Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome many aspects of the budget, to be honest. I accept that. However, the Government is playing a very dangerous game with people's taxes and the extra taxes from foreign direct investment, FDI, companies. It is great that we have that money but it may not be there next year while the budgetary pressures will be. Those tax revenues may not be available in 2024 while demands on the budget will be. If the Government were a business, that would be a bad way to run it.

The Government claims credit for initiatives such as the €200 energy credit. There are now to be three €200 payments amounting to €600. Every person in this country will get that payment, whether a millionaire, a Teachta Dála or a Government Minister. Why in God's name in this day and age could that not have been separated out to ensure the people who receive it are those who are struggling and in need?

I welcome the supports for na daoine óga and the childcare costs. I welcome the taxation breaks that are badly needed for the people of middle Ireland. People are getting up in the middle of the day. Another cohort of people are older and have reared their children. They are working and paying for everything. They are getting nothing from this budget.

I also raise the issue of family carers. These are people about whom we talk and to whom we pay homage. This budget gives them €500 extra and a social welfare increase of €12 per week. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, stated that the social welfare increase should be at least €20. There is no recognition of the valuable work that carers do. I thought they would automatically get the fuel allowance. They will be refused in many other areas. These people keep bed-blockers out of hospital and allow for them to be cared for in their homes. I salute carers. The Government salutes carers but has done nothing for them in the budget. They had great expectations that the Government would do something meaningful for them.

The homelessness and housing crises have continued for at least two decades, if not more. How do we decide to help the situation? We decide to tax the concrete that makes every block that goes into houses. This is obviously a sting in the tail for the people who found mica, pyrite and other issues in their houses. Why did the Government not go after the rogue companies responsible, many of which are still operating? It is they who caused this problem. The Government is instead putting up the price of concrete for family businesses such as Corbett Concrete in my own town of Cahir. It is a long-standing family business. The price of concrete has gone out of reach for all the products that company makes. It serves the agriculture, home and road industries, and provides underpasses and everything else. That will provide no support for anyone struggling to buy a house.

The budget extended the first-time buyers’ grant and supports for young people who are trying to buy a house. We are told the house must be new or unoccupied. One cannot get planning in many parts of the country but there are semi-derelict houses available and everything else, but the scheme does not include such properties. The announcements that have been made are like Liquorice Allsorts. We used to always leave the big round yellow ones with the black spots in the bottom of the bag and took the nice ones, the ones with three layers, first. That is what the Government is doing here. It is fine for the Government to announce inducements today but the tax on fuel, the tax on living and electricity prices are still spiralling upwards. We cannot stop that.

The vacant house levy must be welcomed but are people going to take selfies, as Deputy Tóibín said, to prove they were in the house and it was not vacant for in excess of 30 days? Are we going to tackle every single local authority in the country with dozens of vacant properties? Some of those authorities have had vacant properties for decades. Are we going to tax them? Is it all about ordinary people? There is nothing about the State provided by the Government.

There was talk about an announcement in respect of free GP care for children. The Government did not consult the GPs. A man, woman or child cannot get a GP appointment within a week. We are now going to pile on more. The Government announced this initiative two years ago and it was never fulfilled. People are weary of Government announcements.

I wholeheartedly welcome, at long last, the great news about defibrillators and other equipment that will be welcomed by many volunteer groups, such as the First Responders in Newcastle. They do tremendous work, and I thank them for it. It is good that when those groups are fundraising, the VAT element no longer needs to be paid. It is a nonsense to be taxing such people. The people who pay money through fundraising have already paid punitive taxes. That is what is wrong in that regard.

There are also anomalies about participants in community employment, CE, schemes. They work in and enhance every community. It is not clear to me that they are now going to qualify for the fuel allowance. Some will and others will not. Many of them will not, so I want that explained. If it is not, the Rural Independent Group will be bringing an amendment to the finance Bill to try to acknowledge them. They only get an extra €20 or €25 a week. They play a meaningful part in society because the work they do is wonderful. It is a means of reintroducing people to the workforce and allows them to learn, re-engage and reskill. Goodness knows we need people to reskill. This Government seems to be devoid of imagination in areas like that. It almost seems as if Comhaontas Glas is stuck into every second page of this budget. There are references to green this and green that. The people are blue in the face with the green agenda and the punitive costs it puts on them. The Government has talked about the war in Ukraine and climate change but these massive increases in costs were created by the bad management of the Government and its predecessor, which was kept in office by Fianna Fáil. The Government cannot blame the war. The Rural Independent Group opposed the carbon tax almost 18 months ago. Seven Teachtaí Dála in this House voted against it. The Government is now reaping what it sowed. The carbon tax is punitive. The Ministers have told us the hundreds of ways the money is going to be ring-fenced and spent on houses and homes through retrofitting and farming schemes. Even the dogs in the street know that money is not being spent on farms or on retrofitting. People have waited decades for retrofitting. It is, of course, spent in the leafy suburbs of Dublin 4, the constituency of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. His hands, and his green nimble fingers, are all over this budget. His south-facing window boxes are all over this budget. The Government is pandering to stay in government. Is mór an true é. The people out there expect leadership, good governance and imagination. I asked my wife what she thought of the budget. She said that budgets are for taking money from people and turning around little bits and pieces. How right she was. This is a perfect example of that. The money will be fired out today but there will be small print included when we get it through the finance Bill. There will be many more restrictions and loopholes that mean people will not be able to claim money. The fat cats, big developers and the people who come in here and buy up homes will not be touched at all. The Government is beholden to those interests. That is the case for some of the Green Party, who care little about the ordinary people.

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