Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not feeling too Christmassy right now. We have a great deal of work to do between now and Christmas. Let us consider some of the issues that have not been covered or addressed. All of us welcome the improving economic climate in the country. Having said that, we must recognise how this is not impacting on thousands of people in this country, especially those in middle Ireland. There are no provisions in this Bill in real terms to alleviate child care costs. There is no direct tax credit for that. There remains an anti-urban or anti-Dublin slant on the local property tax.

Let us consider the VAT decreases to which Senator Mullins referred. He commended the Minister on the reduced VAT rate on the hospitality sector. I agree with him in this regard. However, let us remember where the money came from. Fully €2.4 billion came from private pension funds. It has been taken out of peoples' savings. I am unsure where that balances the books because there was certainly no €2.5 billion reduction in VAT with that requisite amount.

Let us consider the mortgage arrears situation. There are no measures in this budget for mortgage arrears. There are no measures relating to the variable mortgage rates. We have repossession rates and civil bills, more than 6,000 of which have been issued this year already. These have been facilitated by this Government through the passing of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act. The Minister of Finance watered down the code of conduct on mortgage arrears to make it easier for banks to attack mortgage holders in difficulty.While we look at some of the positives in the Bill, it is only fair for people to see where actions are required in other areas where no progress whatsoever has been made. More than 200,000 people are in mortgage arrears and people have repossession orders hanging over their heads. Some people are working simply to pay the bills and are paying an extra mortgage in terms of child care, in particular those living in urban areas in Dublin. I did not get an opportunity to speak to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, but perhaps the Minister of State would consider those who are paying for everything and getting nothing, that is, middle Ireland, where couples are out working every day and are paying for everything.

I do not want to burst the Labour Party's bubble, but the fact is that this budget is better for high-income than low-income earners. That has been the trend with the Government over the past five years. Senator Hayden can shake her head, but she should read the figures.