Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a Brexit budget. We in Fianna Fáil agreed to three budgets under the confidence and supply agreement. Because of the situation in Westminster and the UK's decision to exit the EU, we have had to allow this budget through the Dáil. It has been a bitter pill for us to swallow because we are very unhappy with much of the performance of the Government in recent years in key policy areas. We look at our television screens and see the chaos and instability in Westminster. The saga moves on. One thinks there will be a deal one day and then not the next day. The impact of a no-deal Brexit on our economy and on Government finances cannot be underestimated. It is for that reason that Fianna Fáil will allow this Finance Bill to pass. We have acted extremely responsibly in allowing this to happen. It is not easy for us because this Government is failing in so many key areas.

Various independent expert bodies have predicted up to 60,000 job losses and a hit of €6.5 billion to the economy. The political ramifications for the peace process could be immense. Fianna Fáil has ensured that budget 2020 will support the sectors and industries that will be most impacted by a crash-out Brexit, including agrifood, tourism and small and medium enterprises.

I want to talk for a minute about the €100 million package given out before the local elections to try to boost Fine Gael performance in those elections. Today alone, three farmers rang me and said that while they had applied under this €100 million package, they were withdrawing their applications because of the stringent conditions attached to the scheme. More than 14,000 farmers would have been eligible to apply for that €100 million scheme except for the various conditions the Minister attached to the it. I have never before seen such a stringent scheme, designed to keep farmers from trying to recover the losses that they have incurred because of the Brexit uncertainty.

One man contacted me who, because he was not quality assured or in GLAS, was excluded from applying for this scheme, even though his land is designated and he is in a hen harrier area with all the restrictions that brings.

A total of 13,200 dairy farmers had cattle that were eligible for the scheme, but again the Minister saw fit to exclude them with discrimination that has never been seen before in an aid scheme. The end result of all these various discriminations the Minister put in place was that we failed to distribute the €100 million. At most, €78 million of that money will be distributed to farmers who have suffered substantial losses in the period from September to May. There has been no scheme announced and, unfortunately, cattle prices have dropped by 30 cent to 40 cent per kilogram since the cut-off point of the middle of May. We have had no scheme announced to try to replace some of those huge losses farmers have incurred in that time. We expect the Government will bring forward a scheme in collaboration with Brussels to ease some of these losses. When the next scheme is designed, I hope it is not as discriminatory or unfair on farmers as this one was. Farmers suffered significant losses from being kept out of the scheme.

I mention health and the performance of the Government on health. Like the previous speaker, I will focus on mental health and on the complete lack of mental health services in County Tipperary. A young lady comes to my constituency office who has tried to commit suicide on three occasions. Her psychiatrist recommends a specialist course for her. That course is available in Limerick, but because she has a Tipperary address, she is excluded from gaining admittance to that course. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century in this country, a person's address can exclude him or her from admittance to a mental health course, and she urgently needs that course. The mental health budget the HSE has for my area is for the mid-west, but people in north Tipperary and Clare are deemed to be second-class citizens and are deprived access to courses available to people with a Limerick address. I do not begrudge the Limerick people who have need of these services as well, but it is impossible to comprehend why Tipperary and Clare people cannot get on the waiting list for these psychiatric courses. We have no psychiatric bed in our county, and it is a large county.

As has been said, the St. Michael's unit in Clonmel was closed in 2012 by the previous Government, of which Fine Gael was a part. We have had numerous promises that it will change and Tipperary will get extra beds. I was elected to this House in February 2016, and shortly after being elected we were promised we would get a Jigsaw project in Tipperary. Nearly four years later, we are still being told it will come next spring. Next spring will definitely come but I am not sure the Jigsaw project will come to Tipperary, because after so many false dawns, I will only believe it when I see it. A Jigsaw project will not solve our mental health crisis in Tipperary and the lack of services, but at least it would be a start, and it would be a cornerstone on which we could build and try to improve our lack of mental health services. A mental health clinic in my town has a catchment area of 34,000 people, but there is no psychiatrist or occupational therapist in that clinic. It is a clinic in nothing but name. It is another symptom of the complete lack of resources we have for mental health.

Before I leave the issue of health, Tipperary people constantly have to go to the two most overcrowded accident and emergency departments in the country, namely, South Tipperary General Hospital and University Hospital Limerick. Both of them are chronically overcrowded. There was a great fanfare about the 1 million home care hours that were announced in the budget. They are welcome and they are a help, but we had more than 7,000 people on the waiting list on budget day, and if they were given three hours apiece, it would exhaust that 1 million home care help hours. We need lots of things in the health service. We have thrown an awful lot of money on it in the recent past without reducing the waiting lists or improving the quality of service. In the short term, we have to focus on home care support packages, primary care, and trying to keep people out of the accident emergency departments and in their homes. That is the only way to avoid a catastrophic situation this winter. Our county is at the poor end of resources and we are left chronically short on health resources.

For the past nine years, this Government and the previous Government has announced numerous schemes to build houses but it has singularly failed to do so. One of the most heart-rending pictures we have seen in recent weeks was of a five year old boy on the streets of Dublin eating what food he had off a cardboard box. It was heart rending. Homelessness has not been tackled by this Government and, unfortunately, the figures continue to increase. Even people in reasonably good jobs are not able to get on the property ladder. Our figures for home ownership in this country have dipped below the European average for the first time ever. Again, that is testament to this Government's lack of ability to build housing. It is a serious indictment on our society that a couple in reasonable jobs cannot get on the property ladder, get a mortgage and afford a house. On social housing, again this Government has failed miserably. Unfortunately, the lists grow longer and longer. Even in a rural county like Tipperary, I have people coming into every clinic I have saying they have been on the housing list for so many years. It can be a lengthy period and I feel futile sitting behind the desk as there is no point in giving them false hope because this Government will not get houses for them.

We will take the usual criticism from Sinn Féin and others for allowing this budget to pass, but we will not take lectures from Sinn Féin on it. It sat idly by for two and a half years, and failed to give the nationalists a voice in Westminster at this crucial time in history. It has allowed seven votes to sit idly by for crucial votes in Westminster and there has been a lack of sittings in Stormont. The electorate will give its opinion of Sinn Féin when the opportunity comes in the near future. Its lack of responsibility in taking its representation at this crucial time in both parliaments is a sad reflection of the way it views the people who voted for it at those respective elections.

The recruitment of 700 extra gardaí has been announced in this budget. Law and order is becoming a major issue in both urban and rural Ireland. County Tipperary is 140 km long from top to bottom. The Commissioner saw in his wisdom that it was not large enough to be an area on its own, and he recently decided to join it with Clare. In doing so, he decided to take the headquarters out of Tipperary and put it at one side of the new area in Ennis. Over the past four to five years, and I have asked numerous parliamentary questions on this subject, we have failed to get our fair share of resources from the extra recruits who come out of Templemore. We have 345 Garda personnel available for active duty in Tipperary. That includes superintendents, inspectors and sergeants, all the way down to gardaí.

Three weeks ago in Roscrea, there was a serious disturbance in the middle of the day. Approximately 30 people were involved in a serious row. There were two gardaí on duty in the town at the time. How two gardaí were expected to deal with a situation such as this is beyond me. Carrick-on-Suir is another sizeable town. When the Garda shift goes out in Carrick-on-Suir tonight two gardaí will be on duty. We have had a complete lack of resources to tackle the drug issue. Unfortunately, drugs are becoming a huge issue in every village and town throughout the country. There is a complete lack of resources. While we welcome the 700 extra gardaí, a lot more are needed. This time around I hope Tipperary is not left short when the new gardaí are being distributed.

Teaching principals have launched a campaign over the past two years to get one administrative day per week off to deal with the huge amount of paperwork they have. Many of them are in rural schools that have established autistic units in recent years. The paperwork they must now do is absolutely enormous. In north Tipperary alone this year, five principals have retired early because of the pressure of work. A total of €7 million would have allowed these teaching principals one day per week off for administrative duties and a rota between five rural schools would have worked extremely well. Despite intensive lobbying by these principals the budget passed without addressing the issue. It is a serious failure. It was something that could have been done for rural Ireland and it was not a huge ask. The amount of money that would have been required was not immense.

We hear that areas involved in tourism are seriously worried about the effect of Brexit on that industry and the number of visitors coming to the country. A total of €40 million has been allocated in the budget to try to protect tourism against the worst effects of Brexit. Our largest number of visitors comes from our nearest neighbour, the UK, and a lot more needs to be done in this area to protect one of our natural industries, which is hugely important to many areas of the country.

Fine Gael prides itself on being a party of prudence but it has presided over budget and capital mismanagement on a colossal scale since taking office. It spent at least €6.3 billion in excess of budget ceilings. It has also watched over the shambles of the national children's hospital and the national broadband plan. This evening, the Labour Party had a Private Members' motion on which I spoke with regard to the national broadband plan. This is another disgrace that shows the lack of commitment to rural Ireland. We are no nearer having broadband in rural areas than we were when the Government took office eight or nine years ago. It is an essential resource in modern Ireland. If rural Ireland is to have any hope of being economically vibrant then broadband must be available. Unfortunately, it is as far away as ever.

The effect the children's hospital is having on other projects throughout the country is immense. Our Lady's hospital in Cashel has been promised capital investment for a number of years but it has been delayed again and again. The people of Tipperary are convinced it is because of the huge overspend on the national children's hospital. The Government is very good at spinning. It makes an announcement that a measure will be introduced but it does not say when and we definitely hear two or three announcements before it happens. It has budgetary tricks, such as introducing something late in the year so it will cost less but then the full year cost leaks into the base for the following year's Estimates. This trick has been identified by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and it is no way to manage the budget.

The national broadband plan has yet to be signed and it will cost more than €3 billion. The worst part of all of this is that we will not even own the infrastructure. I remind the House that in 2016 Fine Gael promised us it would abolish the universal social charge at a cost of €4 billion a year but when it got into office this was quickly forgotten. What will we do when, hopefully, we will be framing the next budget in 2020? We will advocate multiannual funding for health, an independent health budget office to verify health costings and demographics and an increase in local authority spending discretion from €2 million to €6 million, which would allow local authorities to build social housing without the endless red tape we have at present. It would allow up to 30 homes to be built per project without going through the time-consuming four-step process. We would have a shared ownership scheme for home owners to reduce the upfront cost of a new home and we would fully commit to A Vision for Change and ensure the money allocated to mental health is spent. More than €25 million was left unspent this year. As I said earlier, given the crisis we have had in mental health it is a serious indictment to allow this money remain in the budget unspent.

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