Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand. Last year, Cancer Connect in west Cork was promised at least €50,000. The service has delivered for the people of this country on many fronts over the past number of years and has received no funding from the Government. I was in Lisheen a number of weeks ago, which is raising tens of thousands of euro so the service can operate in a voluntary capacity. Where is the funding that was promised by Fianna Fáil to Cancer Connects? It is run out of west Cork and serves people throughout the country. Why has the funding not been made available?

The hospitality sector includes hairdressers and café and restaurant owners who have seen an increase from 9% to 13% in the mini-budget Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party introduced in September. They kept their fingers crossed that at least there would be some kind of mercy. Last week, I spoke to a lady who has a café not so far from the Dáil. She told me the minimum wage and VAT has increased and she cannot keep shoving those increases onto customers because they are no longer coming in. There is a real crisis that the Government has not considered. It has let hairdressers and café and restaurant owners down.

I am due to speak about early years childcare in the Dáil at around 11 p.m. The sector is in serious crisis.

The Rural Independent Group put together a fine document on the budget. The VAT on insulation products is where the Green Party should be delivering. Instead, it is focusing on the price of fuel and dictating to the Irish people how they should run their farms. It should have introduced zero VAT on insulation products. It has done something for solar panels, but not all insulation products. Does the Government want to encourage people to insulate their homes? That is what it comes down to. Unfortunately, this is the situation people find themselves in. They are paying massive VAT and cannot afford to buy insulation products.

The roads budget is astonishing. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae mentioned the local improvement scheme in Kerry. I could say the same about Cork. Funding is not available for the local improvement scheme. People are irate with me because they cannot get funding for roads. They are willing to make a certain contribution. People find themselves in a scandalous situation whereby there is no money available. One or two roads here and there are dealt with. What is happening is outrageous and cannot be allowed to continue.

Our roads budget needs to be doubled. We need local authority funded roadside workers back on the roads to clear dykes and drains. If drains are blocked, water can only stay in one place which is in the middle of the road. That is what has happened over the past number of years. It never happened before. Somebody made a very interesting point to me. People cannot cut verges, therefore we lose four feet of roadway every year. When people can cut verges, they can only do so in September and October. When people cut verges, where does the grass go? It dies on top of drains. If verges were allowed to be cut in June and July, the grass would die on ditches and not fall on the roadside and block more drains. There is no common sense.

We must talk about the flooding budget. I have great respect for the people of Midleton. There is all the sympathy in the world every time flooding happens. It happens in Bandon and Skibbereen. Do people have to lose their homes before the Government wakes up and realises there is an issue and it had better do something to look after them?

People in Ballinhassig have been on to me in recent days. They showed me pictures of their flooded homes. It is outrageous. There are solutions, but there is nobody willing to work on the solutions.

I also want to talk about old people getting reviews of their pensions. Is this where the Government is going to get the money to pay for the world, through the elderly people of the country? Their pensions have been cut and slashed and looked into and investigated. It is terrifying for elderly people. We talk about section 39 workers being an issue, but our young people have issues as well. I met someone the other day who told me that there are 26 trainees in the Clonakilty-Bandon area and 19 of them have said that they will be emigrating. Imagine, 19 out of 26.

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