Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on the budget again. As the days go by since the budget, many people realise they will be no better off than they were before, particularly because of the cost of energy and electricity. The way this is being operated is these energy companies are let charge exorbitant sums and then we are here trying to pass a Bill to get a windfall tax from them. Where is the regulator? These people are mostly private investors since the State closed Bord na Móna. We are at their every whim and they can charge us what they like, given the Minister and the regulator are not putting any curb on them.

Infrastructure has been badly neglected over the years, and it is worse in this budget. All the local improvement schemes are getting is enough to do 24 or 25 roads per year from a list that remains at 650. It was pointed out at a recent Kerry County Council meeting that it will take 30 years to exhaust the list and many people will have died before that happens. That is a sad reflection on how we treat the people of rural Ireland.

The Killarney bypass has been shelved. There are 23,000 vehicle movements each day and it has been shelved again, after people waited 23 or 24 years for this important road. Class three and minor roads are totally neglected and the local authority is not getting near enough funding for them.

On housing, we have called for a meaningful tax reduction to incentivise people in the private sector to let houses to people who need to put a roof over their head. All we see is that someone who has a house and will rent it to refugees will get an €800-per-month tax exemption. Why is that tax exemption not available to our people as well?

It is the same with school transport. We have a situation local to me where a 24-seater bus takes 11 refugees to a certain school and 13 local children will not be let on that bus. I do not want to treat refugees or people who come into the country badly but I certainly want to ensure our children in Killarney are treated the same as people coming into the county. That is only fair.

Every man and woman is being hurt by the carbon tax, whether they are working or taking children to school or are hauliers or farmers.

Today, green diesel costs farmers €1.29. I know how much that would fill the tractors we have today. The Government is wondering why the cost of living is going up. The cost of food will also have to go up.

Farmers are no Mother Teresas. They are being vilified at every hand's turn. I can tell the Minister of State and the Government that they need not worry about cows because farmers are starting to get out of the sector themselves. Young people will not take over farms. I spoke to at least six large dairy farmers who were self-sufficient and had put a lot of money into their farms. They told me their sons were not taking them over. There is no way in the world they would do so, if they are to be treated like farmers are currently being treated by the Government.

Agriculture is the only real natural resource we have. The Government does not want to look at the gas off the Kerry coast, oil off the Cork coast or liquified natural gas in Shannon to make ourselves self-sufficient in any way. The Government closed down Bord na Móna and everything we had. It will not be satisfied until it puts farmers out of business because that is what is has been doing, what it is doing and what it will continue to do while leaving the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, directing what to do.

The whole country is up in arms about flooding. Businesses have been ruined and destroyed. The Government will have to realise that if we do not clean out rivers and gullies people will be flooded. There has been building on flood plains, as was done in Midleton. The river close to the town had not been cleaned for 35 years. I have pointed out that the River Shannon has not been cleaned out since the 1880s. It was done at that time by the British.

Another issue is health. The Government said it allocated €22 billion to the HSE. It said that is not enough. Sick people are feeling that because there is a lack of GPs and nurses. Extra people are coming into our towns and villages and there is more pressure on accident and emergency departments. This is being reflected in fair deal, whereby people aged 85 and 86 cannot access the scheme and are being told they are well enough to return home. One woman arrived at Kerry General Hospital by ambulance 21 times in the past three months and was sent home in a taxi. That is not good enough. The Government must talk to the HSE. It has given it so much power it is now telling the Government what it will and will do. That is not fair. It is the ordinary sick person who is feeling the pinch.

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