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

When it comes to the Bill and when we looks at where money has gone in this country, I tried to get that conversation going today with the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, and he, of course, was not happy either because the Government has no accountability for quite a good deal of the money that is out there. There is a lot of money out there and there is no point in my saying that there is not. My God, the Government has thrown money into health, the OPW and Uisce Éireann and that there is no accountability. That is why people are asking for.

Why do I have to stand up in the Dail and to use my Leaders' Questions speaking time here today to talk about five wastewater plants in west Cork that are spewing raw sewage into the water where people are swimming, or into the play parks where our young people are playing? Why would I do that? If there was accountability from day one and a vision for the people of Shannonvale, Dunmanway, Ballydehob and Goleen, that this starts in two years and ends in 2.5 years, that would be accepted and would be accountable. There is, however, no accountability. We may have a renewal programme in 2025 and in 2029 but we may not have it then. Some people are waiting 27, 25, 20, 15 and ten years. We find ourselves in an astonishing situation. We look at other areas where there is no accountability. A lovely lady rang me the other day who has spent a number of years in a nursing home and is in one in Clonakilty. She was going mad with me about the wastage of money on pouches. She asked me, and I had to laugh, if everyone in this Government is on drugs. This was a woman inside in a nursing home that is keeping a close eye as to what is going on in this country with the upset and the foolish spending which is going on there.

I looked then at roads and ourselves with our budget in Cork county, which has one of the lowest for any county, and no matter what government comes in, it seems to make no difference. When I look at the promises that each of these politicians, whether they are TDs or Senators, have made to the people of Bandon such as that they would have a northern relief road and a southern relief road, they never happened. They would have a relief road for Innishannon; it never happened. They would have a relief road from Bantry; it never happened. The people in Bantry get flooded. In 1988, they were promised a flood relief scheme. Fast forward to when the Minister came down again recently and he made another load of promises going around. The Government's councillors are going around patting people on the back and their Senators and TDs are telling people that they will look after them but nothing is done. The people and the same businesses get flooded, time in and time out.

We we saw how the VAT 9 group came up yesterday looking for VAT to be dropped from 13% to 9%. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party raised the VAT, nobody else. It was at 9% and these people were struggling at 9% and the Government raised the VAT rate. Here the Government is now again opposing a motion this evening to lower it again. How can it do that? The Government goes out there then and it will tell the people. I think that the Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin is saying that we need to re-look at this. He needs to re-look at his own position if he thinks that he can cod the Irish people like that. They are genuinely furious. They are protesting to save their livelihoods and to save their staff livelihoods, whether they are cafés, pubs, restaurants and hairdressers.

They are small business people and they are the life and soul of rural Ireland. The Government has forgotten rural Ireland; that is its problem. Many people I have met in Dublin and other cities have told me they are struggling. Businesses are closing down and the Government has turned its back on people.

There is a savage annoyance. Previous speakers referred to the means test for the carer's allowance, which is a serious issue. This is an opportunity to set the matter right. If a person is caring for someone and his or her husband or wife is a farmer or has a job, the carer will not get anything for looking after the person in his or her home, be it a loved one, a neighbour or whoever else. That is not good enough. At the same time, we have no funding for community hospitals. There is nothing in the budget for them. The elderly population is growing but community hospitals have the same number of beds, whether it is 21, 41 or 51 beds. In Clonakilty, bed numbers have dropped by 40 or 50 in the last 20 years, yet there is no funding in the Bill to look after those people.

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