Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

This is a budget of broken promises. In the run-up to the general election, all parties promised the abolition of the means test for the carer's allowance. The public believed this would be done in the first 100 days of the new Government or, at the very least, in its first budget. That was a promise reneged on in this budget. This means that thousands of carers are locked out of getting the allowance. Into the bargain, carers who are local authority tenants will pay €2 out of the €10 increase in carer's allowance in increased rent.

Childcare is another broken promise. Again, in the run-up to the general election, all parties committed to a maximum €200 per month for childcare costs. The Tánaiste said that would happen in the first 100 days of this Government. There is no sign of it in this budget. There is also no sign of the promised move to a public model of childcare. Children availing of childcare should do so on the same basis as children attending primary school.

Tackling poverty is another broken promise. This budget fails to prioritise income adequacy for the most vulnerable groups. It fails to live up to the programme for Government commitment to a progressive social protection system that is sustainable and fair. It is another budget and another year with no increase in child benefit and no double child benefit payment before Christmas. There is no mention of a second tier of child benefit for lower income families.

This would have a significant effect on child poverty, lifting almost 40,000 children out of poverty. The weekly cost of disability payment is another broken promise. The programme for Government commits to this payment and persons with disabilities have significantly higher poverty and deprivation rates than the national average. Research shows that disabled households cost €244 more per week to run than the average household. There is no sign of this payment in this budget.

There is welcome additional funding for water and wastewater services but the atrocious conduct of Irish Water nationally and in south Tipperary since its establishment confirms my long-held view that Irish Water should be abolished and the operation of water services should be handed back to local authorities. Over the last 12 months, there has been issue after issue, outage after outage and boil water notice after boil water notice from one end of south Tipperary to the other; from Tipperary town to Cashel to Clonmel to Carrick-on-Suir and all places in between. Irish Water does not believe in notification or consultation. It is an unaccountable quango. It has no respect for customers and is not fit for purpose.

Its most recent outrageous conduct happened in Clonmel at the weekend. There was an outage late on Friday. The public were finally notified that water would return on Sunday morning. It was then Monday morning, then Tuesday morning and finally, water began to return this morning. Why did no work take place over the weekend? None took place because Irish Water refused to pay for work over the weekend. It preferred to have thousands of families without water over the weekend and into today. Families had to go without water for domestic purposes and for showering and a local childcare centre had to close on Tuesday. Contractors were ready, willing and able to do the work but could not get the go-ahead to do it. This is absolutely unacceptable. The sooner Irish Water is abolished, the better.

I want to remind the Minister of Transport of his commitment to provide money for the N24 road which goes through south Tipperary. It is a major corridor and is urgently in need of upgrading.

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