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

While on the subject of education, I am not sure if the primary school capitation grant has been increased. Many schools cannot afford to put on the heating oil this year - perhaps that is the green way of dealing with them - or pay their electricity bill, leaving some schools having to ring the local parish priest to cough up to pay these bills. Yes, I said the "local parish priest". Church-bashing Deputies come into this Chamber every week. The local church is now paying the bills to keep the heating and lights on in some schools. Many more schools are making the decision to pay what they can and send the electricity and oil bills to the Department because if they do not, the power will be turned off and the school will close down. We have been led into a serious situation here. I would like to know whether it has been dealt with or not. The devil is in the detail.

What did the farmers get today? I have looked at the budget report and I do not see anything, apart from a few quid for slurry tanks, delivered for farmers. The green diesel is outrageous and farmers desperately needed something delivered in that regard but it has not happened. This is a shocking disaster for farming. I am telling the farm organisations to wake up and stop running around, rubbing shoulders with Government. It is time to wake up and stand up for the dairy farmer, and the suckler and sheep farmers. They are the people who need it. The Government is talking about a few schemes here and there. Those are funded by Europe. The EU will soon tie into that and say that it is delivering here too.

What did the fishing sector get? Zero. The one thing other European countries did to protect their fishermen was to decrease the cost of fuel, by cutting the VAT on fuel for fishermen. Ireland did zilch for fishermen.

The VAT rate for tourism will go from 9% to 13.5% next February. The Government is covering up again. I met with representatives of the tourism sector in west Cork, including the owners of the Emmet Hotel, the Fernhill House Hotel hotel, and the Celtic Ross Hotel. They are brilliant people delivering affordable hotel rooms to the people of Ireland and now they will face an increase to 13.5%. The Government is codding the people. It stated in the budget that the 9% rate would continue, but in small writing it states that it will be until February. The devil is in the detail in much of this.

The increase to the cost of concrete products, blocks and ready mix, is being poured down on top of the ordinary people who are trying to build their homes. It is scandalous in many ways.

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