Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the key problems with this budget that most people have recognised is the predominance of one-off measures being the way of dealing with particular issues, particularly when it comes to energy and all these things. They are all being presented to the public as one-off measures or payments they are going to get in three instalments, which will be very easy to take away in the future. What is being done is not long term in nature and is not sustainable. That is one of the big issues. I see that with transport in my area. The cut to fares for buses and trains, while it is welcome, has been extended for a year rather than being made permanent. Making it permanent would be a much more appropriate way to deal with the issue.

My colleague a few moments ago mentioned the 1,000 new gardaí being recruited. Every year we hear that and every year it never happens. That it is one of the difficulties we have when we look at our roads. We have had many tragedies on the roads in recent months, and even in the past week. One of the big issues is the absence of road policing, which has been cut by almost one third across the whole State. That is an issue for transport and the safety of people who use the roads. Of course, while there are all kinds of measures to ensure that vehicles are safe to use the roads, many of our roads are not safe. More funding must be provided in order to ensure that we have appropriate procedures for road safety measures to deal with bad bends, dangerous junctions and so forth. Local authorities need that funding but they do not get it almost any time they go looking for it.

The tolls on our main roads and national routes are increasing all the time. Indeed, there are more increases coming down the track. We would like to see that being at least stalled for people. It is a major cost for people who have no other option but to use the roads to travel to and home from work or for commercial vehicles to transport of goods. There is no other way of doing it. We do not have an adequate rail service, which brings me to another issue.

We must recognise that much of the country is being left behind because so much investment is happening in Dublin. We need to relieve Dublin and revive the rest of country. Dublin Airport is almost chock-a-block. We have complaints from residents with regard to noise and all sorts of other issues while other airports in the State do not get the same benefits. That matter needs to be looked.

With regard to the rail network, the all-Ireland rail review recently made a whole lot of recommendations that need to be invested in, particularly in my own part of the world. The western rail corridor is an opportunity for the Government to put funding in place to be able develop that. That has not happened in this budget either. Again, that is very disappointing. In general, the north and the north west have very much been left behind for decades. We have seen in recent reports that it is now recognised as being an area in decline. That needs to change and it will only change with targeted investment, and not just with regard to infrastructure. Infrastructure is, of course, lacking in those areas in the context of health, education, services and everything else. If we draw a line from Dublin to Galway, we can see that north of the line very little in the way of health services is being provided. That is a serious issue for people who live in the north west in particular. Most people who live in my part of the world have to go to Galway for cancer services because they cannot get it anywhere else. They are travelling all the way down from Donegal. Those issues need to be resolved and that will require investment from the Government.

We also need investment in our entire health service across the State. There is a promise from the Government to provide 1,500 additional beds. This is not provided for in the budget. We have had a crisis in CAMHS. We have all discussed and had special debates in this Chamber about the CAMHS crisis in different areas of the country and about our mental health services. Again, we see very little in this budget to try to deal with those issues. There is approximately €7 million in place for the mental health service. We need to see a multiple of that, probably three to four times that, at least, to even make a dent in the issues we have with mental health services.

The other big issue that affects everyone across the country is housing. The issue of housing is the one for which we have seen least ambition when it comes to this Government and, indeed, this budget. We need to see a concentrated effort to provide affordable housing for people. We have a huge issue with people who are, of course, on the social housing list. However, many thousands of people are above that threshold and cannot afford to get a mortgage or pay rent. At the same time, they will never get on the social housing list because their household earnings are in excess of €40,000, which is a paltry sum. The Government needs to recognise that measures have to be put in place to provide housing for those people across the country. The issue we spoke of earlier regarding enterprise is one of the key parts of that. When I meet IBEC representatives in the north west, they tell me they have a whole lot of businesses that want to and are prepared to create more employment but that if they create those jobs, there are no house for the people who take them up to live in. That is a serious issue and it needs to be dealt with.

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