Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I do not want to stand up and criticise everything. Independent Ireland and I have called for a VAT reduction from 13.5% to 9%. That reduction has arrived, which is a good news story. I am astonished to hear the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and People Before Profit continuously dismiss this as a non-event. I am not going to do that. They are on about the fast food industry, but most of the fast food businesses I know are small businesses. Speaking of Supermac’s, someone sent me a message that it is an Irish-owned business comprised of franchises of small business owners, not multinationals. They employ 4,500 people. Someone said McDonald’s employs 11,500 people, a lot of whom are students and people looking for part-time jobs. It is a good news story for those businesses. I wish it was being brought in straightaway but unfortunately, it will be dragged out until next July. It is good news for hair salons as well because they are in dire trouble. There are 600 such businesses. The Social Democrats, the Labour Party and People Before Profit do not give a damn about 600 café and restaurants owners. My God, it is easy to know they do not talk to their constituents because if they did they would know the situation they are in.

The other side of this is childcare. The Government promised that no parent would pay more than €200. There is nothing in the budget to meet those people’s needs. They are struggling. Childcare is probably the second biggest bill coming into a household other than a mortgage. There is nothing for those people. This budget did nothing for the ordinary hardworking mother or father who gets up every morning, works hard, puts the food on the table and pays the taxes for everything else to move in this country. They are taking a serious hit in this budget. That is the response I received from quite a lot of people. As I mentioned yesterday, people are continuously working but they have nothing left at the end of the week. They are finding it difficult to accept this budget. It is completely out of touch with the reality and the promises that were made. Of course, the Government fed them so much last year because it wanted to buy votes. That is the reason they accepted that this year they would get at least a fraction of what they got last year, but they did not. Rather, the Government took it all back. Ordinary families today are feeling very sour and bitter.

With regard to pensioners, this morning, I was listening to “Today with Claire Byrne”. Liz, a pensioner, was on the show speaking with the two Ministers, Deputies Chambers and Donohoe. The two Ministers were way off their game. She was able to tell them to stop talking high nonsense and explain that although she is getting an extra €10, more is coming out of her pocket. She explained she cannot pay bills and that the little bit of savings she saved up all her life is going to pay bills. Pensioners will receive a measly €10. These people cannot be expected to go back out to work at 70 or 75 years of age. They cannot heat their home or buy food. They cannot pay the bills. There is very little between profit and loss in their situation. She was rightly upset. She turned on the two Ministers and took them apart because they had no answers. They gave her €10 and no more. She said she was at the filling station this morning to fill a tank of diesel and some of that money was absorbed straight away from the very word go.

I am very worried about the agriculture sector, tillage in particular. Tillage is on its knees at present. There is zero extra in the budget for tillage farmers who are suffering. After meeting with the Minister last week, they believed there would be some kind of an answer, but they got nothing. The dairy sector is going through derogation at present. The price of milk is dropping. It has dropped by 3 cent in Dairygold Co-Op Superstores in west Cork and by 1 and a half cent in some other co-ops. This is a serious situation farmers find themselves in when they are buying acres of land for €18,000 per acre. It is astonishing what is going on in the dairy sector. There is nothing extra provided for suckler farmers either.

With regard to the fishery sector and pelagic fish, dramatic cuts are on the way. The National Inshore Fisherman’s Association requested extra funding but it received nothing, despite it being on its knees for a long time. There is no scheme set up as such for any of those sectors going forward.

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