Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government has made a lot of noise about how this budget is about two things, namely, Brexit and climate. Let me say right here and now very clearly, this budget is not a climate budget. It is nowhere near a climate budget. It is a further tinkering around the edges when it comes to climate action, instead of the wholesale changes we so desperately need in every area of Government policy. The Government is so concerned with the €90 million it intends to raise through increasing the price of carbon, that it honestly seems to think that is all the climate action it needs. The Government honestly seems to think that €90 million and a cycleway here or there is all that is needed to tackle the climate crisis, out of a budget of €70 billion. Frankly, it is embarrassing.

Carbon pricing is an essential part of what we must do if we are serious about curbing emissions but it must be done in a fair way. It would be much more progressive and fair to raise the carbon price as the Green Party proposed and as was recommended by the ESRI, by returning every cent raised back to the pockets of every person across the country. That would have been a much fairer way than the approach the Government has taken, and would have ensured that we begin on a road to curbing our carbon emissions, while protecting many of those who would be most affected.

The Government has provided €1.2 billion for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, with further moneys, as required. Where is the similar scale of urgency for the climate emergency? Where is the similar level of urgency for the biodiversity emergency? Where is the similar level of urgency for climate justice, for reshaping our economic model to value social and caring work, to reduce income and wealth inequality as we move towards a more sustainable, less wasteful, more caring economy?

The Minister was right in one thing yesterday; there were no surprises in this budget. Given Fine Gael's record over the past eight years in government on climate, we did not expect much. We dared to hope, but with its record we knew it was a slim hope. The Minister made good on his promise. There were no surprises. I will give him that. In the entire budget there was not one truly ambitious move on climate. Just as expected, there were no surprises there. There was no change of direction in housing, no indication the Government is moving away from its private market-based approach that has not been working. There were no surprises there. There was no scale of ambition in transport, education, health, social protection or any Department at all. No surprises means no ambition. It was a status quobudget from a status quoGovernment.

We do welcome some individual measures, such as the increase in the qualified child allowance. That is something we sought, albeit on a greater scale. We also welcome the increase for lone parents. It is something, but it is far from where it needs to be. However, on climate, there was so little. The just transition commissioner is welcome. For that reason, it is all the more surprising that Fine Gael had little or no interest in our comprehensive just transition legislation, which was before the House only a few weeks ago. The Minister indicated that it would meet a death through the dreaded money message. There is so little for protecting biodiversity. A total of €5 million was allocated to peatland restoration. If the Government was serious about climate, it would be ten times that amount. A total of 2% of the spend on transport was allocated to cycling. It is astounding that we are still only at 2% for cycling. We should be making it easy for children to cycle and walk to school and for people to feel safe to take that alternative, but only 2% was allocated to cycling. The same goes for the lack of ambition in afforestation and retrofitting. Meagre steps in the right direction will not cut it any more.

While it might be a Brexit budget, or rather a take-cover-under-Brexit budget, there is no certainty for people and SMEs in the measures provided. There is no clarity. It is deeply disingenuous and insulting to all of the students and schoolchildren who have campaigned and gone on strike for climate, to call it a climate budget. Likewise, for all those taking part in the Extinction Rebellion protests, and most importantly, for the future generations of people in Ireland and around the world who will have to deal with the fallout of the State's inaction on climate on days like today.

Not alone is there no ambition to deal with climate change in the budget, there is no ambition in the budget for education. While the new allocations for special educational needs are to be welcomed, there is not enough in this budget to view education as a priority, to provide for the future and to invest in children. Schools are struggling because of capitation funding cuts and are losing teachers to pay inequality. Parents are struggling under the weight of back-to-school costs. Once again, the Government has neglected the ongoing crisis in third-level education funding. Universities are in crisis, while students across the country are grappling with the second-highest fees in Europe, a skyrocketing cost of living, housing issues and lack of transport. There is nothing in the budget to help students to break down the barriers. There is no real increase in funding for higher education, and no extra supports for students.

The opportunity to use the human capital initiative for green skills development is also a missed opportunity. Educating young people for the new green economy is an essential step and it was missed in the budget. That leads on to the fact that there is no real ambition in this budget on housing. Once again, the failure to adequately engage in the provision of affordable housing options and to stem the tide of families being made homeless is brutally apparent.

There has been no change of tack and no change of course, while there is no security for renters. It is just a continuation of a plan that evidently is not working and has not been working for years. The Government continues to rely on the private market to deliver homes for sale and rental without tackling the issue head-on. It is not providing the level of funding needed to build social and affordable housing. It is also failing to invest in the cost rental model on the scale proposed by the Green Party that would truly protect renters. Continuing the help-to-buy scheme without addressing the underlying problems of affordability and supply is going to keep young people shackled to mortgages for unaffordable homes. As a result, they will be at risk of interest rate increases and subsequently paying large amounts of their income in mortgage repayments.

There is no ambition for health services in the budget, certainly no ambition for mental health services. Students and young people are suffering intensely from the lack of provision of adequate mental health supports. At a time when young people are under more pressure than ever because of high fees and soaring rents, most are having extreme difficulty in accessing counselling and psychotherapy services on campus. Outpatient waiting times for CAMHS are shocking, especially when one thinks of the urgent need of young people in crisis. Only 68 more staff are in the mental health support services of the HSE today than in 2009. More than 2,500 children are waiting for mental health services, while more than 8,000 people are waiting for primary care psychology services. However, we let them wait. The Government continues to let them wait in agony. It is not only the people directly concerned who are suffering with mental health problems but also their families. They have to watch them suffer without being able to help. Shame on the Government. However, this comes as no surprise after eight years of Fine Gael in government. This is a meek, ineffectual budget delivered just when Irish people are taking to the streets and raising their voices to seek change. We need change and action, but this budget will not bring them about.

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