Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to follow up on comments from the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste earlier and ask them how they have made this budget work for children with additional needs who do not have a suitable place, like Josh in Clonmel, whom we spoke about in the House last week. How have they made this economy benefit the 11,000 children waiting for an assessment of needs or scoliosis surgery? Why are there more than 4,000 children homeless and 230,000 children experiencing material deprivation? How is the flagrant waste of money that has taken place on projects under the Government's watch, coupled with a visionless budget, a prudent approach to our finances?

The whole purpose of this budget is to mask the lack of ambition with the veneer of short-termism and the misrepresentation of figures. The Government announced the €3 billion increase for health. However, all but €120 million of that is pre-committed in capital funding. Please stop trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes at this stage.

Sinn Féin offered real solutions: increasing hospital capacity, investing in new beds, providing 150,000 medical cards and slashing the cost of medication. Sinn Féin would recruit more than 1,500 additional SETs and almost 1,900 additional SNAs. The Government is nowhere near those figures. It speaks of a commitment to disability services, but where is the plan to make it work? CHO 5 is the third worst affected area for CDNT contacts. On housing, we called for the delivery of 21,500 social and affordable homes for 2025. The Government, however, did not announce any new housing at all, despite having a surplus of €24 billion. There is no plan or intention to make childcare affordable. Sinn Féin brought out a good paper on that. Average workers have also been left behind in this budget. We would have taken the first €45,000 of every worker's income out of the USC, but the Government opted instead to give an income tax package that benefits a person earning €150,000 to the tune of €959. This Government has done very little for agriculture, the woodland owners affected by ash dieback, the horticultural sector and the fishing communities, and if it has done, as one of the previous speakers said, there is no detail on any of these groups.

It is clear the needs of the public have taken a back seat to the Government's use of its finances for electioneering. It is not to be trusted with the public finances on anything at this stage. The Government wastes and it spins.

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