Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Penrose; ten minutes each. This budget is another insipid and uninspiring one from a Government that has been living on borrowed time almost since it came into being in 2016. Four budgets, backed all the way by Fianna Fáil, have now been presented by this Government but they have done nothing to move this country forward or to change much-needed approaches to housing or health. Instead, these budgets have been a stage production between the Government and Fianna Fáil, a production aimed at keeping the show on the road rather than carrying out the real work of transforming Ireland.

At the beginning of the Government's term, the excuses for this cosy arrangement was to avoid a so-called unwanted general election. In recent years, the excuse of Brexit has been used to keep this peculiar arrangement in place. All these reasons, however valid or believed, have ultimately run their course. This Government cannot remain in power and do nothing to fix the problems we face.

This is not a housing budget, despite there being a housing crisis. It is not a health budget, despite a crisis in our health system. This is not a childcare budget, despite the fundamental problems that exist in the childcare sector. In fact, this is hardly a budget at all. It is a statement of tepid and uninspiring measures aimed at keeping the political waters calm in advance of an election showdown between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. It is party before country, and the country continues to suffer.

I judge a budget by how it will affect the people I represent, the people of Fingal who I meet at the doors, in my clinics and on the street. This budget again fails my Fingal test. The main issue I am dealing with day in and day out is housing. It is the issue of our times but one would never know it with this budget. The housing allocation does not seem to recognise that Ireland has a housing crisis. For example, €1.1 billion was allocated for the construction, acquisition and leasing of only 11,000 new social homes. However, recent figures put the number of homeless in Ireland at more than 10,300, and it is consistently rising. The Economic and Social Research Institute estimates that new home building rates need to be between 30,000 and 35,000 a year to address and get ahead of the housing problem. Social houses are a necessary part of providing people with available housing, and the delivery of 11,000 new social houses will still fall short of meeting the social housing need. In addition, the Government has consistently failed to meet any housing targets it has set for itself. As a result, we do not have any confidence that it will reach its own inadequate targets in this respect. When the State does not step in to provide further housing opportunities, people are left to the mercy of the private housing market and subsequently find themselves in tenuous or short-term housing situations at best and unable to afford anything better. Overall, an attempt is being made in this budget to address emergency accommodation situations yet those who have housing but who are nonetheless in a vulnerable state are being neglected.

An additional €80 million has been allocated towards the housing assistance payment, HAP. However, that will primarily benefit private landlords and do little to relieve the situation of those using HAP. HAP tenants are limited by rent maximums and, due to ever-increasing rent prices, finding eligible tenancies is increasingly difficult, as all Members are aware. HAP is an important measure. It replaced rent allowance, which was a poverty trap for thousands of people. HAP, however, is not a long-term solution and including HAP figures in housing targets needs to end. They are not long-term, secure homes.

In general, this budget allocates money towards helping the homeless while falling short of helping those about to become homeless. The €20 million for homeless services will be distributed among emergency accommodation, prevention measures and day services. While some funding for emergency accommodation is necessary, these accommodations provide an insecure, short-term Band-Aid for the housing crisis. There must be an increased focus on more sustainable housing solutions for families.

Only €2 million additional funding has been allocated to the Residential Tenancies Board for investigating and sanctioning non-compliance with the rent pressure zone measures. The non-compliance with rent pressure zones by some landlords is a real problem and is the reason we need a national rent freeze. We did it twice in Government and it needs to be done again. No zones, no exemptions. A nationwide rent freeze is needed. We support it, as do many Members on this side of the House, but it seems that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil do not.

Overall, there is no comfort for those waiting for social or affordable public housing. Fianna Fáil says it is the party of affordable housing. The fact is that it is yet again supporting a budget and a Government which is placing the market front and centre to resolving the housing crisis. What is the reason for that? It is because that is what Fianna Fáil wants also. It is comfortable with a market-based solution because it is the party that gave the provision of housing to the market in the first place. The Irish Council for Social Housing described the budget as deaf to the demand for investment in public housing. That is spot on.

On health, we had many big numbers from the Minister. In any other Department that would be seen as positive. The current expenditure in health is set to increase by 6.3% in 2020. An additional €25 million is to be invested in the National Treatment Purchase Fund to reduce the waiting lists. There will be a €25 increase in the weekly income threshold for GP visit cards, prescription charges will be reduced by 50 cent and the monthly threshold for the drug payment scheme will be reduced by €10 per month. Medical card income thresholds for people over 70 are to be increased by €50 for a single person or €150 for a couple. Some €84 million will be allocated for mental health services. There is a plan to expand free GP care to children under eight and free dental care to under children under six.

We welcome many of these changes but, overall, only an extra €1 billion has been allocated to health in this budget. An extra €4.5 billion has been allocated since this Government came to office. Have we seen the benefit of that extra funding? Have we seen the accident and emergency crisis ended or reduced? We have not. Have we seen waiting lists diminish for occupational therapy or for youth mental health assessments and treatments? We have not. With all this money invested in health, why was the rehabilitative training grant cut in August? Can the Minister tell us where that money has gone? In terms of reform of the health service, I wish Paul Reid well in his work. The Minister is spinning this healthcare budget as the beginning of Sláintecare delivery, but it is not. It is another €1 billion into a system that is broken.

Childcare remains a huge burden for many parents. The costs are exorbitant and rising, and the childcare measures in the budget do not go far enough. In a so-called Brexit budget, childcare should be a priority. If a difficult Brexit causes unemployment, childcare will be essential if parents are to spend time retraining or searching for new jobs. Childcare has another element which the Labour Party has been advocating for, that is, investment in the workforce. Childcare is, in fact, early years learning. The practitioners in this area, who look after our children and grandchildren and who are entrusted with our most precious resource, are treated very shabbily. They are disrespected by a State that sees them as nappy-changers, not educators. That results in high attrition rates among staff in early years learning. They are overworked, underpaid and undervalued.

Many have to leave the industry to reskill due to injury and fatigue. I advise the Government to look at the Big Start campaign from SIPTU, which we fully support. It is a campaign of intellectual rigour. We need a vision for an early years learning system which prepares children for primary education, one in which workers are organised and respected. There is no reason we cannot have the best early years education service in Europe.

We have passionate workers who want to learn and want to be valued, but the Government is ignoring them and keeping parents in a state of financial hardship in this area. In Dublin, crèche costs can top €1,000 per month. That is yet another scandal which the Government is too shy to tackle.

The real kick in the teeth in this budget is the Government's decision to delay the increase in the minimum wage by 30 cent. This is mean and it is tone deaf to the real needs of low-pay workers in this country. What we need is a living wage but when we cannot even deliver a modest increase in the minimum wage it shows where the Government's priorities lie.

In my portfolio of defence, it is welcome to see an increase in the budget by an extra €32.3 million, roughly half of which will cover expected pay rises and the return of some allowances. There is also an increase in capital expenditure, which I hope will be reinvested in the barracks to improve the conditions in which Defence Forces personnel live and work throughout the country. However, it will not be enough. The State is so far behind in meeting the needs of our Defence Forces that while an increase is welcome, it will not go near enough to resolve the ongoing indignity suffered by our Defence Forces when it comes to pay and conditions. I will conclude on that point and share the remaining time with my colleague.

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