Dáil debates

Thursday, 29 September 2022

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Financial Resolution No. 6: General (Resumed)

 

1:55 pm

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish my colleague all the best in his analysis. It is certainly an interesting one. I appreciate the time I have, albeit short, to make a few comments on this budget.

In a budget of €11 billion, it is impossible to give an opinion on every line and detail. I wanted to choose a few select points and offer a few considerations the Minister of State might take back before we get the finance and social welfare Bills in due course. To quote a former Taoiseach, the late Garret FitzGerald, this is a good budget. That has to be recognised. When we consider what member states across the European Union and other countries around western Europe, including our nearest neighbours, have to do to in order have the resources and financial ability to do what this Government is doing in this budget, it makes us the envy of many other member states.

This is a credit, most importantly, and first and foremost, to the hard-working people of this country and the businesses of all shapes and sizes across the country that kept the lights on during the pandemic and made every possible sacrifice to ensure that tax revenues went up so much. This has resulted in an economy with, in effect, full employment and continuous economic growth. These are very important things. The social challenges are great - no one is pretending they are not - but the current position gives us the basis to start addressing the challenges in a way that so many other countries simply cannot.

One area I am particularly enthused by is the fact that the budget clearly puts money back into people's pockets through a genuine income tax package to address USC in a manner that rewards work and gives people the opportunity to continue in their pursuits. One thing I welcome that is not in this budget, but which has been highlighted for consideration, is an effective third rate of income tax. That would be important. It would put us in a far more regular position alongside many other economies. A third rate of tax would be great for employment. I hope that after the assessment is done it is something that we put on the table for consideration for the Government.

A range of payments is very important to deal with the potential and rising cost-of-living and energy crisis we face. None of us can be sure of its sheer magnitude or of what will happen, be it related to the ongoing, brutal war foisted on the people of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs or the extremely worrying situation in the United Kingdom and the reaction on the bond market to the sheer budgetary madness that was announced last week.

The sort of payment we see in order that people have the chance to cope with some of the rising costs is the fact that €1,000 will come off third level fees this year and €500 will come off next year. It will make a tangible difference to families throughout the country who are totting up the costs and seeing where savings can be made, as will the double child support benefit and, indeed, the additional winter and fuel allowance benefit package.

I think we all agree that housing was the biggest issue in the general election of 2020, regardless of constituency. One would have to be a fool to say otherwise. The fact that there is a commitment to build 9,000 extra social homes is welcome in this budget but we have to keep building and address the rising cost of construction and the labour shortage.

After housing, what came up in my own constituency on countless occasions was the issue of childcare, that is, the cost and availability of childcare and, indeed, the ability of childcare providers to simply keep the lights on. That is why I very much welcome the measures announced in this budget. I welcome the Together for Better funding model that was announced prior to the budget, but we can do more in this area.

One area in which I have asked for genuine consideration over the coming weeks is the situation of childminders. Not everybody can put their child into a registered aftercare facility, crèche or Montessori centre. When we look at the funding model of Together for Better, it is a question of why we have 100% take up of childcare providers in Leitrim but only 81% in my own constituency. That area of core funding has to be looked at. There is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach to this. Costs are rising. The availability of staff is decreasing. It is an area that absolutely requires a fresh look but that is not to take away from what is extremely welcome in this budget.

The easiest thing to do would be to come into this Chamber, go through an €11 billion budget and pick out the two or three things that are not exactly perfect. However, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to this budget because much is being done for every aspect of society.

I am extremely enthused about the commitment to recruit 1,000 extra members of An Garda Síochána and 400-odd extra civilian staff. That is vitally important to the aims of getting gardaí out on the street, on the beat and in our communities. That is the most important thing. It is not just about addressing crime rates but the genuine perception and concern when it comes to antisocial behaviour, be it on our public transport or in our neighbourhoods. I fundamentally believe that those additional gardaí have to be accompanied by the supports for the gardaí with regard to equipment, vehicles and access to ICT and, parallel to the budget, by a genuine review of our sentencing policy in this State.

We have legislation in this Chamber already. A Private Member's Bill has been introduced by Deputy Griffin, to cite ramming as an offence and the other legislation is from me, which would introduce a mandatory minimum sentence for anyone who would assault a peace officer, be it a member of An Garda Síochána, a firefighter or a paramedic. This is the sort of thing people really want to see. If we have more gardaí on our streets making our communities safer, they need to see that those who attack members of the Garda and the State will go to prison for an extremely long time.

There is much to consider in this budget. I have gone into the WhatsApp groups, houses and neighbourhoods in my community and there is a welcome for this. People are worried about what is around the corner but this budget fundamentally puts the State and, most importantly, our society on the best possible footing to meet those challenges in the coming weeks and months.

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