Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, to the House. It is a complex budget so I do not intend to go into much of the detail, but I thank the Minister of State for giving us a brief run through the Schedule.The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, has delivered his first and this Government's second budget. That is a remarkable milestone. I note what Senator Horkan had to say on the issue of a third budget. I do not know if that is Senator Horkan's take or that is Fianna Fáil. We are now two budgets down and there is a third to which Fianna Fáil is committed to supporting. We can have a great debate about Fianna Fáil abstaining or supporting but ultimately by abstaining, it is supporting the budget. Fianna Fáil will be supporting the budget, subject to the conditions agreed and formalised in the confidence and supply agreement.

Today the Minister for Finance has signalled the Government's intention to create stability and a degree of certainty by balancing the books, investing in infrastructure and supporting families and businesses. That has to be acknowledged, given the difficult financial space. Reference was made to Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's action plan for housing which addresses one of most pressing needs in terms of infrastructure for our people and our country. The Government has set down major and ambitious targets in its housing plan. In that context, I welcome today's announcement of an increase in funding for local authorities for the construction of new social and affordable housing. That is the correct course because the local authorities, all 31 of them, are capable of delivering once they are given the necessary resources.

With rents now beyond Celtic tiger highs and homelessness on the rise, housing remains the most challenging issue facing this country and everyone acknowledges that fact. That was also dealt with today. I welcome today's announcement of support for housing construction. The Government now needs to engage with the 31 local authorities and enter the housing delivery market in an aggressive way to address the real shortcomings in terms of housing, with the emphasis on building social and affordable housing. That is really important. It is disappointing that the details of a new national affordable housing scheme, which the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has been promising for months, were not outlined today. I hope the Minister will announce that in the coming days. What is the national scheme? We had one last year but there has been no replacement. The Minister made a commitment to roll out a national affordable housing scheme across the country.

I am somewhat surprised at the stamp duty of 6% on commercial premises because it does not clearly differentiate between large commercial properties - which I understand the Government is trying to target and which is a good idea - and small premises like shops. Why should a small shop in an urban town like Gorey, for instance, incur stamp duty of 6% from midnight tonight? What about the policy in Rebuilding Ireland that talks about addressing these derelict shops in our towns and villages? There is no differentiation made between a small, broken down shop on the high street and a large commercial premises. The Government needs to reconsider that. There are small shops that potentially could be done up, sold on or turned into housing, subject to planning permission but the Government has missed the boat. I urge the Government to review the measure, if not now, then next year.

I want to raise the important issue of the local property tax. There was an expectation that the Government would address this issue in the budget but it did not do so. I listened to the Taoiseach talking about getting up early in the morning. I like to get up early in the morning. Everyone wants to get up early in the morning and wants to work but they want to be rewarded for that work. It is a pity we did not hear more about the Government's intentions with regard to the property tax.

We now know that there will be a merger of USC and PRSI in the long term. The reality is that people earning €13,100 are paying USC. Do Members know what €13,100 amounts to? It is €251 per week. That is crazy and is something that should be addressed going forward. Why are people in that bracket paying USC? I would suggest that nobody earning less than €26,000 should be paying USC. Why should they be? They are struggling to live on that sum.

Why are people who are working hard and who are paying for private health insurance being levied by the Government? We have seen in previous budgets that the Government has addressed this issue in terms of the levy. There are people paying between €300 and €400 for private health insurance. They do not necessarily want it but they have got to have it because when they are sick, they want to get a bed in a hospital and they want to get treated. People are now having to pay for private health insurance. I accept that it is a luxury to have private health insurance but the Government is sending out the wrong message in penalising people by imposing a levy on their private health insurance.

I welcome this budget. It is easy for me to say that, although I am not a member of the Government. I believe the Government has tried hard. However, I would suggest to the leader of Fine Gael, who spoke about people getting up early in the morning to work, that those people need to be incentivised to work. They do not want to be penalised. "Profit" and "hard work" are good words in my political vocabulary. They are important messages and they need to be taken on board.