Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was just about to compliment him.

The Minister is one of the three party leaders and, before I start, I wish to point out that the way this budget was leaked and the process by which that happened are insulting to this House and to the Irish people. It has to stop. Everybody may have been doing it, but everybody knows it has to stop. Ultimately, we are the representatives of the people. The farcical situation whereby we have the documents in the House and the Ceann Comhairle quite rightly says we cannot leave until the speeches are made is a joke. It has to stop. What is more, given what happened with Zapponegate involving freedom of information, text messages and the like, the Government is only creating a stick with which to beat itself. Somewhere along the line somebody has been messaging people to get this information out and if that becomes public, the Government will have big problems, and rightly so. Let that be the one message to take from this before I make my few comments on the budget, and please feed it back. Nobody wins and politics fails and falls.

The theme of the budget was recover, restore and renew. For me it was more, and the Minister might like this, reduce, reuse and recycle - reduce living standards due to inflation, reuse the same old ideas that have failed in the past and recycle the tax cuts and spending policies of the Ahern era. There are half-baked plans, many of which have been announced or are already in train. I hoped that this budget would be a turning point. It was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a difference as we emerge from Covid-19, but it is an opportunity lost. Instead, we got huge compromise and more of the same from three political parties that have cancelled each other out and, as a consequence, achieved very little.

During the Covid pandemic there was a massive mobilisation of the power of the State, with billions of euro committed to the health service and the preservation of lives and billions of euro to protect incomes and save jobs. They were unprecedented actions. People now know that the State can act in a different way. It was able to build field hospitals, it was able to recruit and it was able to use technology in ways it had not done previously. That is the reason this budget is so disappointing. People know the State can act when the political will is there, but in this case the political will has failed. This was the time to deliver a new deal for a fairer Ireland, but the opportunity has been lost. Instead of a universal public childcare system, we got piecemeal subsidies; instead of truly free education, we got token gestures; instead of radical efforts to tackle climate change, the can was kicked down the road again; and instead of a rent freeze, there were more tax breaks for landlords. We put forward a plan to build 20,000 social and affordable houses and we costed it. Instead we got more of the same and no vision for the future. There is a budget package of €4.7 billion, yet we still cannot guarantee scoliosis treatment for ten-year-old Adam Terry. The Minister knows I raised it in the House and he referred to it earlier, in fairness to him.

What people will judge this Government on is how it works to resolve the problems we all know and face. This is not a step in the right direction in any way. Instead of tackling the problems and investing in the services people need, the Government, in its wisdom, committed to €600 million in a full year for an untargeted tax cut. There is so much we could have achieved with that money. I spoke about Adam and a number of other children earlier who need certain surgeries. There are the requirements across the education sector, early years and childcare. It was totally unnecessary and is spread so thinly that the people will not even notice it. However, there was an ideological issue between the three Government parties, and common sense and what is right for the people did not come through. There is even an increase in the working-from-home relief, which means that the State is picking up a bill that employers should pay.

That is a long way from the Green Party Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, talking about a solidarity tax last April. What happened to his idea? We were behind him and supported it 100%. He called for a once-off solidarity tax on the wealthiest. Did he do it just for headlines or is it something the party believes in? We have proposed a range of tax measures to raise €1 billion by closing down reliefs and taxing wealth. Instead, the wealthiest people in our society will receive more than €400 extra per year. They do not need it.

There was no Donogh O'Malley moment when it came to childcare. Hopefully, there will be next year. The leaks in advance said there would be €100 million for childcare, but it was far less. People are sick of being told that this is a turning point in childcare. I heard that from previous Ministers on numerous occasions. It has not happened and is not happening. It is not working. The costs for parents are still like a second mortgage.

The cost of living has been a dominant issue since the Dáil returned. I have flagged the cost of electricity and gas many times. I can guarantee every Member that, unfortunately, a winter of discontent lies ahead due to soaring prices and supply chain problems. The €5 per week increase in social welfare payments does not go far enough to protect those on the lowest incomes. Since 2019, inflation has increased by 4.3% and the Government's figures predict a rise of 3.7% next year. The budget spreads many fivers around, but it does not insulate those on fixed incomes from mounting price increases. Jobseekers are on €203 per week. That had to rise by a minimum of €7.50 just to keep pace with inflation. The State pension needed to increase by €9.19 to keep pace with inflation. Looking at the details, one sees that prices are rising faster than incomes, so people will have less to spend on everyday essentials. That is just reality.

Electricity and gas suppliers have implemented multiple price increases that will cost households more than €400 next year in higher bills. I welcome the action to increase the fuel allowance and I acknowledge the Government took on board my call for increases to be implemented from day of the budget. However, only 30,000 extra households will qualify for the fuel allowance, much less than the 130,000 we proposed. Gas prices will continue to soar and the Government cannot guarantee that it can keep the lights on. In 2020, an extra four weeks of fuel allowance was paid. I again urge the Government not to rule out providing the same this year. I urge the Minister to listen to what I have said.

Instead of tax cuts for the wealthiest, the Labour Party calls for a refundable carbon tax credit of €200 for ordinary people. This will be capped at a household income of €50,000 per year and targeted at those living with low energy rating. This is necessary to target those who will be most affected.

The health budget is a masterpiece of distraction. There is an allocation of in excess of €22 billion for next year, but scoliosis surgery for children still cannot be delivered. We are told that an additional 8,000 staff are due to be hired next year. We were also told there would be 16,000 last year. The State is struggling to recruit across the board and there does not appear to be a plan to resolve it. There are workers who served on the front line throughout the pandemic who still do not know where their position will be. We do not know how many consultants, nurses, public health nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants, psychologists or various other therapists are going to be provided.

The Minister for Health cancelled the press conference to tell us.

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