Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

This is a shameful budget. It is deeply regressive, unjust and socially unfair. It exacerbates the rich-poor divide in our society. Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance in government, supported by Fianna Fáil, are pursuing a deliberate policy of favouring a golden circle of the rich and powerful in our society. The budget and Government policy are prefaced by the dishonest claim that the country is in some way badly off. Of course, this could not be further from the truth. Ireland is the eighth richest country in the world. We know that Irish super rich individuals are awash with money. They have made billions out of the crash and the selective recovery. In the budget the Minister has not taken a ha'penny in tax from their obscene wealth. The budget is shameful on the part of Fine Gael, the Independent Alliance and Fianna Fáil. While almost 4,000 children are being irreparably damaged in their formative years in emergency accommodation, this country has the fifth largest number of ultra wealthy individuals per capitain the world, according to a recent wealth study. A total of 2,055 super rich people in the State have wealth in excess of $30 million each. They do not pay a penny in tax on this wealth. The study shows that there are 421 super rich individuals per 1 million adults in the State, placing the Republic ahead of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Germany and Japan and behind only the tax havens of Hong Kong, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore.

We also know from the study that the top 10% of wealthy individuals own 58.4% of all wealth; that the top 5% own 46.4% of all wealth; and that the top 1% own 27.3% of all wealth. Referring to this in a recent article in The Irish Times, David McWilliams wrote:

Imagine we decided to introduce a sliding wealth tax of between 0.5 per cent and 5 per cent on wealth, on the top 1 per cent or top 5 per cent ... the State could raise close to a maximum of €20 billion (5 per cent on the top 5 per cent) or a minimum of €2 billion (0.5 per cent on the top 1 per cent).

We also know that the financial assets of the richest 10% are now approximately €50 billion above the Celtic tiger boom level in 2006. This country is very wealthy and has significantly wealthy individuals. We also know, on the other hand, that life on low income is the norm for large numbers of people in Irish society. One in every six lives on an income which is below the poverty line. Based on recent CSO data, that corresponds to a total of 760,000 people. We know that child poverty is the reality for one in every five children in the State, or about 230,000 children, a stark statistic which raises major questions about fairness and progress. Some 110,000 of the working poor are working but living below the poverty line. We know that 44.5% of one-parent families have experienced deprivation and that 28% of the population experience fuel poverty.

The budget makes families on low and middle incomes, pensioners and social welfare recipients pay for climate change and Brexit, while the obscenely wealthy get off scot-free.

The question of climate action and carbon tax is referred to frequently in the Budget Statement. There is no doubt but that, in the words of the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, the house is "on fire". The evidence is clear and irrefutable that the climate is changing owing to human activity. The Government seemed to recognise this in declaring a climate emergency earlier this year, but it has proved that it is not to be trusted in an emergency because it has taken absolutely no meaningful action to avert the crisis. It is similar to its heartless inaction in dealing with the housing and homelessness crisis where it has proved to be worse than useless, in allowing the homelessness figure to rise to over 10,000 for the first time in our history and a generation of children to grow up in hotels, guesthouses, hostels and bed and breakfast accommodation. It is incredibly cynical of the Government to declare a climate emergency and then take almost no action whatsoever. There is no doubt that its climate action plan lacks real credibility. Its decision to block further debate on the Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018 for the duration of this Dáil by invoking the money message procedure is an ill-founded and undemocratic abuse of parliamentary procedure.

There are plenty of meaningful and effective initiatives the Government could enact to help to stop climate chaos, but it has come up with another tax, the carbon tax, which is unjust, unfair and deeply regressive. It is also a tax which serves largely to penalise low and middle income families and people living in rural Ireland, particularly those who have to travel to work by car. When both members of a couple are working but cannot afford to buy a house, how does the Government believe taxing them further will help them to provide for themselves and their children, which is the key tenet of sustainability? Public transport, consistent with the standard needed in commuting to work and school, is not available in much of Ireland outside the greater Dublin area. Surely this is a rudimentary necessity to reduce Ireland's carbon emissions. Proper utilisation, staffing and upgrading of the existing rail network is of urgent importance. The downgrading and elimination of bus routes throughout the country because of "rationalisation" are shameful in the face of this crisis. Having car pool lanes in highly congested areas, similar to the extremely effective quality bus corridors in operation in Dublin, which would discourage single occupancy of cars, is another simple measure which could be taken. What about providing free public transport? This option should certainly be considered. In my constituency, Tipperary, thousands of residents travel to work every day to neighbouring centres such as Limerick, Shannon, Waterford, Dungarvan, Galway, Athlone, Carlow, Kilkenny and Cork city. Just as many travel to work within the county, while thousands travel into the county to work. There is no alternative to the motor car. Instead of taking several billion euro from the very wealthy to provide cheap, or free, and frequent public transport to reduce carbon emissions, the first thing the Government does is put an extra tax on workers in the name of climate change. It will now tax a person travelling to work from Carrick-on-Suir to Kilkenny, something people do every day, having recently allowed the semi-State bus company to axe the route. The issue of transport needs to be dealt with to deal with the effects of climate change.

There is no justification for the freeze on social welfare payments in the budget. No general increase is provided for. The last time this happened the excuse was the banking crash, now it is Brexit, but the political representatives of the wealthy in our society will always find an excuse to further enrich those who are already wealthy and to oppress the poor. Social Justice Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul called for an increase of €8 to €9 per week in social welfare payments. It was to cover people like the 760,000 who live below the poverty line, the 110,000 working poor and the 230,000 children living below the poverty line. They have seen nothing but a freeze. There is no increase in child benefit. Social welfare recipients and pensioners have seen a cut in the budget. The value of their payments will be reduced by inflation and it could be significant, depending on the type of Brexit that transpires. There is a €2 per week increase in the fuel allowance, which is supposed to be related to the carbon tax, but it will only affect one in five families. The working poor will get nothing. There is no reference to the minimum wage, while there should be proposals for the introduction of the living wage. There is no justification for the cuts in and the freeze of social welfare payments. That is an indication that the small men, those on welfare payments and low and middle incomes, are paying the price for Brexit and the carbon tax.

There is only a token nod of the head towards the Sláintecare commitments. Next year there will be a continuation of the terminal crisis in the health service, in trundling from day to day, with hundreds of patients on trolleys in corridors and hundreds of thousands on waiting lists. There are more than 500,000 on outpatient waiting lists, 100,000 of whom are waiting for more than 18 months. There are serious delays in carrying out cataract, hip and knee operations. I heard recently of a hospital which had indicated that a urology procedure was urgent but that the delay was 48 months.

I welcome the increase in the limits in qualifying for a medical card for people older than 70 years, but there has been no general increase in the limits in qualifying for a medical card since 2006. Some 25% of those living below the poverty line do not qualify for a medical card. That should be changed immediately. The Minister bragged that the HSE had halved the budget overrun of last year, but he did not tell us that it was operating a moratorium on the appointment of staff, that thousands of posts were unfilled and that there was a moratorium on increasing home help hours. Every day individuals and families contact me and, I am sure, other Deputies seeking home help hours, which are refused daily. The result of the moratorium is the understaffing and under-resourcing of services.

There is little or nothing in the budget for disability services. A number of people and families who care for children with disabilities have already contacted me, disturbed and upset that disability services have been effectively overlooked in the budget. Such families have to fight continually for services for their children with disabilities. I welcome the increase in the number of special needs assistants, SNAs, but I ask the Minister to ensure there will be a quick procedure for the approval of the posts. Last week I asked a question about providing SNAs for a special school in Cashel. The application was made last March, but a decision was made only last Friday. That should not have happened and the issue should be addressed.

On housing, the budget simply continues the failed policy of the Government, a policy that has created a housing emergency and led to approximately 110,000 people on waiting lists, whether on local authority waiting lists or in receipt of the housing assistance payment. Even these figures are not correct, given that thousands of families, because of the reduction in the income limits for local authorities, find themselves unable to qualify either for the local authority waiting list or a mortgage. As a result, such persons throughout the country will have to pay high rents, which have gone through the roof in recent years. That is what happens when Government policy on public housing is reliant on the private sector. I recall that when the policy was introduced by a Fianna Fáil Government in the early 2000s, I was a member of South Tipperary County Council. I noted at the time that it would create severe problems down the road and, unfortunately, that is what has transpired. We need a declaration of a housing and homelessness emergency and the urgent building of public housing on public land.

Education seems to have been almost forgotten in the budget. I do not mean just at second or third level but also at primary level. It appears that the issues of class sizes, capitation and leadership in primary schools have been completely ignored by the Government.

There are other areas in the budget on which I would like to comment, but I do not have enough time to do so. The recruitment and retention of members of the Defence Forces are creating severe difficulties, as are childcare provision and the payment of a living wage to childcare professionals providing services in childcare centres throughout the country.

As I stated, the budget will ensure ordinary people, pensioners, families on low and middle incomes and social welfare recipients will be forced to pay for climate change and Brexit, while people in our society who are significantly wealthier will get away scot-free. The latter should be made to pay their fair share.

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