Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Canney. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy McGrath, on his first budget. It was framed as a budget for children, workers and the planet. Measures include improved availability of early learning and childcare places, the expansion of free hot school meals to primary schools, and additional support for children with a disability or children experiencing disadvantage. The energy credits and one-off financial cost-of-living supports, totalling €2.7 billion, should aid many in the short term, but it is hard to ignore the fact inflation is increasing the cost of living. I would like to touch on a few points that do not come close to meeting society's current needs.

The first relates to housing. A prosperous country with full employment and budget surpluses should not be looking at the highest ever recorded homelessness figures. Approximately 12,000 people in Ireland are homeless, of whom 4,000 are children, and while children were supported in this budget with anti-poverty measures such as reduced childcare fees and the free schoolbooks initiative, more needs to be done on providing for the most basic of needs, a home. People in my constituency are waiting a minimum of 11 to 16 years for a council house. The number of people who cannot afford to rent in the current rental market means there is an increase in homelessness and in the number of people on the housing lists. The current targets for all types of houses are inadequate, yet there is no change in the target plans for social and affordable housing.

When faced with an acute shortage of rental homes, which shows little sign of abating, this must serve as a wake up call to the Government to come up with an innovative idea for the provision of more homes. While the Government increased the rental tax credit to support renters, we need to reduce or freeze rent to affordable levels and stop the profiteering of vulture landlords who are likely to gobble up the €750 credit with rent increases. At the same time, landlords who stay in rental markets are in line for tax credits of €600, €800 and €1,000 for every tenant. This benefits landlords and developers allowing them to charge extortionate rent, make extortionate profits and receive a tax break. The right to housing comes before the supposed right of vulture funds and others to maximise their profits. When it comes to corporate landlords we should take property into public ownership and turn it into public housing on the basis of affordable rent. The Housing for All plan is completely dependent on private markets and global vulture funds. These corporations are getting massive public funds, like the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, payments. This encapsulates the disaster of a for-profit market and the communities driven approach to the housing crisis. This is why the crisis is getting worse day by day. Proper resources and investment are required to deliver social and affordable houses to reduce the share of the rental market run on a for-profit basis. We need to fund councils to buy, build or acquire social and affordable houses. We need to fund the tenant in situscheme and the cost rental scheme. While I acknowledge the increase in the vacant home tax rate to five times the property tax charge, we need to provide funding for the refurbishment of vacant or derelict homes to convert them to useable accommodation. This would significantly address rising homelessness. In addition, in County Louth, there are 562 people on the waiting list for housing adaptation grants. We need considerable investment in the expansion of this scheme, as funding ran out in August 2023.

Second, I would like to discuss health and mental health. The controversy about health overspending was apparent in yesterday's budget announcement. In last year's budget we saw the biggest expansion of access to GP care in the history of the State. In this year's budget the Government is funding a range of measures to reduce waiting times for patient care and to improve access to community diagnostics. However, nothing was mentioned regarding dental services or GP fees. I also raise an issue highlighted by a GP in my constituency, which reduces patient access to GPs. The issue relates to Revenue plans to change the current system in which GPs pay their taxes. This will not result in any increases to Revenue, but it will make GP partnership and relationship with the general medical services list very difficult, and result in GPs being reluctant to take up the general medical services list.

Recruitment of additional staff was mentioned. However, the freezing of administration posts within the current health system and the reluctant industrial action was not mentioned. Lack of funding and lack of negotiation is likely to affect service delivery negatively.

While the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform ensured increased support and additional funding for mental health services, social and inclusive service and older people and health well-being initiatives, there is a growing a sense of apprehension about the future of mental health funding. The increased demand for mental health support and services is evident throughout the country. Mental Health Reform, the national coalition group working on mental health in Ireland estimated that an additional €150 million to mental health funding in budget 2024 was essential to improving access to timely and effective mental health care. However, what percentage of the health budget will go to mental health? It is likely to remain stagnant at 5% to 6%. There is currently a disparity and lack of services within mental health such as child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Waiting lists are skyrocketing. Little was mentioned about the mitigation of constraints to enable the recruitment and retention of staff, such as nurses, GPs social workers and psychiatrists to satisfy demand. More needed to be done than was stated yesterday.

At this point, I will touch on carers and people with disabilities. The €12 per week increase on all social welfare rates in the new year, the one-off double week and one-off payment of €400 before Christmas were welcome. However, those with disabilities incur additional costs of between €9,000 and €12,000 per year. It is difficult to understand how the cost of disability payment, acknowledged and introduced for the first time in budget 2023 at €500, has not been continued. The one-off payments do not me close to covering the cost, nor do they provide access to the additional support required by carers. There are approximately 250,000 paid carers documented as having second jobs to survive. To be above the poverty line, you need €380 per week. An increase of €12 does not cut the mustard. Carers do a fantastic job, and the State is saved a fortune. They need access to respite, better funding and to better services.

Finally, I will touch on education. While the reduction in fees and contributions alongside the increase in grants is welcome, I was disappointed to see that there were no measures to tackle class size and teacher supply. As has arisen many times in this Chamber the lack of non-permanent, full-contact jobs is resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis. How are we to provide an impact on children's lives when we do not invest in education, labour and infrastructure or invest in student mental health services? There was no evidence of assessments of needs being prioritised. The free books scheme in junior cycle will help many families, but what about those in senior cycles?

I acknowledge the measures introduced by the Government yesterday. People will definitely benefit in the short term, but I would like to urge investment in the numerous classes of society to provide basic rights and reduce poverty in the long term.

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