Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Never has it taken so long for Ministers to say so little of significance. The budget the Ministers have outlined has a wider context, involving international events and economic forces beyond their control. There is another context for the budget, however, one for which they are responsible, namely, the years of successive Governments failing to address the biggest issues people face. One of the Ministers said that these policies did not happen by accident. He is absolutely right. These policies have constructed the crises in housing, health and many other areas. Cost-of-living pressures have become entrenched. Those in government have had 13 long years, yet they have failed to deliver for ordinary workers and families. People are bearing the brunt of inadequate investment in housing, health, essential services and vital infrastructure. While this budget may help some, it will not bring the change people are demanding. The word “continue” was used over and over. This is yet another back-slapping budget from the Government. It is a case of “Fair play to ourselves".

There are two tiers to the economy. Macroeconomic headlines mean nothing to people who are struggling to keep their heads above water. As we sit in this Chamber today, there are 785,000 people living below the poverty line. After housing costs, one in five people is existing - not living - in poverty. These people include renters, lone parents, children and adults with disabilities. Almost half of all renters are at risk of poverty. One out of every two lone parents is at risk of poverty. Some 14% live in consistent poverty. Half of all people living with a disability are at risk of poverty. This State has the lowest employment rate of people with disabilities in Europe. Why? Because the barriers to employment for people with disabilities have never been tackled.

The Government is economically short-sighted. It has failed on the biggest challenges we face in housing, health and the cost of living. Not only has a generation been forced into a life of renting, but the Government has turned the State into a renter. Private companies are being given more and more control of our public services. Outsourcing, private consultants and leasing contacts are siphoning off vast amounts of public money. Private companies will now own 90% of all primary care centres, with the State just a tenant. We are paying €20 million a year in rent. This costs more in the long run, and the sites and buildings involved will never be owned by the State. It leaves future health budgets in the hands of developers and landlords.

The Government is doing the same thing in third level education, with controversial public private partnerships for technological universities. The latter are developer-led, with the Government paying for 25 years for the right to use the buildings. The European Court of Auditors criticised this as bad value for money but the Government chooses to ignore these warnings, pushing ahead despite the long-term impact on public finances.

There are 40,000 civil servants and 900,000 sq. m of office space. The Government chooses to rent 40% of this office space. This is despite a Government report stating that it is 30% to 40% cheaper to buy office space. Still it chooses to continue to rent. Why are we expanding in all these areas when we have the money to do things properly? This is an obvious step the Government could take to reduce costs in the medium term. We need a government that thinks and plans beyond the annual budget. Huge costs are associated with the failure to deliver social and affordable housing.

I am reminded of the first budget speech made by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in 2016 after five years of Fine Gael in government. We have had seven more years of Fine Gael and seven more budget speeches. Addressing this Chamber that day, the Minister stated that housing was "a core priority". He went on to say: "Forty-seven thousand new social housing units will be delivered by 2021. " The truth is housing has never been a Fine Gael priority. We see from today’s budget that it is still not a priority. We know that because only a small fraction of those houses were ever delivered. Had those in Fine Gael kept their word, people would not be locked out of home ownership, rents would not have skyrocketed and the number of people who are homeless would not have doubled.

As we sit here looking at all the seats in this Chamber, we should remember that the number of children without a place to call home could fill the Chamber 25 times over. Yet the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, says that this country is one of the best places on earth to be a child. Tell that to those children. That does not even include those who are crammed into rooms with relatives. Imagine what it is like to be the parents of those children. More than twice the number of children are homeless today as when that budget speech was given and when we were told that housing was a priority for Fine Gael.

Hundreds of thousands of other lives are being put on hold. Two out of three people under 30 are living with their parents. It is hard to believe that in a country as rich as ours, there are 522,000 adults living with their parents. This is up substantially since 2016, and one of the highest rates in Europe. Most of them are in employment but a job no longer means you can afford somewhere to live or start a family. This budget tells me that the Government cannot and will not get to grips with the housing crisis. There is no increase in their targets and those targets are universally seen as too low. Sinn Féin would deliver 21,000 social and affordable homes. This reflects the scale of investment and the sense of urgency that are needed. We have an opportunity to make a lasting difference in people’s lives by addressing housing. People need a government that is willing to stand up for them. Ending the housing crisis is Sinn Féin’s number one priority.

The Government has not only overseen a deepening crisis in housing, it has also overseen a deepening crisis in health. In 2016, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, also stated that health was "also a core priority". As of this summer, there are more than 880,000 patients on hospital waiting lists. That is almost 1 million people and double the number in 2016 when health became a Fine Gael core priority. How can anyone trust this Government to deliver? Hospitals are operating at dangerously unsafe levels. They broke a new record, as Deputy Doherty said, on Tuesday, 3 January 2023, when 931 patients were left on trolleys. It is heartbreaking to see average waiting times in some hospitals reaching over 27 hours. I struggle to imagine the hardship and turmoil that must cause patients, families, and staff.

In a letter to the Government this week, 78 Donegal GPs wrote “we cannot continue to sit back and watch our patients wait for hours in ambulances at the door of the ED or on hard chairs waiting for treatments”. That is what the Government has done. Is it any wonder that 9,000 people leave emergency departments every month without even being seen? Again, more than twice as many as in 2016 are leaving without having received emergency care. Staff are at breaking point as conditions continue to deteriorate.

It is not just in our hospitals. The failure of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments permeates deep into community healthcare. Dental care for the least well-off in our society is collapsing. Access to timely GP care is no longer guaranteed in many communities. There is a severe lack of community beds. Nursing homes are struggling to stay open. The lack of investment in mental health has destroyed lives and wrecked families. Nowhere is change more badly needed. For too long under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, our health service has lurched from crisis to crisis.

Patients and healthcare staff deserve better. The Government brought forward a budget with essentially no new measures, and €100 million in a budget the size of the health budget will have no impact whatsoever. When I listened to the Ministers’ speeches, I thought that this Government had thrown in the towel on health.

Sinn Féin would invest in health services. We have seen the alarming rise of poverty among older people and people with disabilities, and one of the burdens is the cost of healthcare and medicine. Sinn Féin would reduce the maximum monthly drugs payment to €50, abolish prescription charges and extend medical cards to 400,000 additional people. This would take some pressure off people and be a step in the direction of universal healthcare. Every year under Fine Gael, people have to travel further and wait longer to access healthcare. Sinn Féin has a multi-year plan to fix the health service, starting with a €1.3 billion investment in capacity, workforce planning and cutting the cost of healthcare.

People living with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities have been let down by this Government over and over again and it continues to deny their basic human rights. They have to fight each and every day for access to the most basic of services. The disability action plan agreed in July of this year is already in jeopardy. The €55 million outlined in the budget goes nowhere near far enough to make that plan viable. I am mindful that there are parents of children who have been impacted by sodium valproate and they are still waiting for a pathway to care. These children have been harmed and they still do not have the pathway to care that they need. It is unacceptable that the Government has failed to provide adequate and appropriate residential care and that so many people remain in unsuitable congregated settings. Why are there young people with disabilities living in nursing homes? Elderly parents of children with disabilities need to know there is an agreed care plan for their children. The Government is failing to provide enough adult day services, respite services and home care packages, pushing carers to breaking point and leaving them in financial stress. Sinn Féin would invest over €140 million to deliver the disability action plan. We need to ensure that people with disabilities are not further harmed by the cost of living crisis.

The fact is that people are already in arrears and do not have enough to make it through the winter. Sinn Féin recognises that we are in a cost of living crisis, a crisis that is deep-rooted and that cannot be fixed with one-off measures alone. We do not have to wait until budget day to know how difficult the winter is going to be. Every year, a Christmas bonus is announced as if it is some type of gift. People who rely on State pensions, disability payments or any other payment deserve certainty. Many are struggling to get by. That is why Sinn Féin set out a proposal to invest €1.7 billion in social protection.

Sinn Féin would increase child benefit and would really address child poverty. Poverty among retired people has also been increasing in recent years, which is an alarming trend. An increase in pensions alone will not tackle the consistent poverty faced by some. More targeted increases to the living alone allowance and fuel allowance are required and this must also be combined with a plan to ensure older people have secure housing. Sinn Féin would also target greater support to children and families.

The €7 million allocated by the Government for capitation for schools is shocking. Schools are struggling with increased costs and this will continue to push the cost onto parents, even through the so-called voluntary contributions. There is nothing on student accommodation. There are thousands of student beds that could be unlocked if the Government was serious about addressing the annual crisis in student accommodation. That is why, in our alternative budget, we allocated €100 million in capital to unlock all of those projects. The student union told the Government last week that accommodation has not been provided. This €100 million is good for students and parents and would take the pressure off the private rental market.

The Government has finally been persuaded and pushed into action on childcare. Despite the Government commitment, parents will be forced to wait until September 2024 to see any reduction in their fees. Since 2017, our spokesperson on children, Deputy Kathleen Funchion, has fought hard to convince the Government of the need and the importance of investing in childcare. Now, we urgently request that it addresses the issues for smaller providers, particularly those within the ECCE model. The wage talks must continue and workers in the childcare sector must have their qualifications and professionalism recognised. People, particularly women, are being pushed out of the workplace by unaffordable childcare. We have labour shortages when we desperately need affordable childcare.

Sinn Féin recognises that the causes and effects of climate change are not equally shared. The wealthiest 10% of the population emits nearly as much as the bottom 50%. At the heart of any green transition must be fairness. The only way we are going to deal with the climate emergency is through transformational and brave leadership, empowering households, communities and various sectors of the economy to take collective action. The allocation of windfall corporation taxes into a green infrastructure fund that cannot be accessed until 2026 raises questions about the investment that is needed here and now. We are in the bottom three in the EU for the share of energy use coming from renewables. It does not go unnoticed that the climate plan pushes all the hard work down the road, ensuring all the heavy lifting is beyond the lifetime of this Government. Even the lower targets the Government has set itself have not been met.

This is because too many people are being left out. The Government’s retrofit scheme does not work for most people and Social Justice Ireland has argued that it is deeply regressive. Last winter, one in three people in the State experienced energy poverty. The extent of energy deprivation is often hidden. We just do not know how many people do not turn on the heat because they fear they cannot afford it.

The Government still prioritises those with the greatest means over those in the greatest need. A wealthy householder can access €25,000 of taxpayer-funded grants for a deep retrofit whereas many with far greater need cannot access basic measures, such as attic or wall insulation. At the same time, the Government is punishing people who rely on solid fuel for heat, households that are often cold and rural homes with the highest emissions. We need to help households to move away from solid fuels rather than just penalise them. That is why Sinn Féin would introduce a specific scheme for households relying on solid fuels. The only way to meet retrofitting targets is to reform the unfair system and ramp up investment. Sinn Féin would allocate an additional €182.5 million for residential and community retrofitting and solar under the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The Government’s increased funding of €24 million in the face of a climate emergency is totally inadequate. Sinn Féin would provide an additional €45 million for retrofits and solar under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We would allocate over €500 million in additional spending to climate-related policies. We would double funding for the solar PV scheme, as well as putting solar panels on every school.

There is no other country with the same nature as Ireland. Our biodiversity is unique. We need to protect and enhance our biodiversity for future generations. Only 2% of our land is covered by native woodland. Sadly, there is nothing in this budget that reflects the scale of the emergency. With the right policies, this can be restored. The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity stated: “the ambition of the State needs to be significantly increased to reflect the scale of Ireland’s biodiversity crisis”. This budget does not do that. The citizens' assembly goes on to state that this is likely to require substantial and sustained increases in expenditure, which should be made available immediately and guaranteed in the long term. We would invest €75.5 million in biodiversity, establishing a €50 million voluntary nature restoration fund.

Investing in public transport is vital if we want to cut emissions. Sinn Féin recognises that projects such as the western rail corridor and the Navan rail line, among other projects, are not an optional extra. The Government should make the 20% fare reduction and the 50% fare reduction for young people and students permanent. It absolutely needs to be permanent if we are serious about climate change. It is not the fault of people who live in rural areas that they do not have a public transport option. They should not be punished for the Government’s failure to provide them with public transport. This should be done alongside a ramp-up in spending on the Connecting Ireland rural bus scheme, giving people alternatives and making a lasting difference in people’s lives.

The just transition must be for individuals, communities and regions. For far too long, areas of certain regions have been falling further and further behind.

It is vital that we begin to really invest in infrastructure in the regions and the rural areas. It was mentioned in the Minister's speech that we have a fund for another economic downturn. In the west and the north west, we cannot wait to invest in infrastructure in that way as part of a fair and just transition and to undo years of underinvestment.

This looks like another budget that will not reduce regional inequality. I am greatly concerned that expenditure is not even being assessed in terms of regional inequality. The GDP of the north west has fallen 11% further below the EU average since Fine Gael came into power. The gap between incomes in the north west and the rest of the State is now three times higher than it was when Fine Gael took over a decade ago. The EU regional competitiveness index shows the scale of the infrastructure deficit in the north west. Out of the 234 regions across the EU, the north west ranks 218th for infrastructure, which places the region in the bottom 7% alongside some of the poorest regions in the EU.

This Government has no plan and no vision for rural Ireland, the west or the north west. This is evident in its unwillingness to commit to road and rail investment. It is evident in the lack of ambition for grid infrastructure for green energy. The region urgently needs road and rail infrastructure, including the N17 and the western rail corridor, investment in Knock Airport and our regional airports, and a grid capable of maximising the opportunities of renewable offshore energy along the western seaboard. We have the expertise, determination and local leadership to deliver on the promise of the Atlantic economic corridor. To do this, the west and north west need an infrastructure stimulus package. We did not see it in this budget. What is good for the north west is good for the State as a whole. Pressure needs to be taken off the bigger urban centres.

In agriculture, we need to support family farms and fishing communities to ensure they are sustainable and financially viable. We are asking more and more from farmers in terms of climate and food security. Farmers and fishermen want a government that will work with them, and not against them. Sinn Féin has long called for an increased payment of €20 for ewes and far greater supports for suckler cows. We would have liked to have seen a €300 payment per cow. I am concerned to see only €33 million in additional core funding to cover the new measures. Obviously, we will need to see those in detail.

When we look at justice, the increase in the trainee garda allowance is the right decision, as Sinn Féin outlined in its alternative budget when we called for the allowance to be doubled. This is finally a step in the right direction. It should never have taken this long to begin addressing the recruitment challenges. After 12 years of Fine Gael in charge of justice, there is a crisis in policing. This has not just happened; it has been allowed to become worse year on year. Fianna Fáil started closing the Garda stations and Fine Gael just carried on. There are fewer gardaí and fewer Garda stations now then there were before either of those parties took over the last government. People have a right to feel safe in their homes, on the streets or in their communities. Twelve years of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in the Department of Justice have done real harm to our justice system.

Our Defence Forces are at a critical juncture due to the failures of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. There is a significant retention and recruitment crisis. In each year the parties have been in office, more people have left the Defence Forces than have joined. The Commission on the Defence Forces set out a need for additional capital expenditure of €250 million, in 2020 figures, each year for ten years. Last year the Government missed the target by €70 million and it has missed by €70 million again today. The single most important thing that can be done to address the retention and recruitment crisis is the application of the working time directive to the Defence Forces. This budget makes no provision to collect the data necessary or to implement the directive next year. Sinn Féin wants to build our Defence Forces-----

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