Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for sharing his time. With the spectre of a no-deal Brexit looming in the near future, budget 2020 represents a responsible allocation of resources, given the need for us to prepare for the financial implications a no-deal Brexit will have on many sectors across our economy. It is unfortunate, therefore, that Government has found itself with its hands tied by Brexit, and unable to provide further investment in sectors such as childcare. However, to do so, given the current situation facing our country, would be ill considered, and I commend the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on his prudent and responsible approach to this budget. It will not set the world on fire and it will certainly not win an election, but sometimes that is not the purpose of being in Government. Sometimes the country has to be put before personal and party ambition. As we have seen in the past, unsustainable budget expenditure streams often come back to haunt Governments.

We have seen from previous Governments how working to ensure every citizen receives something in any given budget, without regard to the country's overall economic situation, can undermine the foundations of our economy as a whole. Therefore, I am pleased this Government has not done that. Last year, there was a suggestion we were not going to balance the books in the run-up to the budget and there were significant calls for additional expenditure, but that did not happen because the Minister did the right thing and stood by a commitment we gave years ago to balance the budget by 2018, which we did.

Given the time I have, I cannot touch on all aspects of the budget that was announced yesterday, but as the Chairman of the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, I have to mention childcare, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and Tusla. I am pleased the Department has a budgetary increase of more than €94 million for 2020, and within that €29 million has been allocated to Tusla, which increases its budget to €814 million. It is vital that children are protected and supported as a priority matter by this Government, and we must continue to build on the significant investment that has been made in the Department's budget.

It is unfortunate that we are coming from a place of such historical underinvestment when it comes to the funding for childcare, child protection and supports for families in this area. That is changing, although it will take time. I listened to my colleague on the opposite side of the House criticise the Department and the Government for their lack of investment in certain fields. To a certain extent she is correct. It is perfectly acceptable to make those points. However, the bottom line is that we went from zero to €1 billion in just a few short years. That has to be acknowledged. With the additional funding provided to the Department, there are now opportunities for us to ramp up additional supports for working families, as opposed to just social welfare recipients. That will be done through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs liaising with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to target families, particularly lower-income families. We have to do more because as we all know, those in the squeezed middle are still paying Celtic tiger mortgages and must be supported in rearing their children.

We must provide incentives for people to make changes to encourage climate action. I am pleased that we are working to introduce increased carbon taxes in a responsible manner, without overly burdensome levels of taxation. An increase in the carbon tax of €6 per tonne is very modest, notwithstanding what Deputy Aylward had to say. We are talking about an additional cost of €1 or €2 to fill a car with fuel, and from May onwards an additional cost of €4 or €5 to fill a tank of home heating oil. We are taking measures to ensure that those affected, particularly pensioners, receive additional supports by way of the energy allowance, formerly the fuel allowance. We must also continue to incentivise people to move from carbon emitting vehicles to electric and hybrid vehicles and disincentivise the use of carbon emitting vehicles in the first instance. That is the entire purpose of the all-party agreement of the Joint Committee on Climate Action and the Government's policy in this area.

It is positive that a further €20 million is being provided to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for homeless services, bringing total funding to €166 million in 2020. We must work to support people who are in emergency accommodation to ensure they can get a home, as well as working to prevent people from ending up in this situation in the first place. I also welcome the extension of rent pressure zones and the significant funds allocated to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide supports in this regard. I commend the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, who is rarely praised for the work he does. He has been working steadfastly for several years to get our housing output up to 10,000 units this year. Next year, the figure will be 11,000 and the following year it will be 12,000. It is very important that we acknowledge the €1.1 billion that has been allocated for this purpose.

In the same vein, I refer to a development on Monday that did not make headlines because of the budget, namely, the decision by Dublin City Council to halt the delivery of 2,000 homes in this city. I find it mind-boggling and frustrating that members of Dublin City Council have thrown out a proposal on ideological grounds, one which was approved by the previous council. This was nothing other than an attempt to garner votes for themselves at the next general election. It was a disgraceful decision and I very much hope the Minister will respond appropriately to it.

I am pleased that additional funding is being provided to the Land Development Agency for the provision of new affordable homes, and that investment is being provided for regeneration and development. I welcome the provision for the exercise of the Residential Tenancies Board's additional powers to enforce rent pressure zones and measures concerning the help-to-buy scheme.

I am very fond of constructive criticism because we do not have all the answers - nobody does. No party has a monopoly on good ideas. However, in regard to the criticism from the bench opposite, which comes while that party supports us in the passing of this final budget under the confidence and supply agreement, I must acknowledge the work of my colleague, Deputy Peter Burke. I refer to his study which showed that €4.35 billion in uncosted political commitments were offered to bribe the electorate into supporting Fianna Fáil at the next general election. We do not know where the money to pay for these commitments would come from. We do not know what will be cut or what increases in taxation Fianna Fáil is proposing to fund these uncosted proposals. The electorate has learned a great deal in the past ten years about budgets that spiral out of control, commitments that are made to everybody and yearly budget giveaways in the style of "The Late Late Show", with one for everyone in the audience. Without being overly critical of Fianna Fáil, which I appreciate has a job to do, we must have that conversation. If some people are disappointed by the budget because it did not put enough back in their pockets at a time of potential national crisis, maybe they need to evaluate what the budget is for. That applies to Members of this House as well.

I apologise for eating into Deputy Naughten's time. I commend this budget and thank all of the Ministers who have worked on it in recent months.

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