Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to many speeches in the last few days. The Government is out of touch. It is not listening to what is happening outside this box, which is crazy. If you are a renter, this budget does nothing for you. The energy prices, with the carbon tax, have gone off the scale. There will be probably the most expensive childcare system in Europe. If you are trying to get to school, you will not get there because school transport is a disaster and I did not see anything to address that. The previous speaker mentioned social welfare and spoke about a few bob here and there. A pat on the back is only a foot and a half away from a kick in the backside. It is patronising people.

I want to concentrate on health. I see the additional €24 million, in real money, that will be invested in mental health. I have just listed housing, rent, carbon tax and childcare. A measly €24 million will not even keep the system ticking over where it is. Our alternative budget was going to put in €130 million, the biggest investment in mental health in the history of the State, because we know people are struggling. The excuse of Covid is used but we had all these problems, including housing and health, well before Covid. As people start to come out of that, we are seeing more and more demand for mental health services. Recently in west Cork, in Ballinadee, a farming family lost their father to suicide. They have been raising money for Pieta House because the farming sector is struggling and there seems to be little support. I spoke to two elderly people yesterday. They were talking about the measly fiver and the little bit of fuel allowance and living alone allowance. That will all be eaten up. The minute petrol and diesel prices have tax applied, they will become more expensive. I feel that this year of all years would be the best time to start putting billions into the economy. Paying people real wages to build proper houses would alleviate the housing demand. The knock-on effect of that is that renters can have a decent job and afford to get a mortgage, which frees up space in the rental sector, alleviating that. Covid has exposed how bad our health system is. We should invest in it and hit this hard.

I do not know if Government Members have read our alternative budget but there was a will there to tackle this head-on. We are here to serve the people outside this Chamber. It is not Government funding. It is taxpayers' money and we are not even giving it back to them in the services they need. I hope in a short time we will be sitting on that side of the House and we will present our budget. Then we will provide for the people and ensure everything that can and should be done will be done.

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