Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last year we all accepted Brexit was the main immediate threat to the economy. This year, while we still face Brexit, we now have the coronavirus. We are still unclear what the outcome of Brexit will be, even with an agreement on a trade deal. It is still the case that the UK is leaving the EU whether we like it or not. This will certainly bring changes. It is important we are ready for these changes for citizens and for businesses.

After years of austerity, it is heartening to see that with budget 2021, the largest investment in the history of the State, we are making preparations for all these scenarios. It might have surprised people, but it is the right thing to do. We need to make sure we can face the challenges of Covid and Brexit by giving people hope based on realism and on a plan.

As these are my priorities, I am heartened to see the massive investments in health, in housing and especially in education. I am working with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, on the technological university status for Carlow IT in the south east. It is money well spent when we invest in our children's future. I welcome that funding but we need to make sure we access it as soon as possible.

Funding is important for local sports clubs, local community groups, accessing affordable healthcare or medical cards, finding ways to access and pay for education, receiving help to buy a home or accessing social or affordable housing. We need to look after people so they can have ways and means to access what they need to do. People need a quality of life and we need to make sure we give this to them in the budget.

Now that Covid-19 is on top of us, it is important we arm our society with the tools to live with it. We cannot afford rolling lockdowns, so I really look forward to using this time to see where we can help and what we can do.

The HSE and health are a big issue for me. I am aware that with Covid-19 there are restrictions and so on, but a large number of people are calling my office who are waiting on operations, be it a hip operation or an eye operation. We need to make sure we invest this budget wisely and that we make sure people are not waiting two and three years for hospital appointments. That cannot happen anymore. We need to make sure we deliver on that.

A total of €38 million will be available to implement new measures under the Sharing the Vision, our national mental health strategy. There is a massive spend on health but it is important we do not forget our mental health. It is another key area for me in the context of this pandemic. Again, it is about accessing the services and making sure the money is delivered and filtered down to where it is needed. We must make sure our most vulnerable people and those who are suffering get these services. I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, about mental health and she is committed to the issues. I firmly believe that.

There is a €3.3 billion spend in housing, which is a huge budget. While I welcome that, we also have the extension of help-to-buy scheme at an enhanced rate of €30,000 in this budget. I am concerned about reports I have received regarding the scheme. I was contacted just last month by a home buyer who was approved in principle for a mortgage for a property in Carlow, which had been advertised at a price close to €300,000 in July. When that home buyer went about finalising the process and buying the home in question, they were told the price had gone up. By how much? It had risen by approximately €30,000. That cannot happen. These are the things we need to watch. We cannot just say that we have these measures, which we all welcome. We also have to make sure the people and families on the ground get what they deserve or get that €30,000 they should be getting. This is what we need to make sure to do.

I have always been very vocal on local authorities, and especially Carlow local authority. A big issue for me is capital funding. The local authority has always been underfunded by the Government. We are always struggling and there are always huge cutbacks in Carlow County Council. The staff and everyone there are doing their best. We need to deliver now on funding. The services have been cut and it is even harder to get funding in. I welcome the nine month rates waiver and that the commercial rates waiver has been extended to December, but this is not good enough. I can only fight for my own, but the local authority needs extra capital funding.

The threshold to qualify to apply for going on to the local authority housing list needs to be addressed. People are becoming homeless because they do not qualify for inclusion on the local authority housing list. They cannot afford a home and yet they cannot go on the housing list. This is unacceptable. We need to make sure that when we are investing this €3.3 billion, it is put in the right place. The urban regeneration and development fund, which I have put in for, is a big project and hopefully we will get the funding from that. I will fight hard for that.

An allocation of €65 million is being made to facilitate energy efficiency improvements to social housing homes and another €60 million will be provided to adapt the homes of up to 10,700 older people and people with a disabilities. I welcome these schemes but these people are vulnerable and we need to ensure this work is carried out as quickly as possible, especially for elderly people in the winter. The criteria for these schemes are sometimes not right. I believe that needs to be looked at with a view perhaps to getting it done quicker. It can take months for an occupational therapist to assess people. This is through no fault of the therapists; it is because of Covid. We need to look at changing those criteria.

I now turn to broadband. We ask people to work from home because we are at level 5, but we really need to have a proper broadband service in every area, including in my own area of Carlow, Tullow, and Bagenalstown. We need to make sure it is there, but it is not currently. Again, people call me about it and they are very upset. There are two brilliant colleges in Carlow, namely, Carlow IT and St. Patrick's College. Students are working and studying for their college courses at home and their broadband is very bad. It needs investment.

I welcome the €5 increase in the weekly living alone allowance, although it is not being paid until January. I am aware the Christmas bonus double payment will be paid early in December. A budget is a budget, but the most vulnerable people in our society, those people who need it most, need to be able to get what they deserve from this budget, and to access the funding they need, be it through a social welfare payment or a carer's payment, so that they are not fighting and can get whatever payment they deserve. We must make sure we give them as much as we can.

Quality of life means so much and people are struggling every week. Many people are now not working due to Covid and through no fault of their own and many shops are closed. People are in a different place and we need to make sure we look after them and that they have a proper Christmas. Santy is coming in December. We have to make sure the children of Ireland get a proper Christmas and that we do our best to secure the best we can for them.

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