Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Every person in the country is impacted in some way by the budget and each individual and sector has its own priorities and aspirations. Invariably, no budget will give everyone what they want and believe they should get There is no one-size-fits-all budget and today's is no exception. Given time, every Member of this House could dissect the budget as it relates to their own constituencies. There are common threads throughout budget 2024 that are of serious importance to people everywhere, including health, housing, education and training.

There is an urgent need to invest in existing community nursing units to make them compliant with HIQA requirements. Without this, in addition to the wider roll-out of minor injury units, we are not tackling health needs before they reach a more serious level. This in turn places additional pressure on our seriously and sometimes dangerously overburdened hospitals. This vicious circle just keeps on turning, leaving people languishing on hospital trolleys for what can only be described as an inhumane length of time, in some cases. This is the price that people are paying following the historic decision to close local accident and emergency units with the promise of centres of excellence in bigger regional hospitals. In my constituency, Limerick regional hospital was to take up the shortfall from Ennis and Nenagh hospitals, but this has not happened because we were too slow to invest in the regional hospital. We did not deliver in relation to the bed complement or the number of doctors, nurses, paramedics and ambulance personnel that were required. The ambulance service that serves Limerick regional hospital is underfunded and under-resourced.

Mental health services should be a priority, particularly for children and young people. The services currently available need to be rescrutinised and the voices of those involved in providing them must be heard.

Child and adolescent mental health services have been reported as being staffed at less than two thirds of national recommendations. How can this service, which provides a lifeline to young parents and their families, be expected to operate without proper staffing levels?

I welcome the provision of free schoolbooks at primary level and up to junior certificate level for students. If we can do this, why can we not provide access to counselling and psychotherapy services to all primary and secondary school students? The evidence is there for the need for this, but there has to be a will to implement it.

Every year we throw money at the health service. Leading up to this budget, we were told that the health overrun in the past year has been €1.1 billion. This money was intended to improve the services but invariably the services do not improve and, in many cases, they become worse. This is a major issue for our health service. In last year's budget, a record €225 million additional allocation to address waiting lists was made during the course of the year. What has been the impact of this additional spending? We hear very few positive reports in our constituency offices from that particular fund. Can the reasons for its apparent failure to make an impact be pinpointed? Waiting lists featured again in today's budget, with a promise to address them. How and where was last year's allocation spent and where is the evidence of results? Today we heard plans to increase health staff by over 22,000. With all due respect, this sounds a bit like the story of the loaves and the fishes. Across all grades, health staff are leaving Ireland every single day. Recruitment drives for staff are failing to deliver. How and where will this additional staff complement be found? Will we continue to import staff while our own trained people form queues at airports to leave the country? As public representatives, we need regular updates on where money allocated to health is being spent, how it is being spent and what is the outcome of such investment.

The Regional Group's pre-budget submission on farming and agriculture identified the need for an increase of €18 million in funding for the suckler cow carbon efficiency programme. This was to ensure that all qualifying applicants receive payments. We looked for an increase in the sheep welfare scheme and we also sought the introduction of an €8 payment per sheep to cover the cost of shearing. We also called for the exemption of functional farms and R2 zoned land from the residential zoned land tax and the renewal of the fodder support scheme for 2024.

As agriculture traditionally receives between 2% and 2.5%, an increase of 2.3% or €500 million in the current capital allocations was expected today. The €1.9 billion allocated today for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has many voids to fill. Our backbone industry is crying out for help. Without financial support, our farming sector faces a winter, spring and summer of discontent, from which many people will never recover. If the Government allows this to happen, it does so at its peril.

Housing remains a contentious issue throughout the country. A place to live is a basic human requisite. It is not a luxury to have a roof over your head; it is a necessity. Many worthy suggestions have been made to help to tackle our current housing crisis. The Croí Cónaithe scheme does not have its worth acknowledged enough. This is available within every county council. It aims to facilitate housing applicants who are willing to refurbish vacant properties. The scheme needs to be enhanced and there needs to be a greater awareness of it. Crucial to this would be the abolition of the capital gains tax liability that the owner of a derelict property is levied with when he or she hands it over to a child or grandchild who can avail of the scheme. This is a major deterrent to what could be an answer to many people having their own home.

I want to highlight a glaring omission in today's housing allocation. Why has the help for first-time buyers of second-hand homes been omitted? It should be possible for thousands of people to avail of this scheme. This needs to be closely examined as families across the country are depending on the scheme to get on the property ladder through the purchase of second-hand affordable housing.

Small businesses in many towns across the country continue to struggle. Last weekend alone, I heard of six long-established businesses in north Tipperary that had closed their shutters for the last time. These included a jeweller's, cafés, a beauty salon and a boutique. Government initiatives have pushed cost and overhead burdens on businesses. The increase in the minimum wage, new sick pay rules, automatic pension enrolment and paternity leave create additional costs for small businesses.

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