Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I withdraw. In his speech yesterday, the Minister for Finance mentioned Brexit more than 30 times. He initiated a hard-Brexit fund of €1.5 billion to €2 billion, if required. Of course, it will be necessary in the case of a hard Brexit for the Government to try to alleviate the worst effects on the economy, people's jobs and livelihoods, but there is no plan set out to help those at the bottom who will be severely impacted by a hard Brexit. I am beholden to Social Justice Ireland, which provided figures showing that prices of imports from the UK that were hit by World Trade Organization tariffs would rise by 2% to 3%, raising the cost of living for the average household by between €892 and €1,360 per year. Food expenditure would be most severely affected. Those are the figures for the average household but those in the bottom three income deciles spend twice as much of their income on food as do those in the top 10%. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have gone out of their way to say there will be no supplementary budget but that is exactly what will be required to protect the poorest in the event of a hard Brexit. It is a disgrace that the budget contains no increase in basic welfare payments, in particular when Deputies received a €30 per week increase this year and are comfortable in the knowledge that they will get another €70 in 2020. It is a prudent budget for those on the ground but not for those in the Dáil who accepted those wage increases.

I will not comment on the housing and homelessness crisis except to say that this disgraceful situation has been normalised over the past five years. The amount spent on emergency accommodation has risen by 300% and €400,000 per day is spent to put a sticking plaster on the problem. Meanwhile, €1.5 billion goes to private landlords in housing assistance payments.

As with most aspects of the budget, there is a lack of transparency in relation to health. There is real concern that some of the increases announced will be paid for through cuts in other areas of the overall health budget. Mental health groups have said that €25 million of the €55 million allocated in 2019 has simply disappeared and I am very concerned that this will happen in other areas. Once again, there is no commitment to the €5 billion Sláintecare implementation fund.

Brexit uncertainty has kept this Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil Government in power for another year. The same Brexit uncertainty has been used to excuse a budget which fails to deal with real crises in our society. There is a great deal more that could be done. For example, the Comptroller and Auditor General reports in respect of corporation tax that among the top 100 companies, eight paid no corporation tax or less, five paid 0% to 1%, one paid 1% to 5% and seven paid 5% to 10%. Every year, €4 billion in tax foregone is provided through numerous tax breaks and there appear to be no reviews of their effectiveness in respect of job creation or investment increases. Real transparency in these areas is required. No mention has been made of a wealth tax. I refer to an article by David McWilliams, who is hardly a member of the so-called "loony left" or a socialist, in which he points out that Ireland now has the fifth largest number of ultra wealthy individuals per capitain the world. The top 1% owns just over 25% of all wealth in the State and the top 5% owns just under 50%. The gap is widening. A tax on the top 5% would bring billions in extra resources to deal with the problems in our society. I refer to a point I made earlier and say "Yes", I want to be in government as part of a movement for real change in Ireland.

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