Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are parts of today's budget which I welcome. For rural Ireland, however, including my constituency of Cork South-West, it is mostly a severe kick in the teeth. In particular, I must talk at length about the carbon tax. It will add €1.51 to the cost of a tank of diesel and €1.30 to the price of a tank of petrol. This budget looks like a Dublin 4 budget which Green Party members can claim as a victory because it is a green budget. Did they give any thought to the people who have to pull up at a filling station two or three times a week to fill their tanks? They have no choice but to do so because they live in rural Ireland. This measure is an attack on farmers, hauliers and fishermen. Let nobody in the Green Party, Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael who supports this measure say to farmers that they should think about getting an electric tractor or ask the guy going out fishing in the morning, whether an inshore fishermen or whatever, why he does not put an electric engine into his boat or trawler. It is ridiculous.

This budget is quite simply a hit on the people of rural Ireland. That is what it is, start and finish, and the Government is standing idly by. At the last election, I was the only politician in the whole line of people running in Cork South-West who said there should not be a carbon tax because it would hurt the people of rural Ireland. The other candidates were quite happy with it but here we are today and we know people will be hit in the pocket because of it. Farmers, hauliers and fishermen have been contacting me all day long telling me it will hit them hardest. It will also hit the ordinary mothers and fathers taking their children to school every morning and going about their daily chores to try to survive. If they are not hit by the carbon tax, they will be hit by motor tax or the new vehicle registration tax. They will be hit one way or the other and those hits are aimed specifically at the people of rural Ireland. Nobody in government should try to fool or cod us today by saying it is all right and people will not be hit. They certainly will be hit and anybody in rural Ireland who thinks that is not the case is fooling himself or herself. This is the issue for which I have the most severe criticism today because it shows that there has been no understanding in the budget for the man and woman who lives in rural Ireland. It is hit after hit for them. Any Independent Deputies who come in tonight and say they will support this are turning their back on their own people.

I very much welcome the €55 million allocation for tourism. The industry in my own constituency is struggling severely and I have called for the introduction of a 0% VAT rate. We were told that it could not be done but the Government certainly could have looked at the UK model and introduced a 5% rate. Instead, it has decided to reduce the rate from 13.5% to 9% at a time when there is no tourism activity at all and people in the industry are struggling and barely surviving. This measure should have been introduced a number of months ago when it would have been an incentive to assist businesses through this terrible pandemic. It was a terrible mistake not to reduce the rate sooner. Now the Government is throwing a small gesture the industry's way by going from 13.5% to 9% in a month's time or two months' time.

Fine Gael brought in the increase a couple of years ago, supported by Fianna Fáil. At that time it was bad news for tourism. We have pleaded with and begged the Government to row back in recent months because these businesses are in severe difficulty in terms of their survival. There was a chance in June and July to lower it a tad, by at least 5%, which would have been crumbs at that stage, but the Government failed to do so. Again today the Government has failed to do so and has not recognised the serious crisis out there at this time.

I read this evening there is an extra €4 million proposed for the LEADER programme. I would advise the Minister from the Green Party to have a complete rank and file change of the LEADER programme to take it back to the time when it gave money to the people of rural Ireland when they wanted it, and not the carry on that is going on today. It is being run off at the top and nobody is getting anything at the bottom. That is what the Minister needs to look at. This €4 million is only to top it up again for another year until the CAP programme comes in. I plead with the Minister to have a real look at it and to model it on the way it was previously, if he wants it to work and wants a LEADER programme for communities throughout Ireland.

There is €4 billion extra in spending for the health services, and I truly hope this will get to the people on the ground because this has not happened in recent years. Consider Clonakilty Community Hospital, which has been awaiting its extension and is losing numbers going into it. The endoscopy unit in Bantry General Hospital has been promised for two years, but there has been nothing. Not a sod has been turned or a brick laid. South Infirmary Victoria Hospital has been promised cataract services. I sincerely hope that part of this budget is there and that we will not face the current situation where the hospitals in Cork South-West are losing numbers of people going into them. I assume the health budget will turn this situation around. I will certainly be keeping a very close eye on it.

Publicans and vintners have said they have endured a shocking time in 2020, with public houses being closed for most of 2020, and no one can argue with that. The Vintners Federation of Ireland has said there is disappointment that the budget "failed to reflect the fact that these outlets will have been closed for almost nine months with minimum support". That is its quote, not my quote. I have to listen to what these people say because they have been going through the most shocking time in recent months.

On the money for public transport, I would certainly be delighted if that was the fact. Way over €1 billion will go to Dublin MetroLink and the Dublin Luas project. I am worried that the money will end up being poured into Dublin. Rural Ireland needs public transport. If the Minister is bringing in a carbon tax, then he must bring in proper public transport services. We have a shocking bus service in west Cork. A young man, Damien Long, has started up the West Cork Connect service. He takes young people up and down every morning. He leaves his house at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to try to basically survive. The difficulty for this man in trying to survive, however, is that his operation is not a Bus Éireann. He is a private operator and he will not get subsidised. He is on his knees trying to survive. Every incentive in the book should be available to help him. I hope this type of money does that.

I see there will be a tax rebate for people who work from home. I believe this is a great incentive and what we need to be doing. The problem, however, is that people do not have broadband. Perhaps it is available in the larger towns but it is not in the rural places. My phone is on fire every week with people pleading with me on this issue. Bandon is a larger town with housing estates. One such estate is Inis Orga which has a hundred or so houses, half of which do not have broadband. How does the Government expect people to work from home when they do not have broadband? Most of those people go to the church in Bandon to piggyback off the WiFi there. We got a service in Gaggan but we had to fight tooth and nail even for that.

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