Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

In years past, there was an energy around Leinster House on budget day. It could be felt in Kildare Street and it was usually palpable, with protests, advocacy groups and the air ripe with the potential for change, new commitments and an opportunity to showcase ambition and leadership. Fundamental change and absolute ambition are qualities that, with our housing and climate crises and as we emerge from the pandemic, we now do not just want but need as a nation.

Yesterday, there was no such excitement, no such ambition and no demonstration of leadership. For most, the day was filled with dread and anxiety that there would be more of the same, or even worse or less. I know many others who must conduct themselves in pure indifference on budget day, possibly favouring the mantra, "I do not mind the pain, but it is the hope that kills you".

In my contribution today, I will bring it back to people. After all, this is why budgets matter. How will it affect people, namely, the groups of people who are suffering, or at greatest risk of, poverty in our society? What does the budget mean for students in DEIS schools, people with disabilities, people receiving social welfare payments and one-parent families? One-parent families are constantly shown to be at greater risk of deprivation and poverty. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on income and living conditions, SILC, data for 2019 showed that one-parent families had a deprivation rate that was more than double that of any other household type measured. As the vast majority of one-parent families are headed by women, their risk of poverty and deprivation is in itself a gender issue. While budget 2022 has equalised the back to school clothing and footwear allowance between one-parent and two-parent families, it has continued to permit discrimination against one-parent families by not equalising parent's benefit. Children in one-parent families will receive two weeks' extra parent's benefit, but several weeks fewer than children in two-parent families.

The budget failed to increase core social welfare rates adequately. Although it raised them by a meagre €5, this will still mean people who depend on those payments will be left further behind by the budget as inflation continues to soar. The increase of only €3 for a qualified child over 12 years of age is far less than what was required. In its pre-budget submission the Social Democrats called for €10 to reflect the well-documented fact that raising teenagers is more expensive for families than raising younger children. Where is the ambition to eliminate child poverty when the Government cannot seem to understand even the basic fact of the different costs associated with raising children of different ages?

Staying on the subject of child poverty, I welcome the expansion of the schools hot meals programme to additional DEIS schools. However, this will still leave a significant proportion of DEIS schools out of the programme. The budget has allocated €3 million to extend the programme to those DEIS schools that submitted an interest to be part of the programme in 2020. There are 887 DEIS schools in the country and, currently, fewer than 200 are part of the schools hot meals programme. The proposed extension of the programme in this budget would not see it reach even half of all DEIS schools, even though all Members across the House surely agree that every student should have access to a free hot meal during the school day. That is what I am referring to when I speak of a lack of ambition and more of the same. It would cost less than €100 million to ensure every student in every DEIS school has a hot meal during the school day. We are significantly short of that ambition and even shorter of the goal of rolling it out nationally.

I will stay on the subject of our schools for a moment and reflect on the fact it was extremely disappointing to see no funding for well-being and mental health supports in schools. Despite its priority in the Department's strategy and despite the tsunami of mental health needs that schools are trying to manage, there is no mention in the budget of providing emotional counselling and therapeutic supports in schools. This was noted to be an urgent priority in the report from the joint committee on education, but it simply does not appear in the budget. It was something we included in the Social Democrats' pre-budget submission, in acknowledgement of the fact schools are more than just places of learning and students cannot learn while they are experiencing distress or, at worst, trauma. This was a lesson I thought we all had learned from going through the pandemic, but regrettably it appears not to be the case.

Finally, the budget fails to implement the cost of disability, despite the promise in the programme for Government and a significant piece of research undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants, which is yet to be published and remains on the desk of the Minister for Social Protection. This budget continues the legacy of the Government failing to acknowledge the additional cost of just living a life with disability. Although the budget increased the earnings limit for disability allowance, this is not a substitute for creating a cost of disability. It has almost become a cliché, but the budget is a missed opportunity. It may not have exacerbated the harm, but it certainly did nothing to alleviate it.

See this speech in context