Seanad debates

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

3:30 pm

Photo of Grace O'SullivanGrace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I support the words and sentiments of my colleague, Senator John Dolan, on the Government's lack of real support for those with disabilities in budget 2017.

I am a naturally positive person. I do not intend budget day to change that and I am happy to welcome some of the better aspects of the budget. The fact that we are emerging from the dark days of major budget deficits and cuts is good, as is the Minister, Deputy Noonan's announcement of a three-to-one ratio of increases in public spending to tax cuts. The worst of the recession has ended for many and the priority now is restoring public services that have been badly affected and damaged.

A sugar tax, even a needlessly delayed one, will contribute to improving the health of our youth and ending the madness of sugary processed foods being cheaper than fresh nutritious ones, as is the case in parts of the US and elsewhere. A grant for single parents to return to education will give greater freedom of career choice to parents in the long run and families to live better lives with more opportunities. An increase in the earned tax credit for the self-employed is a small step in supporting micro and SME enterprises and self-employed sectors. The extra €28 million assigned to additional emergency homeless accommodation has been welcomed by the Peter McVerry Trust, and I second that.

There are also serious gaps in this budget. We have heard much about the concerns of the usual interest groups, as Senator Dolan stated, but little of those of the people bearing some of the highest burdens in our society, including not only the 18-to-20 year old cohort but those in their 30s who currently contribute so heavily to the economy and the tax base. As a group facing spiralling rents, huge housing costs and expensive commutes, they have received no coherent well-thought out assistance.

A case in point is the grant for first-time buyers purchasing newly constructed properties. This has been roundly condemned by all those commenting on the housing sector as a boon for developers that will be instantly absorbed by the increased housing prices it will foster. Ireland's young people are not fooled. They know this scheme will not deliver an affordable path to home ownership for them. Meanwhile, there is nothing for rents left paying significant amounts. Have we learned nothing from the housing boom and bust cycles? The Government's duty must be to do what it can to increase supply and control costs, not blow another bubble through price subsidies. We need to consider how to increase the available housing stock in areas where people want to live through the construction of social housing by local authorities and the release and activation of existing unutilised and under-utilised properties and land through appropriate taxation and other policies. We also need a real spatial and regional development strategy that helps us to move away from the overwhelming primacy of Dublin in national economic life. We need to facilitate those who do not wish to leave their homes through adequate economic and sustainable transport development outside the capital.

Young parents in the main are not well served by a proposed child care system that seems to ignore the valid and valuable choice taken by stay-at-home parents. The Green Party leader, Deputy Eamon Ryan, will focus on this later in his budget speech.

Young people are most significantly failed by this budget in its absence of a strategy to create the significant change we require in our economy and our way of life if we are to mitigate and adapt to a future of human induced climate change. Despite some green baubles, such as the extension of the subsidy schemes for electric vehicles and home energy efficiency, and the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme, there is nothing to improve active transport, such as walking and cycling, reduce the cost of public transport or improve safety on our roads, despite the spat of recent deaths. There is a wholly inadequate provision for flood prevention and there are no changes to the empty box-ticking system of consultation.

Altogether this budget shows a lack of vision, imagination and ambition, and change is required if Ireland is to seize the opportunity of decarbonising our economy and guaranteeing a healthy life for the people of Ireland, young and old. This is not reflected in budget 2017.

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