Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Three years ago we did an unusual deal with Fine Gael in the form of a confidence and supply agreement. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Scanlon and I know, it was not simple and the process has undoubtedly had its shortcomings. At the time, only one other possibility faced the country as everyone else ran away, and that was a second election that could have cost €40 million. A second election at the time would not have sorted our difficulties and there would have been much instability, with the possibility of a third election. Despite the difficulties arising from the deal and despite the Government failing on a number of matters, the stability brought by the deal was still important for the country. It was a unique arrangement but it had to be done at the time.

There are many shortcomings in this budget, and many issues I would like to have seen addressed are missing. The €2.3 billion allocated for housing will not solve the problem but we have made a major contribution to a solution. Affordable housing will not come on stream for a while but such housing will come. I acknowledge that the Government's policy on housing has been all over the place and not delivered. The issues of people paying high rent, homelessness and the associated stories are upsetting and heartbreaking. I am sure everyone in the House, irrespective of views and beliefs, wants the matter sorted.

There is to be an additional €30 million for homelessness services and €60 million in capital funding for emergency accommodation. That €90 million is a lot of money. It would have been better if we could have put it into long-term accommodation but the money is required now to ensure as few people as possible are left on the streets. The serviced site fund of €310 million, with co-financing from local authorities in supporting more affordable housing over three years, will be a help. I acknowledge the problem will not be solved overnight as there are many matters to be addressed in the housing sector. We must go back to local authorities being allowed to build, and I hope this is the first step in that direction.

There is a €17 billion budget for health, and despite the size of the allocation, we have the worst waiting lists ever. There are some terrible conditions in hospitals. In my constituency, the staff and patients of Portiuncula Hospital have been waiting for the 50 bed unit to get the go-ahead. It is shovel ready while there are desperate conditions at the hospital, which I have visited. The management, staff and patients will say that the accident and emergency department of the hospital is unfit for purpose. We must remember that everything is ready to go for that unit but the Government has not given the go-ahead. The hospital is vital to health services in Roscommon and Galway. We should remember that when the plug was pulled on the accident and emergency department at Roscommon University Hospital, commitments were given at the time that the next hospital in line, Portiuncula hospital, would get the money for extra facilities and upgrades to the accident and emergency department there. That has not happened but it must happen now as a matter of urgency.

I welcome the extra allocation of €20 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund. I accept that this will not solve all our difficulties or problems but I hope it will in some manner reduce the waiting lists. We can consider the inpatient and outpatient figures at University College Hospital Galway, with 50,000 people waiting on procedures. How in God's name will that be reduced sufficiently? I do not know. I admit there are many shortcomings in the health service.

I welcome that self-employed people will now be able to qualify for social welfare if required. Probably all the Deputies in the House have seen cases, especially with people in small or family businesses, where there may have been an illness or accident but the affected person could not get any form of support or relief. The measure being put in place now must be welcomed, and it is only right that it is to come about.

I will speak briefly about our roads and the absolutely ineffective stewardship by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross. He has not given county councils sufficient money to rebuild many damaged roads.

An enormous amount of damage was done in one part of my constituency in south Roscommon due to the inclement weather last winter and part of this spring. This area needs €11 million to bring the roads up to a proper standard. This is one part of the county. Despite all the damage done and the amount of money the local authority had to spend because of that inclement weather, nothing has come from the Department. The engineer and local councillors came to me in recent weeks and met the Minister and one of his officials but nothing came out of it. Many of those roads are approaching collapse and are certainly not fit to use so that matter definitely needs to be addressed by an injection of funds.

Agriculture is important in my constituency. The attempt to do something for the suckler cow sector has been very poor. Many of these farmers are struggling and cannot make money. Many of them are going to leave that sector, which is vital for the west, midlands and north west. The dairy sector is very important for the south and south east but the suckler cow sector is of immense importance in my part of the country. There are so many jobs in co-operatives, marts, agricultural stores and agri-machinery. There are hundreds upon hundreds of jobs that are connected to agriculture throughout the country and are vital so we must address the suckler cow scheme and fund it properly. While I welcome the commencement of some moneys in that regard, it is way short of what is needed to ensure this sector does not collapse.

I will address my area of responsibility, namely, flood relief works. We are being told there is an increased budget for that sector this year. I have not broken it down yet but, again, the slowness in getting any of those schemes, which are so badly needed to protect towns, villages and communities from destruction, up and running is very concerning. More storms are coming this weekend. Certainly the west and north west will be hit. Again, we go back to climate change and the necessity of addressing this issue and protecting people from some very violent storms and different types of weather patterns that we have previously experienced. The Government stands accused of not treating this matter seriously. We still have problems going back over recent years where damage was done. No proper drainage was carried out this year, which saw the driest summer in 15 years. No maintenance was carried out. The work on the Shannon and other areas was poor. Why is work not being done? It is essential that it is done. The Government needs to address this matter urgently.

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