Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There was very little in the budget that we had not picked up over recent days, weeks and months, given the flying of kites to see what might be acceptable. From that point of view, little in the budget is new and we will see what is really in it when we get the detail.

I welcome the fact the Government has taken measures to help people with the cost of living but I am concerned that many working people will not be very excited about what they heard today. People in my constituency have to travel to work by car every day because they have no public transport to bring them, so they cannot avail of the 20% reduction in public transport costs. They have to sit in traffic for up to an hour and a half each way, amounting to 15 hours a week, while their engine is running, to try to get to work. The cost of going to work and of living should be coupled together, and people who are working need to get more to ensure it really is worth it to go to work, not least in the case of people on middle incomes. We are increasing the threshold for the upper tax band to €40,000, which is grand but a lot of people will not be able to benefit from that either. In that regard, the working person who gets up early in the morning and works hard to support his or her family is probably wondering what all the talk of this budget over recent weeks and months was all about.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, stated he is going to invest €337 million in the warmer homes scheme to upgrade 37,000 houses, but what will happen when people in my constituency apply because they are in food poverty, are assessed and accepted for the scheme only to be told that nothing can be done for two years? How is this money going to be spent next year given there is already a waiting list of two years? A dose of reality has to be injected into the schemes of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to ensure it does what it is supposed to do rather than make announcements about more and more money while people have to wait for two years.

The point-blank refusal to expand the help-to-buy scheme to the first-time buyers of second-hand homes was a missed opportunity. Young people are willing to take on the responsibility to make a home for themselves but if they buy a second-hand home, they will not get the benefit of the help-to-buy scheme. That is a glaring omission and it is wrong. Likewise, until this week, the Croí Cónaithe fund, or vacant homes grants, did not apply to rural areas, another glaring omission, but I am delighted the Minister has corrected that.

On capital investment, I listened with interest to the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in regard to what he was going to spend next year and in the two or three years after that. The European Union has downgraded the north and west of our country, serving the counties of Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim, the five counties alone in Connacht, along with Monaghan and Donegal. Ours is now a region that is lagging, and that is because we have fallen way behind in respect of the investment made over a period. If we are realistic about offshore wind energy and so on, we should invest immediately in the ports of Killybegs, Rossaveal, Galway and Foynes to prepare them to realise the potential in offshore energy rather than look out at the sea and wonder what is going on. When they go to some other part of the world to get offshore energy, get their equipment serviced or whatever, we will point out how great it was to see them passing and going up to Norway or elsewhere to get serviced. It is important we get our hands dirty in getting things done in order that we can see the west thrive. We also have to invest more in infrastructure such as rail networks to ensure the west can compete. The report that states ours is a lagging region is not an individual report but instead one published by the European Commission, so we have to address it.

Broadband was mentioned earlier. The contract was signed in 2019 and the delivery so far has been very disappointing. We need to accelerate the roll-out of broadband and push it on. We are three years into the contract and something like 37,000 houses have been connected, which is a fraction of the 900,000 target.

People are calling out for broadband. They ring my constituency office and, I am sure, many others across the country to say they have contacted National Broadband Ireland, NBI, and Eir only to be told it will be 2024, 2025, 2026 or 2027. It is not good enough. We need to improve on that.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, I am concerned that what is in the budget today is masking some of the deficiencies that are not in there. What I mean is that while one-off payments and supports are in place, it masks the lack of recognition of the proven fact that a person who is living with a disability needs between €9,000 to €12,000 per year additionally to meet the costs of that disability. In today's budget, we gave them €500 for that additional cost. It is nothing to do with the cost-of-living crisis we have; this is a crisis people have disabilities have been living with for as long as I can remember. It is important that we acknowledge that. As we put in place all these supports, it is important that we bring people along with us.

I welcome the fact that supports are in place for education but they do not go far enough. Free school textbooks for primary schools is not good enough. We should have them for secondary schools as well. Why could we not do that? I will hand over my colleague at this stage; there is much more to be said about the budget. We will continue with the discussion.

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