Dáil debates

Tuesday, 27 September 2022

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Budget Statement 2023

 

6:30 pm

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today's budget reminds me of an assless bucket leaking beyond control. There was a time when leaks before a budget announcement would lead to Ministers' heads rolling. Now, with this slippery Government, God knows that the leaks could have come from the top and will not be dealt with.

This budget was meant to be a giveaway budget, and some people did get something. However, if one looks into the budget in more detail, one must ask who will be better off after it. Those who have looked into the budget have said that only 23% of ordinary working men and women will benefit at all from the budget. The only way to tackle inflation in this country so all could benefit was to decrease the cost of fuel. That cost affects almost every man and woman over the age of 16 in my constituency. To the naked eye, today's announcement seems to be decreasing the cost of fuel. However, the Government has done a kind of con job on the people. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, said, "On the taxation side, I am extending the current excise reduction of 21 cent per litre in respect of petrol, 16 cent per litre in respect of diesel". That has already been given so the Government is giving absolutely nothing. Carbon tax is going to be increased. The Minister announcement that, "The rate per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for petrol and diesel will go up from €41 to €48.50 from 12 October". In other words, it is not a decrease but an increase we are going to see. The ordinary people of rural Ireland are going to be ripped asunder again. The Government is trying to con them with this carry-on instead of coming into the Chamber, being honest and saying it is not going to do anything to address the cost of fuel because the Green Party is wagging the Government's tail.

We in rural Ireland do not have public transport. We have no choice but to use what we have. Last Thursday, I questioned the Minister for Transport about public transport in my own constituency in west Cork. He told me he cannot afford to deliver it but would if he could. He cannot afford it because he has wasted the carbon tax money that was pulled out of the pockets of people in rural Ireland and spent it on pet projects around our capital. The Government has reduced the cost of public transport around Dublin and areas close to it by 28%. That has not been given to the people of rural Ireland. The fact is we have no decrease in the cost of fuel, coupled with no end to carbon tax in these horrid times, which is what the people of rural Ireland begged me to deliver.

Unfortunately, the Government has failed to deliver this and will instead heap further misery on the people of rural Ireland. Unless I am mistaken, there is no decrease in the cost of home heating oil or the simple bag of coal that almost every home uses.

In 2020, the price of home heating oil was 42 cent per litre. Now, the cheapest one can get it is 82.5 cents per litre. In comparison to other years, it will cost ordinary mothers and fathers, and elderly people, at least €1,500 extra to heat their homes this year if they use oil and coal, which most people have no choice but to use. Of course, the Greens are wagging the tail. The Government's answer is to turn a blind eye to this crisis. A bag of coal costs more than €40. It cost €20 or less not so long ago. The Government's answer to this is the sticky-plaster solution, by adding €12 to pensions and social welfare. I ask the Minister to go out and buy some home heating oil, a bag of coal, a bale of briquettes, or a bit of turf if he is allowed, and see how far €12 will go. It is nothing short of a disgrace. The Rural Independent Group would have accepted nothing less than €20 per week.

I have not been able to study the budget in respect of health in more detail, but from what I can see there is nothing for sufferers of Parkinson's disease. If I find out in the next few days that I am wrong, I will stand up in this Chamber and clearly apologise. However, if what I said is the case, it would be astonishing because those people desperately need Parkinson's nurses. If the Minister has not delivered on that - we got many near-promises on that - it would be an absolute disgrace.

As for education, it would be wrong of me not to welcome the provision of free books to all primary-school goers, which we heard about over the weekend in one of those famous leaks, but what about students who go to secondary school? What did these children ever do to the Minister for Education while in school that she will not give them free books? Why pick on them in today's budget?

The extra funds to clean up the mess with the bus tickets will be most welcome. This is nothing short of a shambles. Having listened to a Fianna Fáil Deputy on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday, it is obvious that they do not have a clue who did not get tickets. Holders of concessionary tickets did not get tickets and those who are entitled to get tickets on bus routes in Bandon, Clonakilty, Kinsale, Skibbereen, Bantry, Mizen Head, the Beara Peninsula, and Sheep's Head, did not get tickets. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's answer to this in west Cork was to hold public meetings, basically carrying the fools further, instead of accepting that there was only one way to solve this, which was to put on extra buses and bigger buses. The free-ticket system sounds great, but when the Government makes an announcement and then goes into hiding, there is something seriously wrong. It has left hard-working families picking up the stress. To make matters worse, I know people, two of whom work in the office, who got tickets for which they never asked. The child of one of them is not even going to school. What is going on is an astonishing cockup.

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