Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my voice. I will start on the climate action agenda. Yesterday, the Minister announced that €90 million would be ring-fenced. The language used in the document was vague and non-committal. According to the document, the ring-fencing of that €90 million is to protect the most vulnerable, have sustainable mobility programmes, have agri-environmental schemes, and plan for a low-carbon future. Within that €90 million nods. were given to specific issues, such as €20 million for the midlands for a social housing energy-efficiency programme; €5 million for peatlands rehabilitation; €6 million for the just transition; €9 million for those so-called sustainability mobility projects; and €8 million towards the purchase of electric vehicles.

On the carbon tax, those of us who are members of the Joint Committee on Climate Action signed up to the 42 recommendations in the committee's report arising from the Citizens' Assembly deliberations. One of the primary recommendations was that if there was to be an increase in the carbon tax and if that carbon tax was ring-fenced, there would be no price increase until the Department of Finance carried out a study on the effects of fuel poverty, particularly for those who live in fuel-impoverished households, such that moneys could be made available subsequently to ensure that if retrofitting or energy efficiency measures could be carried out they would be done.

Nothing in yesterday's announcement gives me or my party solace that we will have any time soon a programme with a specific budget to upgrade the thousands of houses that need to be retrofitted. Instead all we got was the €20 million that was announced for social housing energy projects in the midlands. Nobody in this House - I am from Cork - would argue against that, but the €20 million as a starting point is woefully inadequate and too focused on one geographical area, notwithstanding that it is going to happen there. It needs to be broadened and we need to see the specific proposals for that €90 million to ensure that for every citizen who wants to spend money from savings or borrowings to have their house retrofitted, there is a scheme that will supplement the cost of retrofitting those homes if we are to meet the targets.

We have not had that study from the Department of Finance. While the Government pays lip service to the recommendations of various committees of this Legislature, it makes no genuine attempt to take seriously the recommendations of specific committees. This was an all-party recommendation. The Government needs to show greater urgency on what it intends to do on the issue of climate action.

I wish to speak to the issue of disabilities. All Members are inundated by constituents asking about the lack of proper respite facilities for people with intellectual disabilities. The vagueness of the language used in the expenditure report that accompanied the Minister's Budget Statement yesterday merely stated that €25 million would be made available for disability services.

There is a package of measures on the provision of ASD services and respite care for people with intellectual disability. However, again the language is vague and on respite, it simply states that the Government will build capacity and respond to the evolving needs of service users and their families. That is so vague that I do not know what it means. In budget 2020, the Government is referring to building capacity at a time all Deputies and Senators are inundated with requests from parents whose children have intellectual disabilities and who need respite and cannot get it. I am aware of one case where a family has not had respite in ten years for their son. What does that mean for them? It is meaningless language.

We want specifics on whether that family and countless other families can see in this budget something that gives them hope that their son or daughter arising from this budget will now get respite. There is a massive waiting list for ASD appraisals. We all have the waiting lists for our constituencies. Not only is there a waiting list for the initial assessment but the person is not guaranteed the services thereafter. That is causing massive stress. The language of the budgetary documentation is suitably vague. It states "Funding is being provided for an Autism Plan [. . .] to improve services for people with Autism and their families." What in the name of goodness has been going on for the past three years during the lifetime of this Government? Is it telling us that in 2020 there will be funding for an autism plan, when I am sure even the Taoiseach's office is inundated with requests from families for proper services for people with ASD and for people who need respite? I am not trying to score a narrow political point. There are resources available that could be deployed in a way that focuses on the individual families such that they can get access to respite in a decent and fair way to alleviate the stress they are under.

The narrative of education over the past few weeks has been about the compulsory teaching of history at junior cycle level. There will be a critique of whether that becomes a Trojan Horse for other subjects to have an equal case to be made compulsory. It overshadows the fact that there is absolutely no provision in the education budget for the reduction of the pupil-teacher ratio and more specifically, in respect of the provision of additional teachers to teach English as an additional language. There are over 26 languages spoken in a school quite close to where I live. That school is struggling to provide English language resources and does not have enough teachers to meet the demand. I am sure the same is true across the country. For a small sum in the overall education allocation, the Minister could have had a tremendous positive effect in ensuring that English as an additional language, EAL, teachers could be provided to give people who are part of our community the opportunities to learn English in a properly-resourced way in order that they can go about their business as citizens.

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