Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My colleague noted that some of her constituents have waited 33 months for early intervention but in my constituency, some people have waited 40 months. That is a long time for somebody to secure speech and language supports for a child, in view of the fact that during that period, the child will regress. Budgets are supposed to be transformative, to make circumstances better and to make positive changes in people's lives. The majority of people listening to the Budget Statement yesterday, however, will say it contained little for them or their families. It was short on ideas, policies and solutions. As my colleagues noted, it lacked vision and action that would address many of the crises that society faces and that are breaking our communities. It will not address the housing crisis or homelessness, nor do anything for the people I passed on my way to the House earlier who were sleeping in shop doorways. It will not do anything for those who are trying to pay rent, which continues to rise. Every day, people visit my office and ask where they can rent accommodation, but there is nothing in the budget for them. There is nothing in it for those trying to buy a home or those trying to secure a local authority house. As my colleague outlined, it will not address the health crisis or the waiting lists for life-changing operations, which are getting longer. For recruitment and retention in the health service, too, there is nothing in the budget.

While it will deliver for a small few and is certainly positive for bankers, vulture funds, developers, speculators, wealthy landlords and those who are on high incomes, it will not deliver for hard-pressed workers or their families. The Government had a choice: it could have created an alternative budget like that which we proposed. People watching the debate are probably frustrated, thinking it is the same all over again, but they have to realise that if they vote the same way, they will get the same results. There was great hope following the previous election, given that it was the first time Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were a minority but what happened has been much the same. They have worked together and the budgets have been much the same as ever. They have not tried to address the crises that affect people. Those at home watching the debate are probably pulling their hair out, wondering how they will pay their next bill. Children are back at school and I have talked to people who asked how they would pay for school uniforms. Some of them approached moneylenders.

The Minister for Justice, Deputy Flanagan, mentioned the additional gardaí but he needs to get wise. He needs to visit some of the communities we represent and see what is happening on the ground. There is open drug dealing, kids of seven years of age act as couriers for drug dealers, cocaine is freely available, and there is intimidation of families because of drug debt. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, mentioned the 700 additional gardaí but people will ask where they will be deployed and what they will do differently.

The budget lacks ambition, direction and gives little hope to families. Our alternative budget would have tried to address the rip-off costs faced by countless families with sky-high insurance premiums. People face expensive bills, extortionate rents, eye-watering childcare costs and rising back-to-school expenses. The Minister for Finance cynically used Brexit as an excuse to stand still in respect of the budget, with no attempt to address the problems facing families. While it is true we need to address Brexit, our alternative budget was much more ambitious, with a stabilisation fund of €2 billion compared with the Government's proposed fund of €1.2 billion. This morning I hosted a meeting with families from Border communities, who told their own stories and outlined the concerns they have about the impact that Brexit will have on their lives, such as a hardening of the Border. They told personal stories of what they have seen in their lives. We have a duty not to return to that because we have come too far.

We all have a responsibility to act differently. That is what budgets are about but I do not see that in the budget that was put forward. In light of the choices made and the direction taken, there is a lack of vision, ambition or solutions to the challenges facing ordinary people. In many cases, people will be worse off after the budget is passed and they must scramble around to try to deal with the challenges they face. There will be more of the same. Unfortunately, the crises faced by the people on trolleys or sleeping on the streets, or by the children going hungry in many communities, will remain the same. We have heard no solutions or ways to tackle those crises for families.

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