Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Overall, this is a good budget. The response to it has been good because we have been able to turn the economy around in the years that we have been in government. Ours is the fastest-growing economy in Europe. The latest ESRI forecast indicates that the Irish economy will grow by 6% this year.

Last year the Government introduced the first expansionary budget in some time, with a net €500 million invested in the economy, in tax cuts and in expenditure increases. That represented a €2 billion turnaround because we took €2.1 billion out of the economy the year before. This year we are seeing a turnaround in that we are now putting €1.5 billion back into the economy. This represents a €3 billion turnaround from last year. I understand there is supplementary expenditure in the region of €1.5 billion, so what we are actually seeing is €3 billion additional expenditure into the economy. People must remember that €30 billion was taken out of the economy over nine successive budgets and supplementary budgets . The economy was absolutely on its knees. It is wonderful that we have reached the point where we can now do the things we want to do and we must all be grateful for this.

Other Senators and the Minister have made the point - and we all agree - that the best route out of poverty is a job. This Government is determined to return the economy to full employment by 2018 and has made significant progress on that. This budget goes a significant way towards making work pay. We have given a commitment to increase the national minimum wage by 50 cent. This means that the national minimum wage will have increased by 20% during the Government's term of office.

A number of people have said that this Government’s budgets have been regressive but that is not correct. The tax and welfare systems have been highly effective in reducing inequality during the crisis. A study indicates that Ireland is among the top three OECD countries - it is to the fore among European member states - in terms of progressivity. Ours is now a more equal society than was the case at the beginning of the crisis.It is worth mentioning that even though there have been successive budgets in which we had no option but to cut, we maintained and improved equality in society, and that was in the face of extraordinary fiscal pressures. We maintained core welfare payments supporting a basic standard of living for welfare recipients, but today the Government has gone further. I particularly welcome the move to restore child benefit and the Christmas bonus, and the €3 per week increase to pension benefits. There are many others - the restoration of the carer's support grant, the increase of €2.50 in the fuel allowance, the increase of €5 per week in the family income supplement threshold for each of the first two children, and so forth. This is a family-friendly budget. That does not include the various measures that have been taken in the area of education, the improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio and the changes that have been made to the ECCE scheme in terms of child care.

Something that has not been mentioned and which I think is very important because it impacts on many people is that the Government has placed the fair deal nursing home scheme on a fully funded demand-led basis and has committed Government funding of €944 million in 2016 in order that everyone who needs fair deal will be approved within four weeks. That is really important. We live in an ageing society and I do not know one single family in this country that does not have to deal with the issue of support for elderly parents or relatives.

We could and certainly can say that it has been a wonderful budget and we have had money to spend and so on, but I have to point to two issues where I believe we have not provided the support we should have done. I want to mention the situation of people under the age of 26 who live in this country. A number of Governments, including those in opposition when they were in government, reduced their entitlements to benefits over a number of years. The reasoning behind this was to encourage young people into employment, education and training. I do not and never have favoured discriminating against people simply because they are under the age of 26. Will the Minister of State take a message back to Government that now that we have resources to spend, we must treat all the people of this nation equally, and that includes the younger members of society.

I am very disappointed by the housing package presented in the budget. I left this point to last because I did not want it seem as though I did not welcome the budget. I had been hopeful, as many Members know, for a housing package that included a number of measures, including rent certainty proposals to limit the rate of rent increases for those living in rented accommodation. One in five families lives in rented accommodation and the budget is a missed opportunity to provide relief for low-income tenants. A minimum wage increase of 50 cent per hour is very welcome but it will have little effect for those people who face monthly increases of €200 and €300. It is vital the Government introduces rent certainty measures sooner rather than later to make a real difference to the lives of families who face the prospect of homelessness. We are in the middle of a crisis. The extent of our housing crisis threatens to derail our economic recovery. Recently some international firms have brought to our attention the issues they have in terms of accommodation for their staff. While I welcome the increased funding for homelessness services, our priority must be to prevent homelessness in the first place. More than 700 families in Ireland are homeless. Threshold, the organisation of which I am chair, has estimated that we face the prospect of another 700 families presenting to homelessness services over the winter months. They will be in crisis if we do not put a stop to the runaway train we have in the rental market.

This is not a problem of success; it is a problem of failure. These families are not homeless because of our economic recovery. They are homeless because of our failure to regulate greed and manage the housing market. Let me be clear, these families have been economically evicted. They are homeless because they could not afford to pay rent increases. Rents in Dublin rose by 35% between 2011 and 2014 and increases are between 10% and 15% in 2015. This is not uniform. These are average rent increases. Services see 20%, 30%, 40% and even 50% rent increases. There is legislation drafted and proposals before Government to introduce a form of rent certainty into Irish law. I know these measures have the full support of Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. The Minister for Finance has concerns about interfering with the market but we interfere with markets every day of the week. There is not a single market in which we do not interfere. More important, the Government has a moral duty to deal with homelessness. I would argue that there is also a constitutional imperative to deal with the housing crisis in the interest of the common good. I understand there will be discussion on this in the next week and I urge both Ministers to come up with a package of measures to deal with the rent increases or to take the moral responsibility of facing every family who become homeless because of their inaction. These families will remain homeless and more will join them if we do not deal with this issue.