Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for coming to the Chamber. We are just two weeks away from budget 2024. The State is now in a position that every other Government in the history of the State could only dream. It has surpluses that are the envy of other EU member states. Even when corporation tax revenues are excluded, the public finances are expected to generate surpluses in the coming years. Although inflation and central bank policies to try to deal with inflation have wreaked havoc on the living standards of working people, their families and those who rely on the State, the reality is the State has the wherewithal to, at least, ensure households can be supported to stand still in this budget. At a time of such healthy public finances, the key question is whether we will have a confetti-like budget, with a bit for everybody, or whether the Government will go beyond and make a tangible, dramatic and permanent impact on the lives of people.

I listened to the Taoiseach list certain matters in his address. The list is welcome in terms of free GP care and free schoolbooks but there are more than 3,000 children growing up in homeless accommodation, with the impact that will have on them for the rest of their lives, and one in four children in Dublin’s north inner city cannot access even a free preschool place, with the associated disadvantage being entrenched in their lives before they walk in the door of a primary school. We need to fix that. The key test for the Government, with these public finances, is the permanent improvement it will leave on the lives of people that will be felt for many years to come.

This country has a serious problem with low pay. One in five workers in the economy is subsisting on low wages. The recommendation from the living wage technical group this week is to have a living wage of €14.80. We have the Low Pay Commission. The Government spoke about moving to a living wage but the reality is that even if there is a substantial increase to the minimum wage, that will not fix the problem of low pay. It is within the power of the Government to change the course of low pay. The State pays out more than €17 billion in public procurement contracts year in, year out. We have to ask what it is doing with that money to ensure it goes to companies that are supporting decent incomes and sustainable jobs. It is about ensuring workers can join a union and bargain for themselves. We will be watching very closely the Government’s approach to the adequate minimum wages directive when it is due to be transposed next year. It is about building resilience in the world of work in order that when there are periods of inflation, it is not just about a divisive battle between employers and workers in terms of increasing the minimum wage. Rather, it is about ensuring we support employers and workplaces that pay decently.

Another issue is that of building resilience within disability and health services. Reference was made to this issue in the context of an all-out strike by section 39 workers in the coming weeks. It is an appalling vista. It is outrageous that the Government has given lip service to those workers, who are looking after the most vulnerable in the State, yet has failed to pay them decently. This is not just about pay. It is about a recruitment and retention crisis in the disability and health sector. The Government has turned its back on those workers and we need to see a change in that Government attitude in the coming weeks.

On building resilience, this permanent legacy of the Government, what is being done to build resilience among the 250,000 households that are in arrears with their energy bills as of the second quarter of the year? Many of them are in energy poverty. Yes, the energy credits will be needed, as will an expansion of the fuel allowance, but there is also a need to dramatically reform the attitude of the Government to retrofitting. It is not good enough that those who want to take up retrofitting grants can do so. It must apply to all houses in energy poverty. I want the Government to take the approach that it is a public good benefitting households, the climate and society, rather than just those who can afford to pay out thousands to improve their household situation.