am talking about PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, and their ilk. Ordinary small certified accountants pay rates, taxes and wages and do not get any supports. These fellows, however, can walk into the right places, the right conferences, the right breakfast meetings, dinner and speeches and get their way. We saw that last night.

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