Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will address all the comments I heard in as far as I can. Senator Cummins presented a general view of the budget. This budget is designed to protect people, invest for the future and make investments in infrastructure, our young people and education, which is the most important area in which to invest, and at the same time avoid generating more inflation. We are not used to having inflation in Ireland.We had a decade with an average of 0.5% inflation; it was 6% last year. We run the risk, at full employment, of spending money in an area and instead of getting anything back, all we do is push up prices and wages. That is our risk, so we have to cut a balance between spending enough money to protect people and to invest in infrastructure for the future, then not overspending and spending windfall money that cannot be relied on in the future. We have said this again and again about corporate taxes. We cannot rely on having that income in the future, so we are putting aside €10 billion a year. We have this balance between the two. I think we have broadly got it right. I thank Senator Cummins for pointing out what we are doing.

Senator Flynn spoke about the budget in previous years. I want to go through some of the points that she made on this. Specifically on the electricity credits, we had a number of meetings with each other, and also with National Traveller MABS, and we met at forums and conference. We tried to thrash out what we can do to improve that. Some people did not receive their electricity credits despite all the efforts that were made. The credits reached 99% of people but, unfortunately, some of the people who did not receive them were the people who most needed them, whether they were living in a bedsit or in a mobile home, including people who are maybe not Travellers but have mobile homes, and some Travellers who did not get the credits for one reason or another. We got to many Travellers by putting money through local authorities, but we did not reach everybody. On the other hand, some people received the money twice. Some people owned empty properties and received electricity credits where they were not needed and found that their electricity accounts were in credit.

We have made a big effort, which I started in spring, to make sure that people with homes or properties that are vacant do not receive credits and, at the same time, that those who fell through the cracks last time are reached. A lot of work has been done in that regard with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and the retail electricity section of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Although the scheme was fair already, I am happy that it is fairer, that people who were wrongly excluded will be included and that people who got double payments will not get them.

Senator Flynn pointed out that living alone or being a lone parent is a poverty indicator. Senator Pauline O'Reilly pointed out that having children is a poverty indicator. The two big factors that tend to put people at risk are having kids and living alone. That is why so many payments are targeted at them, including the living alone allowance and the fact that nearly half of the increased welfare payments and the targeted one-off payments are focused on children. There are also measures such as providing free schoolbooks that are focused on children, which is so that they can directly tackle poverty, particularly child poverty and energy poverty. Senator Flynn said she was worried that lone parents were not being provided for. I am not sure what the issue is there but I am happy to take it up with her afterwards.

She made a point about mental health and the very high rate of suicide in the Traveller community, which is shameful and true. She said that a national Traveller plan on mental health was supposed to be done and asked where it is. I will inquire about that. She also asked about an allocation of €300,000 for Traveller mental health and how that was spent. These are all fair questions. I can ask for an audit or reports on any of those items from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I will come back to the Senator on those issues and circulate information.

Senator Flynn said that Travellers were not specifically named in the budget. The Department responsible for Travellers is the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman. Each Department will produce very detailed budgets tomorrow. They will go down to their line items. I do not know what will be in it, but this may be. We will see tomorrow.

Senator Pauline O'Reilly discussed the solar revolution and asked about the solar panels on schools project, which I have met the Department of Education about. That is due to launch in the next fortnight or so. On the fund for nature and climate, we have a large surplus of approximately €10 billion this year. A little more than that is expected next year. A portion of that money is going to go into a special fund for nature and climate. That will mostly provide payments for farmers to transition away from traditional farming towards environmentally-friendly farming. That fund is a very long-term measure, with €3 billion going into it.

The Senator also pointed out that half the cost-of-living measures are focused on children because children are associated with poverty. She pointed out that the young adult card has been extended. She mentioned half-price travel for young people. In fact, it is 60% off, because it is 20% off all travel for everybody in the whole population and a further 50% off for young people, so anybody aged 24 or 25, including some people working on my team, will find that their cost of travel has gone down by nearly two thirds.

Senators Maria Byrne and Kyne mentioned the challenges in childcare. Senator Byrne has specific experience in that area. We are trying to do three things on childcare. One is to cut the price for parents. Another is to make the sector sustainable for providers by providing them with increased grants. Finally, we are trying to make sure that workers get a good deal. The Senators know that, for the first time, a sectoral pay deal was done last year to provide workers with a higher wage than the minimum wage. In all three areas, more investment is going on. As the Senators know, we are going to bring down the cost of childcare to parents by a further 25%. It will have halved in the lifetime of the Government, which is very significant. That needs to be backed up with sufficient money to make sure that sufficient providers stay in business. That involves much negotiation with providers, which is done by the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's, Department. While he does not get everybody on board, I understand that he has 90% of people on board.

Senator Byrne asked about transport. She pointed out the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road in Limerick and welcomed it. Regarding Local Link public transport services, the Department Transport has provided 105 new Local Link services across the country in the past two years. Every week, it opens a new Local Link service. Anytime I am in the west, I use Local Link services. I can use them with a Leap card. I can top up my Leap card in any post office in Ireland. Leap cards used to be something that were used in Dublin but not in the rest of the country. There has been a significant increase in the number of people using rural public transport in Ireland, which is reflected in the CSO figures.

I liked Senator Fintan Warfield's contribution. There was a lot in it. Specifically, he asked why Ireland's emissions are still rising. In fact, our emissions fell last year, according to the EPA. It withdrew the initial estimate. Our emissions are currently 4.6% below pre-Covid levels. They need to fall further but I just wanted to put on the record that our emissions are falling. The Senator asked for a fairer version of the retrofit scheme. We can always make the retrofit scheme fairer. I agree that we need to work towards that. The majority of the €333 million for retrofitting goes towards free upgrades for either people living in council housing or people living on welfare payments. The better energy warmer homes scheme, combined with the local authority retrofits, comes to 60% of the retrofit funding. This year, we are providing €90 million to local authorities to fund retrofitting council houses. When I started here, just three years ago, it was €25 million. To give the Senator an idea, it has pretty much quadrupled. That is targeted at people who need it most. People living in local authority housing will not be able to afford to retrofit their properties. What about people who are in between? They can get a 50% grant to retrofit their house if they own their own home. What if someone is a homeowner on a low income who does not fit into that category, is not on welfare, not a local authority tenant, and just cannot afford it? That is why we are bringing in a low-cost loan scheme with the help of the European Investment Bank in the coming months. That will be welcome.

Senator Warfield said the carbon tax is regressive. The thing is that the Sinn Féin alternative budget includes the carbon tax. I do not believe it is Sinn Féin's policy to abolish the carbon tax. I know that, every year, it says the tax should be deferred a little but, in general, I do not believe the Senator's party is against carbon tax. If I have got that wrong, tell me, but Sinn Féin is not proposing to abolish it and its spending programme in its alternative budget relies on carbon tax revenues, which are substantial, at €770 million. Unless it can find another place to get that money, it will rely on carbon tax.

Senator Warfield mentioned tax on private jets. I have spoken with the Department of Finance on this. We are working on that. Of course, there is a range of taxes on private jets. There is a suggestion at EU level that we levy a special landing fee on all private jets. We are researching how we will do that in Ireland. We may bring it in before the rest of the EU. I agree with that.

Senator Kyne asked rightly about debt and said we are not talking about debt very much. Thankfully, our debt fell last year by €11 billion. It is very unusual in a developed economy to reduce debt. One usually just lets the debt reduce as a percentage of GDP.Our debt is falling in nominal terms and as a percentage of GDP, which is a good thing. At the same time, we are also saving money. We are putting aside €10 billion this year in national savings. However, our cost of debt is rising and the cost of an Irish bond and the yield on Irish debt is much higher than it was. The relevant amount now is approximately 3.3%. That is significant. It is right to pay down our debt if we can and to be careful when we are refinancing it. One thing we are doing is going out to the markets. The National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, wants to borrow money to use for green investments. Since these are certified green investments and the NTMA has done all the necessary due diligence, it is able to raise money at a lower rate than if it made a normal offering of debt. The rate is half a percent below regular rates. The NTMA recently raised €1 billion and has plans. When it is refinancing debt that is reaching maturity, it can refinance as green debt and get money at lower rates, thereby saving money.

Senator Craughwell made some points about defence spending. He pointed out that we are recruiting people but have difficulty with retention. Our ability to retain people may not be entirely related to pay. It may not be entirely a budgetary matter. It may be about conditions, culture and so on. The issue may need to be addressed in other ways. I had the honour of being on board Naval Service's LÉ William Butler Yeats. I was shown around it. That is the same ship that was involved in a large and successful drugs operation recently. The Senator pointed out that the patrol duty allowance, the amount of money that is paid per day to sailors who are on board Naval Service vessels, is lower than is paid to other divisions of the Government, such as the Revenue and so on. I am aware that is the case. The Senator also mentioned the level of ambition in the report on the future of the Defence Forces. He said we had the option to do nothing, to do level of ambition 2 or level of ambition 3 and chose the centre one, which was level of ambition 2. He asked if that is still the case and I believe it is. Specific questions about defence funding ought to be addressed to the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, who can answer them better than I.

The Senator also asked for better funding for local government in general, which is fair enough, although local government does have the power to alter some of its own funding.

Senator Malcolm Byrne asked about CCTV. As he acknowledged, I am waiting for the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, to come back to me with a report on the code of practice for how local authorities will use CCTV. It needs to do that by law. I am waiting for that report. I understand there is a meeting on 15 November. When the LGMA comes back to me with a code of practice, I will sign it off, lay it before the Dáil and local authorities can start putting in CCTV to catch people dumping. I want that to happen as much as the Senator does.

Senators Malcolm Byrne and Craughwell pointed out that our cybersecurity function is going well and received €10 million in funding this year. It has doubled its staff since the attack of the HSE and has a new headquarters to move into. We are better protected than we were.

Senator Malcolm Byrne also noted we have increased the foster care payment for the first time in 13 years. It it wrong that it took so long for that to happen but I am glad it is happening. There is also a one-off payment for foster care.

There have also been enormous increases in education, with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 special needs assistants, SNAs. That will make a considerable difference to people's lives. It is a measure targeted at children and young people.

The Senator also asked about the funds we are investing in and putting our surplus into. They are, effectively, sovereign wealth funds. He asked what level of oversight we are going to have, which is a very good question. We need to be absolutely sure the money is being invested fairly and independently. We must ensure that what the money goes into is transparent to everybody. He suggested speaking to the Finns and perhaps we should also speak to the Norwegians. I agree with that. The Senator has the right idea in that regard.

The Senator also asked about fire services' retained firefighters. Progress is being made to resolve the industrial relations issues. We need to invest in those services and that is accepted across the Department.

I think I have covered everything. I thank Senators.