Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget.

I will start with the Department of Defence. Unfortunately, the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Kehoe, has left us, but he brought spin about his supposed €32 million. It is important to contextualise that, based on last year's budget but also on what the allocation is this year. According to the response to a parliamentary question, the savings so far this year on pay amount to €24 million. There also were savings on the capital allocation in the Department of Defence of €28 million, which brings the savings to €52 million. Therefore, in the budgetary allocation for Defence this year, €52 million has gone unspent while we have seen a considerable exodus from the Defences Forces because of pay and conditions, issues with accommodation, infrastructure and a general malaise and morale difficulties under the Minister of State's watch. It is shameful that the Minister of State speaks about apparent recklessness across this House when he has had a reckless tenure in the Department of Defence. He stood over the biggest exodus we have ever seen and he still sits there and defends the indefensible. The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, for example, has provided the percentage allocations. If one looks at the Department of Defence, the percentage allocation as a proportion of GDP has reduced, year on year. Last year, it was 0.29% of GDP. Next year, it will be 0.27% of GDP. That demonstrates how the Defence budget is shrinking compared to other allocations in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

I was surprised to see the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, thank the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. It should have been Deputy Donohoe thanking Deputy Kehoe because there is a return year on year from the Department of Defence to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The members of the Defence Forces will not be fooled by the roll-over that happens year on year where the Government will pretend to give them over €1 billion but actually will roll over last year's allocation into next year, as if one cannot do the sums. It is an insult to members of the Defence Forces that the Government pretends to hand a greater allocation to them when we know that is not the case.

Beneath the serious issues in terms of the macroeconomic allocation to Defence, the pay and conditions that have been well demonstrated and the general morale difficulties, there are other serious issues, for example, around accommodation. The Minister of State pretends that another €7 million will be thrown at that issue next year but if one looks at the Curragh Camp and at many of the barracks across the State, they have crippling infrastructure that is not being addressed. As for the abolition of the 4th Western Brigade, which was based near the constituency of the Acting Chairman, Deputy Eugene Murphy, in Roscommon and Westmeath, serious issues have arisen whereby the infrastructure is collapsing. The Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, will not achieve much success with his budgetary allocation for next year. We still have an allocation for a consultant psychiatrist for the Department of Defence but we have spent the past 12 months waiting for that appointment. Because of the failure to address the issues in terms of the appointment procedures, a psychiatrist has not been appointed.

The Minister of State will forgive soldiers and their families for scratching their heads when they know that over €50 million has gone unspent this year. When the Defence budget is an exercise in public relations, PR, and spin, in recycling previously recycled promises and of unspent millions of euro, the Minister of State is, yet again, misleading the budgetary allocation. It is magic promised money that I worry will never be spent to improve the pay and conditions of the serving men and women. In fact, the Minister of State was bragging again here in his five minutes and I note only five minutes were taken by the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, which demonstrates how little he has to say about the men and women he pretends to represent. The Minister of State has increased the pension allocation, not because the members of the Defence Forces are getting any more in pension allocations but because he is funding the exodus. When more are leaving and the turnover is greater, there is a greater necessity to fund the pension allocations. What was needed in this budget was significant investment in retention initiatives in order that one could fund issues related to pay and conditions to keep the men and women working in the Defence Forces rather than trying to increase the pension allocation, which is what the Minister of State has done again this year, not because any individual is getting any more but because the exodus will continue. Soldiers will be very disappointed, but even more disappointed that, beyond the shallow rhetoric and spin, there will be little delivery again in the Department of Defence next year.

There should have been consideration given - my party put it forward in its submission as part of the discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform - to have an independent pay review body to reflect the unique nature of military service. Members of the Defence Forces cannot strike. They cannot join a union. They are at the Government's beck and call when some other workers might strike and when they are called to deliver for this country or to deliver on our international obligations. That proposal was rejected by Fine Gael, which seems to have no interest in delivering for the Defence Forces.

I will move to other issues. It was important that the Government announced measures around the carbon tax and that we have hypothecation. It is important that a hypothecated fund is established in legislation so that it can fund specific measures related to carbon change and the just transition. However, as a member of the Joint Committee on Climate Action, I was extremely disappointed to see one of the committee's key recommendations, namely, a fuel poverty review, ignored and neglected by the Government. If key recommendations within the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment are to be ignored and neglected, we face a worrying future in terms of green policies. The Government should follow the letter of the recommendations rather than picking and choosing measures. We need to move beyond discussing a carbon tax but should also look at key other measures that could be delivered for people.

In terms of healthcare, we again saw the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, bragging about his bloated budget. Supplementary Estimates are required year on year, with Fine Gael pretending to be prudent but not being able to manage health spending. The key metric for healthcare is delivery. Waiting lists continue to expand, clinical front-line services are collapsing and we are not able to fill key positions across the consultant posts. The medical community was disappointed to be ignored, yet again, by the Fine Gael Government when it comes to delivering on filling the many vacant posts. As my colleague, Deputy Browne, mentioned, there are many people working in consultant posts who potentially are misrepresenting their level of training whereby they are apparent consultants but have not fulfilled the specialist training. Nothing will be done to change that next year.

The delivery in healthcare is about reduced waiting times. It is about increased diagnostics. It is about people who have profound disabilities getting access and intervention. We talk about cradle-to-grave healthcare, but in this budget we have seen no detail of how that will change for people with disabilities or with educational needs. We have people at the age of two or three who may wait five years for a key intervention in terms of occupational therapy, speech and language therapy or seeing a paediatrician for the first time. That is the key in this regard. When can the Government reduce the waiting times to deliver for people with disabilities? When can it reduce the need for people to be displaced and put on home tuition because the Government will not fund their needs within schools? Those are the key issues that have not been delivered in this budget.

I want to mention some other issues. This is a do-nothing budget when it comes to transport infrastructure. In my constituency, we have major capacity issues across our bus and rail network. It will be more of the same next year. More people want to change to public transport and use the existing capacity but when they have to launch themselves onto congested trains or watch buses driving past them, there is major disappointment. This Government seems to be ignoring the concerns expressed across the county of Dublin about the BusConnects project and the difficulties in terms of routes. An expert from London came before the Joint Committee on Climate Action. She was very surprised that Ireland is not integrating cycling facilities with rail and bus services. We are pursuing the singular BusConnects project rather than integrating a new public transport regime for the city.

The budget was overshadowed by Brexit. As a party, it was important that Fianna Fáil played its role in providing stability and a responsible approach. Even if we did not have Brexit to deal with, this Government had to retrench following its bloating of public expenditure. We have seen that year on year. There have been many promises about tax cuts and throwing money at problems but the issue the people have is that they are not seeing delivery in key areas. That will be the measure of this Government whenever we come to the ballot box.

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