John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No doubt the focus of the budget was on Brexit and fairly large amounts were allocated to the various areas that will be affected directly by Brexit. Given the Brexit argument, which was used by Government to scare people and focus their mind on something that will happen generally to the economy while not addressing what is already happening in the economy, the Government probably has to that extent succeeded. If the cat had kittens, the Government would blame it on Brexit. That is the way people feel about it. The Government has used it as a cover.

In examining the budget expenditure, one must look at what else is happening in the economy to the people who we represent. Today, for example, is World Mental Health Day. Around this time, in Windgap, in County Kilkenny, a young 23 year old, who was in the care of the department of psychiatry, is being buried. There was another one yesterday in Kilkenny. I ask that the HSE, in the context of that €1 billion expenditure on the mental health system and the delivery of mental health services, investigate the department of psychiatry in Kilkenny and examine why the services are not being delivered in the way that they should to the people who need them today. There should be no more waiting lists in the context of mental health services. We do not have the personnel. We seemingly do not have the infrastructure to deal with the issues arising on a regular basis in this area and funding and investment in infrastructure is needed now. I would like to see the Government respond more adequately to these issues. Some €1 billion in a budget is simply not enough.

The general issue in the budget is that the system has not changed. The Minister allocates the same large amounts to the various Departments but the manner in which that funding is spent has not changed. We should be debating in this House - it would be a challenge for the Government to arrange this - the 900-page report of the Comptroller and Auditor General pointing out the failures of the State in terms of saving money, making money go further, getting value for money and reforming the systems of the State that allow so much overspending to go on unchecked.

We have a responsibility in the House to give leadership in respect of that reform. Instead of giving leadership through the various budgets the Minister was responsible for over the past ten years, he has simply funded the status quo, throwing money into the deep holes that exist across the economic structure of Departments representing the activities in this State. As long as that is the case, he will always have increased funding in every Department with very little outcome of which to be proud. That still goes on.

For example, it is reported that the Supplementary Estimate for health was approximately €350 million. The reality, as the Minister of State knows, is that it was far in excess of that and that services were cut back so radically in recent months, we had no occupational therapy services in Kilkenny and Carlow. People have been written to asking if they are still in need of the service. Having been referred to the service by the various medical people, it simply is not available. Where are the home help hours we were promised in the 2019 budget? All of those hours and services, and the overspend, will have to be caught up through the 2020 spend and the Government seems to have no bother telling people who need a service today that they will have to wait for six months or two years.

In the context of the budget, excluding the Brexit element, the Minister for Finance has failed miserably to provide what is necessary for the care of people up and down the country. He should be ashamed of some of the decisions he has made. For example, he refused to tax the vulture funds enough to take substantial money from them. He refused to tax the banks. He can give them a ceiling on their losses brought forward but the banks should be taxed. He should have considered that option. If he had and had taxed them, how much more could he have delivered then to the people? Would the building programme for education be affected the way it was if he had to tax those who have the most money and who can afford to pay?

The way the Minister treated the elderly, those who are on pensions, those in fuel poverty and those who have major issues in their homes was shameful. He refused to acknowledge all the debate that has taken place in this House not just last year but since Fine Gael first came into office nearly ten years ago. He ignored it. He refused to address the issues that were brought to his attention by various Members and he turned a deaf ear to them. That is not just foolish of the Minister but it shows disrespect for the fact that on this side of the House we have supported, against the wishes of some supporters and certainly mine, the confidence and supply arrangement. I believe that arrangement has given the Minister the flexibility to provide cover for the inadequacies and inefficiencies of some Ministers and certainly the Government as a whole.

The overspend on the children's hospital is talked about up and down the country. It is blamed for everything, but there are overspends in other areas and other things that happen in the economy where value for the taxpayer has not been secured. In this budget, the Minister heaped further costs on the haulage industry, increasing the cost of diesel and fuel. That means that when their costs increase at some stage, that will be passed on to the consumer again.

The Minister has done nothing to look at issues differently in that area. He has done nothing to prepare small businesses for the significant challenge that Brexit will bring to their door. He has added cost to everything. I acknowledge he increased the carbon tax but, as Deputy Lisa Chambers rightly pointed out, in rural Ireland that means there will still be no bus service and, therefore, people will still have to use their cars at a greater cost. There is an insufficient number of electrical points across the country to help people transition to a different type of vehicle.

In the context of cost, the V6 engine operating in most of the trucks hauliers use is cleaner than clean yet there is no recognition of that. Going the whole hog with this would mean that the truck would double in price. If we look at the small vehicles used by couriers and so on, we will see the same trend. There has been a doubling of the price with no real infrastructure to carry on the transition that all of us want to see. The Minister has not put a plan in place. He has not put the means in place for those hauliers. He has simply pushed down on the people who pay their taxes and on the people who cannot afford to opt for public transport because there is no public transport. He has done nothing in real terms to assist them to get out of the trap they are in.

I refer again to the older people in our society, those who rely on their pensions and those in poverty who were hoping for an increase. It is shameful that the Minister has not dealt with that issue because those same people are on hospital waiting lists. They are waiting for services that they need today, not tomorrow, and he has done nothing for them. The country's hospital infrastructure across is creaking and under pressure, and there has been no system change in that regard.

I urge the Minister to look at the system that is spending his money - the taxpayers' money - and to do something to ensure that we get greater transparency and accountability with value for the tax man.

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