Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle was reading the list of various Topical Issue matters, it brought into focus what we are talking about here. While the summer economic statement may paint a rosy picture, when you listen to those matters raised, you hear of all the various issues throughout the country that are affecting people. These are the issues of services mainly that are so devoid in so many areas throughout the country. While summary statistics may paint a certain picture, they often hide the reality for so many people. That is what we recognise in this debate.

A number of issues need to be dealt with in the justice area in the upcoming budget. There are significant delays in the courts service and courts system that are causing much anxiety and problems for many people, particularly in the family court service but indeed in all the court services. There needs to be an emphasis in the budget to make sure resources are put in place to alleviate that. That is one of the issues that needs to be dealt with.

In regard to An Garda Síochána and the numbers of gardaí, community gardaí is a real issue for people throughout the country, especially in urban areas where we have high crime statistics. That needs to be dealt with.

On the broader stuff, the issue of us having these bumper corporation tax receipts has been talked of as a potential problem down the road. The issue is that a small number of large corporations are producing a large section of that taxation. We have no difficulty with that. We need to see those corporations pay their proper share of taxation, which they had not done for a very long time, an issue we have all recognised and which is possibly one of the reasons they are now starting to pay a little closer to the proper rate of 12.5%, which they were supposed to have been paying up to now. That said, I understand a large portion of that is down to intellectual property and issues around that, which is something that may end in the future.

That tells us the Government needs to have another plan and not for us to put all our eggs in the one basket of foreign direct investment, FDI, as the means to deliver for our economy. It should also build another economy, our domestic economy, particularly in our regions and in the region I come from, the north west, where we have significant problems with infrastructure and investment and which we need to see the Government step up to the mark and provide for. That can only happen if the Government has a commitment to do that. In the national development plan and all of the furore that was around it, we saw great plans put in place but, unfortunately, for many people in the north west in particular and in many other parts of the country, we have seen very little delivery. We hope this budget will address that.

The issue we are most critical of at this time is the cost-of-living problem. So many people are finding it so difficult to manage and the Government is so slow to react to it. There has to be a commitment by the Government to deliver for the people who are at the base of our economy, who are working hard, who are doing everything they can to pay their way and who find it so difficult. When they look to the Government for assistance, they have up until now got very little. I will pass on to my colleague.

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