Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Having delivered a one-for-everybody-in-the audience-style budget in the short term, I have no doubt that people will appreciate the spirit and bona fides of the Minister's belief that it is to combat the cost of living. There is no doubt that it will be short-lived, however, because now that I am experiencing my fifth budget, I know that most of what has been announced will not be delivered. That comes from experience. I have learned that quite often delivery never happens. Coming from County Wexford, we have had no extension of the N11, a 33 km stretch that is ultimately a car park at certain times of the day depending on the boat traffic for the growing port of Rosslare Harbour. We do not have the 97-bed hospital unit we were promised. I have been elected for five years and we are no further along. As I said, much of what the Government announces never gets delivered.

I will come back to that, however, because I want to discuss some of the items or issues the Government has chosen not to deal with. The sorry fact is that when I was preparing my speech, I could actually have read last year's speech, and it would still be very relevant. As a Government, it has not changed, and it is not going to change because it does not listen. We face the same problems year in, year out. There is no doubt that some will benefit in the short term from the budget, but blind men on galloping horses can see the Government is just buying votes. It has failed to see the bigger picture. Government should not be frittering away the taxpayers' money. That is not the way a responsible government carries on, yet there is no end to the waste. The bigger picture is that the Government got lucky with the receipts for foreign direct investment , FDI. We are lucky that we are in a surplus scenario because with the lack of investment in infrastructure, we could well be in a deficit. That could all change with the election in November in America. I caution the Minister of State to think about this. We could be in a very serious deficit this time next year because the Government has not chosen to plan the infrastructure of either water or electricity, as is required by the FDI tech sector, the money from which we are now spending.

In effect, the Government is killing off the goose that is laying the golden egg. Some €38 billion in Amazon investment has gone elsewhere because of our policies, our lack of infrastructure planning and our planning policy. This is a travesty and puts us in jeopardy.

The Government has failed to recognise that a 9% VAT rate could have had zero tax implications for the State. It could have been done simply by joining the dots. There is a specific issue at Dublin Airport, which is subject to a passenger cap due to a traffic management planning process under a regulation that was introduced in 2007. We have failed to deal with the issue in the 17 years since. We built a second runway to increase our ability to take traffic at Dublin Airport, but the fact that we have capped tourist numbers means that we will be €500 million down this time next year. Had we dealt with the issue, the €500 million flowing from an increase in tourist numbers could have offset the €500 million lost through the reduction in VAT to 9% for the tourism sector. For the 300,000 people involved in the sector, not reducing the rate means that more restaurants and cafes will close. Many of them are in rural Ireland, where the hospitality sector has lost beds in recent years due to the Ukrainian war and the refugee crisis, which came on top of the housing crisis. We no longer have bed nights in rural areas, so the cafes and restaurants that depend on tourists are not seeing their footfall. The cost of living also means that locals are not out spending like they used to. Not reducing VAT is a missed opportunity. The tourism sector will effectively suffer a deficit of €1 billion because the Government is unable to join the dots.

I do not know whether anyone has ever considered that Michael O'Leary of Ryanair has probably done more for this country than many of our foreign direct investors. This is not to praise Michael O'Leary. I do not know him and have never met him. I just know that he opened Ireland up to the world and the world up to Ireland. It is a travesty that we do not listen to people who know what they are talking about. That the Minister is being a bit of a big girl’s blouse about this and that the Taoiseach will not take command of the matter is not helping. I suggest that the Minister of State take the message back to the Government that if we are to continue growing Ireland and we have the sense not to ruin the tourism sector, someone should take action about the cap at Dublin Airport.

The same applies to housing, where the Government has not listened to the developers or builders. It is as if they are pariahs. The Government is out of ideas, though. My proposal of a 0% VAT rate for new builds would instigate the commencement of the 50,000 planning applications that have not yet been commenced because they are not viable. The Government’s tax take on new house builds is 48%, but we are telling people that housing will be affordable. All we are doing now is building social housing, as no one else can afford to buy a house at the cost base the Government has set. Take 30.5% away. If the Government does not recognise the viability issue and reduce its tax take, we will never see those houses built. The Government has to know what the problem is if it is going to solve it.

I am out of time, although I do not know if any amount of time would let me get through the exponential growth in waste overseen by this Government, from the children’s hospital to the modular builds. As we saw yesterday, those modular builds cost double their estimate. This is a serious issue. What of the bike shelter that is not really a bike shelter? At €336,000, it is a national disgrace. Add to that the cost of a security hut and we have flittered away approximately €2 million of taxpayers’ money, yet this is only the tip of the iceberg. I could go on and on. I ask the Minister of State to take the message to the Government that this is a serious issue and that we need to eradicate the waste, as we may one day not have the foreign direct investment that the Government is enjoying at the moment.

We have to consider the SME sector. Some 1.2 million of our employees work therein, yet I can see nothing in this budget to assist SMEs. They have to undergo the increase in the minimum wage. That increase is necessary, given that we as normal people cannot afford the cost of living, but many of the measures the Government has introduced are inflationary and will drive up the cost of living. The carbon tax on fuel is being increased. As the Minister of State knows, anything that affects transport drives up the cost of everything else.

It is time that the Government stopped thinking about the parties in government and what is politically expedient for them and started thinking more about expenditure for the people who elect them and their future in Ireland.

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