Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

-----and this year they will retrench on it. One of the major problems with this Government is that it is focusing on the actual cycle itself. Post-election budget hammers the middle-income earners. Instead of the promised tax cuts the Government mentioned, for middle Ireland there is a tax increase today. It is an incredible situation. Instead of the cuts to student fees, there is a fee increase today. Instead of a once-off energy credit for families suffering from the cost-of-living crisis, there is a carbon tax increase today. The Government is going in the opposite direction in terms of the promises it made last November.

One of the biggest problems of the Government is that it is one of the key drivers of the cost-of-living crisis. Last year, the Government took in €4.1 billion in fuel taxes. This was highest ever in the history of this State in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. It is an incredible thing. Usually, governments reduce the pressure on families who are suffering from the cost-of-living crisis, but this Government went in the opposite direction.

On the carbon tax, it is an incredible situation. The carbon tax is being increased this year again. Last year, carbon tax took in about €1.1 billion. It is going to be increased again this year. The Government says it has no other option and it wants to change people's behaviour around climate change, but there is more than one way of changing people's behaviours. The Government does not need to use a stick all the time to change people's behaviours in terms of climate change. People are crying out for public transport, but they cannot get it in their local communities. I am from a constituency where the Government promised a rail line for the past 20 years. It is still not in place. People would love to ditch the car and get onto the train to get to work, but the Government will not provide it. People are crying out for solar panels, but it costs €10,000 to put solar panels on their roofs. People are looking to get their houses deep retrofitted, but it can cost €30,000 to €40,000 to get that deep retrofit in their homes. People would love to buy electric cars, but they are significantly more expensive.

Instead of using the carrot in terms of changing people's behaviours when it comes to climate change, this Government is following on from where the Green Party left off. It is the tax stick to beat change into people. It is wrong. It is hurting people, and it is not fair. That is where the Government needs to change in relation to this.

One of the big problems I have - and I do not think any political party has mentioned this yet - is the single lack of desire in this budget to deal with waste. Waste has been one of the most defining elements of this Government over the past ten years. This Government has become allergic to accountability and responsibility. As a result, we have seen so many projects balloon in cost in our time from the national children's hospital down to the last news report of the €100,000 bike shed for the National Maternity Hospital. However, there is nothing in this to say that the Government is going to fix the problem and save money for the State. For most families, a budget includes the income that comes in, but also what goes out, and in terms of what goes out, many families are forced to make efficiencies to make sure they can make ends meet. This Government will not even do that. That blinding lack of focus on waste is a disaster for this Government. I have said it before, but if either the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, or the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, were employed by a private business, they would be fired right now because of the level of waste that is happening in Irish society.

6 o’clock

It is extremely frustrating. I put in a number of parliamentary questions recently. One of the replies that came back was amazing, that €74 million has been spent on commissioning reviews in this country, reviews that often do not even get read or are sometimes not even published, and often just remain on a dusty shelf. This budget is promising €21 million extra for the running of the Oireachtas, and nothing in it about tillage, farmers who are at the pin of their collar in terms of the costs they are suffering and the lack of prices they are getting for their product. Parliamentarians can vote themselves €21 million for the running costs of the Oireachtas. Some €1.3 million was spent by the Department of agriculture to get UCD to conduct a review into Ireland's dog population numbers. The level of reviews, publications and reports is astounding and the money being spent on them is absolutely massive.

I want to talk about the issue of housing. I am amazed that we have had a crisis of such enormity yet there is such lack of ambition in terms of the Government responding to this crisis. We have among the slowest planning and permit systems in the European Union. We have one of the slowest tendering systems in the EU. We have judicial reviews to beat the band to stall major projects. There is nothing in this budget in terms of reforming the whole process which is grinding the building of homes to a halt. Then there is the issue of Uisce Éireann and Electric Ireland. Uisce Éireann was in the infrastructure committee a couple of months ago. I asked the officials how long it would take Uisce Éireann to fill the gaps that exist in the water infrastructure that are currently blocking the building of homes. They said that by 2050 they will have those gaps finished. In 25 years Uisce Éireann aims to have the gaps that are blocking the building of homes filled, so those homes can be built. Most people, if you told them the housing crisis was going to exist for another ten years, would literally be pulling their hair out. Uisce Éireann is saying it cannot get to grips with the infrastructure problems for another 25 years. The money that has been put into Uisce Éireann is paltry. I could have missed it but I did not see any word of the Apple tax in this budget. It was all the rage before the election but it seems to have fallen off a cliff in terms of investment now when the Government is in business. On Electric Ireland, there are currently dozens if not hundreds of homes across the country that are empty because they cannot get connected to the grid. There are loads of building projects currently not going ahead because they cannot get a connection to the grid. There is no serious investment to make that happen.

I welcome the reduction in VAT on apartments. It is going to make a difference of about €8,000 in the building of an apartment. There is a sustainability gap of about €100,000. Closing that gap by €8,000 is not really going to make a significant difference. It is also actually going to help the investors. For Mary and Pat down the road who want to buy a house, this is going to make no difference to them at all. We should have the level of ambition where we scrap VAT completely for the building of homes. Why should the Government take €54,000 out of the building of any house in a housing crisis? Left, right and centre in every town and parish, builders are not building today in a housing crisis because they cannot make it work for them financially, yet the Government is taking €54,000 typically off an average house in VAT. There is not VAT on the building of homes in the North of Ireland. The Government is driving inflation and driving costs, and preventing the system from working. There are 4,000 empty homes and it takes an average of eight months for them to be flipped and turned around so people can use them. Meanwhile in the private sector, it takes three weeks for a home to be flipped and re-rented so people can use it. Why is that? There is nothing of any depth in this budget in that regard. I welcome the tax on derelict houses but note again the low level of ambition.

There is an ability deficit, a competency deficit, in the Government when it comes to these issues. The timeline is appalling. The Government is looking to introduce legislation maybe next year, draft up an inventory of vacant properties in 2027 and then introduce a derelict home tax somewhere after that. In provincial towns across the country, especially in the west, the main streets are festooned with empty properties. Empty properties in the middle of a housing crisis is akin to exporting food in the middle of the Famine. It is absolutely wrong. The main streets of towns right across the west, such as Claremorris, are literally falling down because of derelict homes in a housing crisis. It is absolutely wrong.

I want to talk about older people and those living in poverty. A €10 pension increase for older people when inflation has pushed food prices well beyond that is wrong. We need to make sure pensions are indexed to the average wage so they keep apace of the costs older people are dealing with. Meanwhile 200,000 children are currently in poverty. The Government thankfully took a leaf out of Aontú's book. We suggested last year that there should be a second child benefit for those who are in poverty. I am delighted the Government took that idea but it has not been implemented yet. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, said two weeks ago that the Government just has not got it together to put in place what is necessary. It is incredible. Those children are suffering significantly and their futures are hampered as a result. Their potential is reduced.

I understand Tusla got an increase of €16 million in terms of its investment. This country has been consumed by the crisis happening in Tusla for the whole of the summer. We have had the State searching for the remains of two small boys. We have 105,000 children who were referred to Tusla this year, 35,000 more than actually sat the leaving certificate. There is a tidal wave of pressure coming on Tusla. Tusla says it needs €400 million extra to be able to do its job. When the next crisis happens, and it will happen, when a child either loses their life or has a significant, radical challenge to their life, we will be in here and people will be speaking in measured tones about how shocking it was, how heartbreaking it is to hear, and how disastrous it is, yet the budget is not being used as a tool to make sure it does not happen again.

On students----

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