Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support what Deputy Berry said about the Mitchell scholars.

The unprecedented €10.5 billion budget announcement reflects a heady mix of previous decision-making bearing fruit, good fortune, but also the pain and discipline of the austerity years. The measures announced offer a reprieve from the merciless grip of inflation, rising prices and the diminishing purchasing power facing families. For these many reasons, and the temporary relief it offers, I feel compelled to support it.

People need this relief, but let us not mistake the genesis of these giveaways. They are because principally these concessions have been bought with the people's own money and I would not want to bet on the fulsome gratitude of the electorate in the near future. It is their own hard-earned cash after all.

Indeed, if we fall into the trap of thinking that these windfall gains will last indefinitely, as IFAC believe the Government has, we may have the serious vibes of 1977, 2001 or 2007 all over again - an election bought with our money. I hope the Ministers and Government know what they are doing.

Let us be clear. The Government’s hand has been forced by the crushing burden of the cost-of-living crisis. Previous budgets have added to this inflation. Wages are not rising enough to keep pace with the relentless march of price rises yet increased wage costs are seriously constraining the viability of the small-to-medium business sector and the agri-sector. Housing costs are soaring, energy prices are still punishing the commercial sector and families are cutting back on necessities like never before.

Businesses, particularly those in farming and hospitality. are hurting and some are going to the wall. The budget throws out lifelines, but I am disappointed that the key SME sector appears to have received little to offset its costs crisis. I would also like to have seen something in this budget that offered reform to our dysfunctional public procurement system.

Unprecedented though this budget giveaway undoubtedly is, it falls short of real ambition for Ireland's future in three critical ways. First, it does nothing to address the competitiveness and productivity problems in the economy. The runaway multinational sector is hiding the growing problems in our indigenous business sector. FDI tax has become the new budgetary scaffold allowing us to defy economic gravity. Where is the visionary policy and investment to unleash our indigenous enterprise sector? Where is the grand policy plan needed to empower our private sector to create new businesses, to invest, to collaborate, to innovate with universities, to compete and, most important, to scale? I do not see such initiatives in the budget measures announced. Second, this scattergun approach to spending will almost certainly fail to deliver value for money. We have become more than aware in recent weeks what a train wreck the value proposition has become in public procurement. It is not enough to throw money at problems; we must throw intelligence, strategy, planning and management expertise at them too, but when we look at the bike shed, the security hut, and the national children's hospital, the public at large has good reason not to have confidence in the State to deliver value on any measure. The budget should offer better disclosures on where the funding goes, and better oversight, better scrutiny, better management and better outcomes. We still await transparency in respect all of that. Finally, this budget appears to be the last in a series that patches the cracks without ever addressing the foundations of our economic and social system. There is no vision developed here or a cohesive long-term plan offering the long-term growth or equitable development we need to secure our economic future.

The south-east, my region, like the Border and north west, is now experiencing economic contraction, a drop in regional GDP and a sharp rise in unemployment - all on top of the cost of living crisis. As this Administration draws its last breath, let me ask this of Government. Where is the 24-7 cardiac care that the people of the south east have been demanding for years? It was promised in 2016. Where is the sustained investment in higher education for the region? Less than 6% of the capital investment identified in the South East Technological University's strategic plan has been promised by the Government, let alone delivered. We need to end the regional brain drain that sees two thirds of young people who go to college and migrate out of the region. Without investing in higher education, the region will still lag behind in FDI. It will still miss its ration of this boom and perhaps the next boom too. What of Waterford Airport, a vital gateway and economic driver for the region supporting tourism and enterprise development? Everyone in Waterford and the south east witnessed the Government spend €484 million of public money on other airports, yet it bickers over approving €12 million in matching funding for Waterford.

When regions are starved of investment and when their potential is ignored, they begin to pull away. They begin to question their value to a State that seems indifferent to their needs. This is not just the basis for an economic issue; it also questions democratic values. The people of this country want fairness and a certain toughness on their behalf. They want and expect leadership that is more than just bouncing from one crisis to another. They want to hear a vision for a better future. They want that vision to include them.

Sadly, this budget, like previous others, offers little to national long-term strategic development. It appears more of an effort to buy off the electorate while responding to events. Like some of my Independent colleagues, I will support this budget, but with these reservations. We should use this election campaign to start of a real conversation about the kind of country and the kind of future we want to build, one where no region or its people is left behind and one where, instead of planning for the next election cycle, we begin an inclusive, national, conversation to deliver, not just for today but for the generations of tomorrow.

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