Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Politics is about choices and rarely is that clearer than on budget day. A Government's budget is a fiscal expression of its policy priorities. Does it tackle sky-high rents? Does it tackle unaffordable childcare or a health system bursting at its seams? It does not. The crises we face in each of those areas did not come about through some act of God. They were the direct results of political decisions made by the men seated across from me in this Chamber and by their Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party predecessors.

A budget delivers on a Government's priorities and the interests it serves. Does it deliver for the young worker trying to pay extortionate rents on a meagre wage, the family desperately trying to pay their childcare fees, the couple living in their parents' box room, waiting for their lives to start while they scrimp and save, and watch in despair as house prices inflate beyond reach? What about the elderly woman living alone and trying to heat her home while anxiously watching the energy bills go up and up? What about the man lying in agony on a trolley in a hospital corridor while exhausted nurses tell him they are sorry but he still cannot be seen? What about the 65-year-old who has worked all her life and wants to retire but is forced to keep working long, tiring shifts on her feet all day?

I cannot remember a Government led by either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael ever delivering on affordable housing, accessible childcare, a fair day's pay for a day's work, a national health system or, indeed, a sustainable environment. For too long, this Government's priorities have been the priorities of the well-heeled special interests, the vested interests who pull the strings, including the vulture funds whose interests are served by ever-increasing rents, the large private developers whose interests are served by ever-increasing property prices, the private health insurance industry whose interests are served by stymying the roll-out of a national health system, and the data centre lobby whose interests are served by generous capital allowances which allow them to write off much of their construction costs while the cost of heating our homes increases. They are the insiders who are always taken care of by this Government while ordinary families and workers are pushed to the back of the queue.

Let us be clear: the crises we are facing in all of these areas are a direct result of Government policy. The good news is that what has been done by the Government can be undone. It can be undone by a very different type of government, one with a very different set of policy priorities; a government which delivers for communities, families and workers, puts ordinary people first and stands up for them; a government for change. We in Sinn Féin stand ready to form such a government. Until we have a government that is prepared to do just that, politics in this State will merely be the shadow cast upon society by big business.

Bíonn roghanna le déanamh ag na hAirí chuile lá beo sa Teach seo ag a mbíonn tionchar nach beag acu ar dhaoine. Tá rogha acu seasamh le gnáth-theaghlaigh agus leis an gcosmhuintir, le daoine atá thíos ag costais mhaireachtála, leo siúd atá ag íoc cíosanna ró-arda sna cathracha nó nach bhfuil in ann na táillí ollmhóra do chúram leanaí a chlúdach, agus le muintir na tuaithe a bhíonn fágtha ar an trá fholamh go mion-minic mar gheall ar easpa seirbhísí, easpa infreastruchtúr agus easpa deiseanna fostaíochta. Nó, mar atá déanta ag rialtas i ndiaidh rialtais cheana, is féidir leis na hAirí seasamh leis na baincéirí, na creach-chistí agus na forbróirí móra. Is mór an trua gur shocraigh siad cloí leis an tsean-pholaitíocht agus gan tabhairt faoi na géarchéimeanna éagsúla atá an goilleadh ar an bpobal. Tá bealach eile ann. Tá slí ann sochaí níos cothroime a chinntiú dár bpobal agus tá muidne sásta na hathruithe sin a chur i bhfeidhm. Bheadh Rialtas faoi stiúir Shinn Féin in ann stíleanna polaitíochta sa Stát a athrú ó bhun.

This year is the tenth anniversary of Fine Gael entering government, so comhghairdeas libh. Not only that, it is a sixth housing budget jointly delivered by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, so comhghairdeas libh beirt. They have somehow managed to push house prices back towards 2007 levels and out of the reach of many. Our renters pay the highest rents in Europe. They have also presided over the largest increase in homelessness in the history of this State, and not only that, they have helped to create new situations that put people at risk of homelessness. I am talking about the workers whose wages have not kept up with the cost of rent, students who cannot find somewhere to stay, and pensioners on fixed incomes whose landlord is selling up and who cannot find somewhere they can afford. This economic insecurity has bred misery for many, and misery breeds anxiety and mental health changes. The housing and mental health crises are joined at the hip.

There is no mystery about how this happened. This was not an act of God or the subject of some strange forces; it was the deliberate result of the Government policy. It fashioned a housing model which rests on the three pillars of vulture funds, large private developers and taxpayer subsidies for both. These vulture funds were welcomed with open arms. The former Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, said that such funds played an important role in the ecology by cleaning up dead animals. Is that the Government's view of workers, pensioners and families? To many, that is clearly how it feels. The chief executive of one large vulture fund said rent increases were so dramatic that he truly felt bad for the Irish people. Criticism of the Government's policy has come from across the spectrum and across the world. To the great embarrassment of the Government, even the UN has criticised its favourable treatment of vulture funds. When there is public outcry, what does the Government do? It takes an idea Sinn Féin put forward last year to stop vulture funds bulk-buying homes, but then provided exceptions if properties are leased back to local authorities at crazy costs to taxpayers. That is, of course, a great deal for vulture funds again.

While Fine Gael helps with the rents, Fianna Fáil helps with the prices. Meanwhile, the Green Party falls asleep at the wheel. The much-hyped shared equity scheme of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, will further push up prices, as my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, has pointed out. If it is such a good idea, where did the scheme come from? I did not read it in any Fianna Fáil manifesto. Here is a clue. The two big property lobby groups, one of which happens to involve a former leading member of Fianna Fáil, published shared equity scheme proposals. The light bulb suddenly went off in the Minister's head and he had an idea for a shared equity loan scheme. Who does he think he is kidding?

The measures that have been put to us here today are not the radical departure we need. Are they a break from the failed model? A lot of numbers have been bandied about. Every year on budget day it is interesting to hear big numbers that might seem impressive to many people. We must point out that a significant part of the increase has arisen from capital carry-over. That capital carry-over is massive. That is money that was previously available to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, but which he was unable to spend. That, in effect, is not new money. The Ministers have outlined an extra €468 million for social housing. I wonder how much of that will be capital carry-over. The actual increase in capital spending for housing is approximately €420 million, in comparison with Sinn Féin's proposed additional capital spend on housing of €1.6 billion. The Government is well short of what the likes of the ESRI were calling for.

The next thing we need to do is to separate what the Minister is proposing will be built for affordable and social housing and what is just another developer subsidy scheme, because these things work in different ways. The building of social and affordable housing is how we tackle this crisis. These developer-led subsidy schemes at best lock in high prices and at worst push them even higher. The schemes are the shared equity scheme, the help-to-buy scheme and the new Croí Cónaithe fund. When we look at those schemes, it is clear the Government is providing more funding for developers than people trying to gain access to affordable housing. Both Ministers mentioned that housing is the crisis of the time but have done little to address it. Sinn Féin would end the tax breaks for the vulture funds and developers, and deliver genuinely affordable homes for ordinary people to buy. We would ban rent increases and put a month's rent back in people's pockets. We would deliver a functioning vacant site levy immediately and not in a few years' time. We would not delay it and allow more land banking and price increases.

Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have commercialised, commodified and financialised what should very obviously be a public good. They have turned housing from something which families and workers can call home into something completely different. They have turned it into an asset of speculation for large investment funds, something concerned with the rental yield on assets, capital appreciation and dividends for shareholders. What kind of gross distortion is this that the Government has allowed to try to normalise something so frighteningly abnormal?

This pandemic has exposed the cracks in our health system as well as those in housing. It has exposed and exacerbated the cracks in our health system but it did not cause them. Those causes far predate the onset of Covid-19. They were present when Deputy Varadkar was the Minister for Health, when Deputy Harris was the Minister and even when the Taoiseach was. Today, there are more than 900,000 people languishing on waiting lists, almost 100,000 of whom are children. That is simply outrageous. We have all heard stories of people, and especially children, who are languishing on these waiting lists. On this morning's "Today with Claire Byrne", we heard about Adam. Children like Adam have been let down time and time again by glossy budget launches which provide photo opportunities and praise for Ministers but which do nothing for the ordinary people being failed utterly by our healthcare system.

Yesterday, there were 477 people on trolleys in our hospitals. According to the INMO, this was the highest number of patients on trolleys since the onset of the pandemic. I recall the Minister shouting loudly last year about all the additional capacity the Government was going to provide for the sector but nothing has changed for ordinary people. Let us be clear, as things are reopening, so too are the old wounds in our health system. These are the results of the failure to ensure that there are enough doctors, nurses and beds. We need to build capacity in our health system and to build a national health system that finally puts an end to the two-tier health approach and which can deliver affordable and accessible health and social care. This Government's budget does not go nearly far enough to address this crisis. It proposes free GP care for children under eight but, as my colleague said, we were expecting universal free GP care by next year. Unfortunately, I will not be able to hold my breath on that one.

Despite a few additional ICU beds, there are no additional acute or community care beds over and above what was provided last year while only €311 million is allocated for new measures. We have lengthening waiting lists, crises in our emergency departments and rising trolley counts. There is no vision to make healthcare work and no delivery. There are no additional acute or community beds on top of what was funded and only €250 million to tackle waiting lists. It is simply the same old, same old.

A Sinn Féin Government would deliver 932 additional beds comprising inpatient beds, critical care beds, neurorehabilitation beds and special community beds for mental health patients. We would expand theatre capacity, modernise our ehealth system and upgrade and replace equipment. We would also deliver fair pay and allowances for student nurses and midwives. This Dáil voted on a motion, which the Government did not oppose. The fact that the Government has done nothing about it is absolutely shocking.

The pandemic has taken many physical tolls on our society and on healthcare but it has also had a significant impact on the mental health of many of our citizens. As a society, we have finally become more open about mental health struggles. It is now time for major investment in this area. If Sinn Féin was in government, we would today be launching the biggest mental health budget in the history in the State. The Minister has outlined an additional spend of €24 million on mental health. We would provide €114 million in additional funding for mental health. We know there has been a rise in eating disorders since the onset of the pandemic. We need an adult eating disorder team in each community healthcare organisation, CHO, area. At the moment, there is only one, in Dublin. That is not good enough. I hope the Minister listens to that point.

What our rural communities learned today is that this Government has no plan and no vision. It has no fís d'aon chineál for our family farms. We proposed almost €220 million in funding to provide for our suckler and sheep sectors, supporting smaller and poorer farmers. What the Government has delivered is an accounting exercise, a simple rollover, and no measures that would come close to meeting the needs of a sector in crisis.

I have heard many times from both Ministers that tackling the cost of living has been their aim, and the aim of their predecessors, for a long time. We have been hearing this for so long that I genuinely believe the Ministers are trolling us because this State regularly ranks as one of the most expensive places to live in the entire world.

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