Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)

As many others have said, this is the first budget of five. We will not all be happy. There are pros and cons to everything. Fundamentally, to try to balance books, deliver fairness and target assistance to the areas that are most necessary and deserving is an almost impossible task. I will acknowledge the targeting of funding towards education, disability matters, healthcare, housing and, hopefully, public transport or transport infrastructure through the national development plan when we get to that stage. They are the key elements of at least giving a fair start across all elements of society such that everybody will get a fair start. What is done beyond that and how that is enabled is most important.

The increase in the income disregard for carers has to be acknowledged as a move towards abolition of the means test, as referenced in the programme for Government, which, again, like the budgetary process, is a five-year plan.

There are a couple of areas I wish to pick out. There is scope for further expansion and benefit in the second year, the third year and so on. I refer to regeneration, the targeting of over-the-shop living and dealing with dereliction and vacancy. As I walk even from here to Busáras at night or into Leinster House in the mornings on the return journey, there are second, third, fourth and fifth floors of buildings that are ripe city-centre locations providing passive surveillance. There could be targeting for different professionals, be they gardaí, student nurses or older people at ground-floor level, where sustainable communities close to services can be developed. Pilot projects were carried out successfully in the early nineties around the country, most notably in Temple Bar, even with its pluses and minuses. The learning may already be there, and perhaps there is even scope for fast-tracking and increasing the roll-out. There are areas of County Meath - for example, Kells and a couple of small areas like Dunshaughlin - where, again, it would be a matter of strengthening that community environment and providing targeted housing opportunities for different age groups and different career groups.

I welcome a matter that is of particular interest to me, having been a small business owner. Whether we are running the family home or a small business, accountability, efficiency and productivity are key. If we can manage the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.

I welcome the forthcoming review of public finance procedures. I hope to God there will be very prudent use of data for targeted forward planning for budgets Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Tightening up of expenditure management rules and how they apply to the different Government Departments will be absolutely critical and pivotal to future success. I have to say it is infuriating from time to time if I listen in to the Committee of Public Accounts or I read through the C and AG report about missed targets and overspending. Then we hear from chief executives of certain organisations that people have moved on and the funding is irrecoverable. I hope the public finance procedures, review and strengthening of rules will all contribute to further latitude for improved budgetary measures and that all of the other areas that were not necessarily met in this budget can be serviced in Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 by just tightening up on our management.

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