Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate and budget. There are many good things in it, and I refer in particular to tangible improvements, especially for families who are caring for very sick children in acute and long-term care for a significant period of time. Up to now, you would get your three months' carer's allowance but this would be cut after three months, and your three months' domiciliary allowance would also disappear. These are parents or guardians of children who are very ill, in acute hospitals, often far away from where they live because they are receiving special care, and this is the worst time of all for families. It is very difficult because they have the childcare and travel costs, and if you are on a lower income and so on, it makes it very difficult for you. What is socially just, beneficial and good in this budget is the fact you will now be able to keep your carer's and domiciliary carer's allowances for six months while your child may be, unfortunately, in medium- or long-term care. That is excellent, progressive, positive and very welcome. I also welcome the increased disregard of the capital allowances and the weekly income people are allowed to earn before they can get carer's allowance, which is beneficial, good and the right way to go.

The Sinn Féin speakers have ignored the significant increases in social welfare across all benefits. The Minister has a package of €850 million this year in social welfare. It is additional funding, which has to be welcome, especially as we comes out of these Covid times. The attraction for younger people to travel, with the halved costs for people under a certain age, is positive and good, as is the increase in third level grants. The distance for the non-adjacent grant has been reduced from 45 km to 30 km, which will make a huge difference to people who live in places such as my home town of Drogheda. They are important, beneficial proposals and they are on the way.

Things are improving and, despite what Sinn Féin - I almost said Fianna Fáil - says, things are getting better, but we need to do more. We need to do more, especially in Drogheda, where there is a significant problem for people who have serious problems with their teeth and mouth hygiene and who wish to benefit from dental care under the General Medical Scheme. We need significant changes there. The Government needs to pay the dentists more to make it more attractive for new dentists to opt in, because dentists are leaving the scheme. According to a reply I have to a parliamentary question, unfortunately, 250 contracted dentists have left the dental treatment service scheme this year, which means an awful lot of highly skilled and important people who are needed to help people's dental health are no longer available. That is obviously unacceptable, but I welcome the progress made.

The one thing missing in this budget and for which I campaigned is the empty homes tax. It is a critical mechanism. If a house is not a principal private residence and is lying empty, it should be taxed to the hilt to make sure it is put on the market and families are in there and it is not used as an investment property, which is, sadly and unfortunately, still done by many people. I welcome the commitment to do something about that next year.

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