Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

As we recover from the pandemic, this budget was an opportunity to improve quality of life by investing in our public services. Housing, childcare, disability services, SNAs and fair climate action are issues people raise with all of us. We need substantial and sustained funding of our health, education and local services. In the limited time I have, I will raise just some of the issues in the budget.

Disability is a complex area. Government policy must reflect this in providing interventions where they are most required. I welcome the increase in the disability health budget, but it still falls far short of the €350 million in additional funding needed to address the unmet needs of people with disabilities, as outlined in the Department’s disability capacity review. Announcing funding is one thing, but will it result in services on the ground? There are more than 40 children waiting for initial contact with the west Cork children’s disability network. That is just one example. Local disability services all over the country are still operating at reduced capacity due to staffing issues, not to mention that the employment rate here for people with disabilities is among the lowest in the EU. There is a pressing need for other interventions. People with disabilities experience poverty and social exclusion at much higher levels than the rest of the population. There is a very clear need for a cost of disability allowance that finally recognises that living with a disability is expensive.

I welcome the long-overdue support for carers. Family carers rightly feel they have been forgotten by the Government throughout the pandemic. In light of the contribution made by this group, it is beyond disappointing that there was no move on funding a dedicated long-term carers pension scheme.

We must have a rights-based approach for people with disabilities in order that when people qualify for a service, they get that service. The absence of this approach is evident in the shortage of SNAs. I more than welcome the funding to recruit more SNAs and special education teachers, but families and schools should have guarantees that if there is an identified need for SNAs or resources hours, they will be provided. That is not the case at present. I am working with several families and schools across west Cork to secure more special education resources and additional autism spectrum disorder classes. It is evident that there is a pressing need for a special education school in west Cork. Unbelievably, there is not one. People should have a right to education. This budget should and could have ensured this. It is simply not good enough that it did not.

The lack of proper treatment of eating disorders is something I have repeatedly raised. There are only three inpatient beds in this country for eating disorders, all of which are in Dublin. The inclusion of additional funding for the national clinical programme is meaningless unless that money is spent. None of the €1.6 million allocated in 2019 for this incredibly serious issue was spent. This is a very worrying trend. It was recently revealed that €10 million allocated for pandemic-related mental health supports in February was also not spent. It is disgraceful enough that the Government only allocates 5.1% of the health budget for mental health when the WHO recommends 12%; but to think that the Department and the HSE do not spend the allocated money is shocking.

Investments in women’s health, including funding to address maternity strategies, the delivery of free contraception and sexual assault treatment units, amounts to only €31 million. I came to the very reluctant conclusion recently that the ongoing restrictions in maternity hospitals are because maternal healthcare is at the bottom of this Government’s priority list. This budget just clarifies that. The figures relating to the money allocated for the national maternity strategy show that this is wholly inadequate and only serve to inform us that this strategy will not be implemented any time soon. Again, this is simply not good enough.

Domestic violence is another area that needs to be mentioned. The only references to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in the expenditure report are in terms of justice. Funding for more gardaí and awareness campaigns is, of course, important, but it is only one aspect of a very complex issue. An additional 338 emergency accommodation units are required to meet our obligations under the Istanbul Convention. This budget should have at least begun the process to meet these requirements, as well as increase funding for local support organisations. We provide half of the recommended bare minimum number of refuge spaces for domestic violence.

This budget will not change that, and that is not good enough.

Finally, as for agriculture, this budget pays lip service to sustainability but there is no reflection on the significant support needed to help farmers move to practices required to address the biodiversity crisis. The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association has rightly questioned the Government's commitment to a just transition on climate change and biodiversity loss. We know that farmers will have to do some of the heavy lifting to meet our emissions reduction targets, and the Government is obliged to support them. Instead farmers are bearing the brunt of criticism for climate change when, in reality, this is the Department's doing. We all know that all our practices are guided directly by what the Department funds. How was this not addressed yesterday? I refer to improving the tillage sector. What is the Department funding? The greyhound racing industry is receiving €17.6 million in the budget-----

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