Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget. The budget was brought in yesterday. There are a number of issues I wish to address within the budget and within the framework of the Minister's budget speech. I will talk about social welfare. There was an increase in the social welfare package. I will address a number of issues within the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. The first is the huge delays in processing applications. Delays in other Departments may be seen as a cost-effective measure to try to reduce the cost of different schemes, thereby reducing the cost to the Exchequer. By and large, applications to these schemes which take 12 weeks, 14 weeks, 16 weeks and perhaps more to process are granted and then go back to the very start of the application form. The result is there is no saving of any description. This is particularly true of the carer's allowance. People make decisions to take on caring for an elderly relative or other family member such as a sibling who may need full-time care and assistance. To do so, they must give up their employment before they can make an application. They wait 14 weeks or 16 weeks for a decision to be made. It is not acceptable to take so long to process these applications. We have many more applications that are taking a great deal of time, sometimes 12 weeks or 16 weeks. Many people in the House fill in many application forms for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. They gain a huge amount of experience of applications proceeding through Departments and can advise their constituents. When applications are refused for some reason and a review is requested and new evidence is submitted, it should be done speedily. If a person appeals a case, one is facing a period of 12 months for the appeal to be heard. I had a very serious case recently. We went to our hearing and kept at it but it was almost two years before carer's allowance was granted to the applicant. First the Department said the person providing the care was not providing full-time care and assistance. When we got over that hurdle, the Department said the person looking for the care did not require care. It was clearly illustrated by the documentation submitted, which included medical reports and letters, that the case was absolutely above board. It took almost two years to complete the process of refusal, appeal and review. The person who was providing the care had no option but to provide the care for their relative. It is completely unacceptable.

Carer's benefit is paid for two years to people who come out of employment. It should be looked at. There is no doubt but that those who receive the payment are saving the State rather than costing the State. Sometimes the person they are caring for would otherwise have to go into full-time institutional care which costs €900 or €1,000 a week. The carer's benefit is only around €200 a week. There is a saving and the scheme needs to be looked at. The Department should look seriously at making sure there is a speedy decision made on applications.

The other issue is the farm assist payment. This year, accounts from 2017 will be looked at. Everybody knows 2018 was a very difficult year for farming. The eligibility criteria for people working in a partnership must be looked at. I am working with the Department to try to resolve a very challenging case. There should be recognition of situations in which partnerships are genuinely above board but do not fall within the remit of any of the Department's rules or regulations.

We have raised the issue of insurance in the House. We tabled a motion on insurance. Last week, we debated Deputy Kelleher's Bill on insurance. Insurance is at crisis point. I have met the Business Insurance Reform Group, led by Michael Hourigan from Newmarket and Declan Ryan from Kenmare, many times. They put huge effort into it and have gathered businesses around the country to explain the difficulties they are having with insurance. Some of the small businesses, hotels, restaurants and others in the hospitality industry are telling us there is only one underwriter and that enormous, if not extortionate, premiums are being sought. The other issue is the book of quantum. Some people only find out a claim has been made against them when they renew their insurance policy and it is increased because a claim has been paid out. As the old saying goes, the person who pays the piper calls the tune. In this instance the insurance companies are settling with the people who are making claims without ever referring back to the person who has the policy. A lot of work needs to be done on that. There is some give but the Government needs to show more sincerity in tackling the insurance industry. It is a massive issue which affects every aspect of life. Lately voluntary organisations that are organising charity walks, for example, or Christmas lights are having massive issues and events are being cancelled as a result of issues with insurance. The Government and the Dáil needs to highlight the issue of insurance and it affects all facets of society, including car owners, homeowners, communities and businesses. It is a major issue.

Storm Ophelia occurred in October 2017 and between then and the middle of August 2018, a variety of challenges faced the agricultural community. We had a very bad wet fall of a year. We had a very difficult spring. We had a very difficult summer in many parts of the country. Farmers are at the end of their tethers and they have invested very heavily particularly in the dairy industry over the last while. Farmers have been making decisions to build a business around agriculture to provide the raw material that drive giants such as Glanbia and Kerry Group and the massive number of exports we have and the jobs we have in rural communities. It has to go back to the primary producer, which is the agricultural producer. The advice from the organisations providing advice to farmers changes. The advice was that farmers could borrow €4,000 a cow to extend their herds. I am talking about 2015 when the quotas were abolished. We are now in 2018. I do not think there is anybody who could stand over those figures at this point in time. It simply was not a sustainable figure. Many people who took that figure are in serious difficulty today. We have to have sustainable agriculture and sustainable food production, whether that is on the west coast or the east coast. It has to be sustainable. There have been international shocks. We are a globalised agriculture industry. If there is a drought in Ukraine, further shortage in the UK or a bounty of a harvest in the US, it will affect farmers in north Cork and other parts of the country. It is a global industry. We have to make sure the advice going to farmers is that it is a sustainable industry and one in which farmers can enjoy a reasonable return for their labour.

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They work extremely long hours and it is challenging work. They faced many challenges last year. Many bills have to be paid to keep the agricultural industry going and the profits will be well back in 2018. The advice has changed on the renting of land to get experience. We have to be very sure of our ground in respect of agriculture. The massive crisis that is approaching in respect of Brexit and how that will pan out will have a detrimental effect on how we go forward. Agriculture needs to be considered. By and large farmers have committed to pay banks or other creditors, the co-operatives or merchants on the day the payment is due. Consequently, there should be no delays in that regard. There is anecdotal evidence from farmers that if they overclaim for a minute piece of land with a bush growing on it, even it is 0.01 of an acre and id the farmer challenges that, the payments will be held up. I have heard all the stories. The payment should only be held up for that amount of land not for the bulk of the land. They are being told that if they do not sign a document they will get no money. That has to be reviewed because many people have talked to me about it. The agricultural consultants, whether private or from Teagasc, do not defend them because if they do, that will delay the payments and farmers cannot have that. We have to be serious about it. We need to make sure the agricultural industry is sustainable because it is the backbone of rural communities.

We talk constantly about rural Ireland, services and everything else. There is a large cohort of people who want to live in rural communities. Massive educational services have been built up there over the years, with national schools and post-primary schools. We want to make sure the sporting and community infrastructure and the community spirit in rural Ireland are vibrant in the future. We have debated planning permission here to ensure that planning is available. Fianna Fáil Members had a very serious meeting this afternoon on planning permission. If we do not give planning permission to young couples in rural communities we will be devoid of people. There will be no young people in schools or in rural communities. We have to decide whether we will have Ireland on the east coast or around the country. Planning permission is very important for that. Heretofore we have not dealt with it. There has been massive growth in the east. One could almost draw a line up the middle of the country dividing the west and east coasts.

There are significant challenges. We have talked about post offices, shops and businesses but many people want to live in their communities. In 2002 An Taisce was before the environment committee talking about the nonsense of having once-off houses. People who have been given planning permission since then contribute enormously to their communities, whether through active involvement or through the basic family infrastructure or the social support given by families to elderly parents or brothers and sisters who might need help. We have to take this seriously because all kinds of experts tell us all kinds of stuff but we need social cohesion and in the past the rural fabric served the country extremely well and we have to make sure we keep that alive.

Over the past few years, particularly in 2016, we talked about respite care for people with disabilities. I posed several questions on promised legislation and was told that in 2017, it would be better. The respite care that was flagged for 2017 has not been made available. In 2015 and 2016 people were told home care or shared care packages would come on stream the following year but when the service providers go to the HSE, there is no money available for the package. The disability sector is under severe pressure. The waiting list for young people to get assessments and therapies is non-existent in some areas. Last week on the Order of Business, I mentioned St. Joseph's Foundation and what it has to do to balance its books. Returning to the topic of insurance there is only one underwriter in the country that underwrites the insurance industry for the disability sector. I refer to section 39 organisations which provide the services that the State would be obliged to provide. Through the foresight of Dr. Martin O'Donnell and others 50 years ago, these organisations were formed to provide care in the communities for people with disabilities. There is great credit due to the voluntary organisations set up under section 39 of the Health Act 2004. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to ad lib, as he did last Wednesday morning, by saying the block grant has been increased by 28% for these organisations when he knows in his heart and soul that a great deal of extra services are needed. For example the insurance bill for St. Joseph's Foundation has increased from €140,000 to €560,000 plus, because only one underwriter in the State will provide the insurance for those organisations. They are seriously challenged in trying to provide the best resources because of increments, transport costs and so on. It is not good enough to say they are private organisations and the way they manage their money is different because they are providing State services. While this vehicle may have been set up 50 years ago, such organisations need the same level of funding as State services. There is no doubt but that the State Claims Agency should be supporting them. The only way to make sure there is a proper balance and that they do not pay extortionate insurance premiums is for the State Claims Agency to do it. That measure should be considered.

There are other problems for the viability of rural towns, such as broadband. The Government has announced many schemes for housing such as repair and lease and enhancing houses in villages. They are not working. They are not bringing towns and villages back to life.

Various Departments made statements to the effect that there would be an increase in home help hours. They are trying to roster people in shifts from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. I speak from deadly serious personal experience, the home help service is one of the best services in the country. It adds a great deal to the quality of life of elderly people. There is a change proposed now. Ever since the service started in the late 1990s, there have been many attempts to change and challenge it but it has proved year after year to be an excellent service. It is hard to imagine that the contracts are to be changed. That will cause a major problem.

Someone diagnosed with cancer, no matter what grade, will be financially challenged and should be given a medical card for six months.

There should be an automatic entitlement to a six-month medical card. I refer to what people have to go through to fill in forms and meet the challenges of getting the card. They are worn out by the time they have started chemotherapy or radium treatment. I know of many patients who were worn out from trying to get the medical card. The solution is for patients who have cancer to be granted medical cards for a six-month period. Please God they come through the treatment but this would ensure they are given support through the medical card system. There are many more issues we would like to deal with but I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his indulgence.

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