Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

If we ever wanted more proof that the Government has its priorities all wrong, this Bill is it. On a day when the Minister for housing announced a war on dereliction and vacancy, it is a joke. It would be funny if it were not so serious. We have a Finance Bill that does absolutely nothing to tackle either. The housing Minister's war on dereliction will start in two years' time, but for the next two years he will be looking for derelict properties. We know where they are because every local authority has a derelict sites register. We can start now.

I have just come out of a housing meeting where we discussed dereliction. Why is the Minister waiting two years? In every town, village and city dereliction is everywhere and houses and buildings have been left to rot. What is the Minister doing? He will spend two years putting a register together. There will be more bureaucracy and red tape. I could provide a list of a hundred buildings in Cork to the Minister. Every other Sinn Féin and Opposition TD could do the same in their areas. Why will the Minister not act? We want the Minister to collect the money that is outstanding now. We want him to get Revenue to put a levy on people who hoard houses and let them rot. This levy must start now, not in two years' time.

Regarding local government funding, the Minister of course wants to spend the next two years blaming local authorities for everything he is failing to do. In 2008, Phil Hogan, "Mr. Water Charges" and the man who abolished town councils, announced a local government budget of €1.6 billion for local authorities. This year, the Minister is allocating €670 million. It shows how desperate this Government is when it is making Phil Hogan look good. That is how bad it is.

When people cannot get playgrounds, footpath repairs, lighting or traffic calming measures to slow down traffic in their communities, the finger needs to be pointed at the Minister and the Bill. He is leaving people down and trying to blame local authorities. When we hear of old people tripping over broken footpaths and breaking their hips and knees, we should not blame the local authorities. They do not have the money because the Minister has not given it to them. The Government has slashed the budget over the years since 2008 and still has not returned funding. The Government should not expect local authorities to perform miracles because they cannot.

The Government needs to deliver for ordinary people and workers. It is unbelievable that the budget has done nothing for ordinary workers and families; in fact, they are worse off after the Finance Bill and budget. How could the Government leave so many people down? It did not leave the vulture funds or big developers and speculators down, but we are told not to worry about the ordinary working people because there will not be an election for four years. People are working every day of the week. A household with two working people is now €57 worse off because of the budget. How can that be right? How can people be worse off every week and every month after the budget?

People are working hard. Many have to buy the cheapest food possible in a shop, which is usually the most unhealthy food. People are careful when they turn on their electricity or heating because they are watching their bills. We know that between electricity and gas bills, half a million people are in arrears. Ordinary workers and families are worse off because of the Government.

We have not discussed the energy credits that the Government did not provide. It has failed to deliver the childcare it promised within a hundred days. It has reneged on the commitment to carers to abolish the means test. All the Finance Bill does is look after vested interests. Deputy Doherty spoke about a group of 3,000 high earners who earn between €120,000 and €1 million. The Government is looking after them, but the ordinary man and woman on the street who goes out to work every day does not get a tax break. The Government looked after the banks and developers, but did not look after ordinary people, including carers. There is still time to make changes to the Bill and look after ordinary workers and families.

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