Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as bheith anseo. I am deputising for my colleague Senator Paul Gavan so I hope the Minister of State will accept a lesser Senator in this instance.

The Bill is a necessary piece of housekeeping effectively to validate all expenditure by Departments approved under the Estimates and Supplementary Estimates processes. Previously, this housekeeping was done without debate and discussion. I welcome, therefore, the introduction in recent years of additional debate on the subject. However, further serious consultation on spending is required. There has been some reform but it is unfortunately a procedural rubber-stamping of public expenditure choices made by the Government. The Minister of State is simply informing us of what we already know.

Sinn Féin is fully aware of the choices that this right-wing, conservative Government has made throughout 2016 and understands the consequences of yet another year of elitism and conservatism in government. Evidence of gross inequality in our society is widespread. This is shameful. We can derive evidence from the homelessness crisis, the health crisis and the inequality in the education sector. We, as representatives of the public, have a responsibility to do our utmost to deliver a fair and equal society. However, the choices the Government has made and continues to make achieve the exact opposite.

According to a recently published TASC report, the percentage of the population living in deprivation rose from 26% in 2015 to 29% in 2016. The cost of living rose from 21.2% to 25.1% in 2016. The total wealth share of the bottom 50% fell from 12% to 4.9%. This State has the second lowest level of public capital investment in the entire European Union. This is at the same time as having a major housing crisis, with 2,426 children homeless in emergency accommodation. According to HSE audit figures, more than twice as many patients were languishing on trolleys for longer than nine hours in November 2016 than in November 2014. Circumstances are not getting any better. In fact, they are getting worse. Whatever choices this Government is making are clearly not delivering for ordinary working people. Let it be made clear that there is no coincidence in all of this. The economic inequality that is evidently on the increase across the State is a direct result of Government policy and the unequal nature of how money is spent.

What Sinn Féin wants for this State is to see a complete change of direction. We want to see an increase in capital expenditure in order to build much-needed homes, schools and health facilities. In our alternative budget, we have costed for additional expenditure of €490 million on housing to ensure that 7,000 families will be provided with somewhere to live and the security that comes with that. We have costed for €150 million in health to ensure the trolley crisis is addressed and for the HSE to work towards reaching HIQA standards. We have also costed for an additional €179 million in education. No longer can we leave children behind in this society. All children deserve an equal chance, which, of course, begins with education.

Above all else, Sinn Féin is committed to developing an all-island economy that supports jobs and growth. Just last week, we launched Towards a United Ireland, a comprehensive document that sets out our vision for this island and the costings behind what would truly be an equal society. I hope every Member has an opportunity to read it. If not, they can get copies from me.

This rubber-stamping procedure is simply not good enough when it comes to the annual validation of Government expenditure. We need to see much more time invested in the equality-proofing of Government expenditure. That is something to which the Upper House could very well devote time and in which it could find a role for itself.