Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today's budget allocates expenditure of a staggering €105.4 billion, yet it offers very little for the average citizen or indigenous businesses. Where is the Government's support for the risk-takers, entrepreneurs and small business owners in this country? The hospitality sector, including our beloved restaurants, is left to fend for itself. The Government is not interested in assisting or empowering the many small and medium businesses across the country. The vintners' federations rightly labelled the budget a disaster for the pub sector, with VAT remaining at 13.5%. How many pubs and restaurants are to close because the Government has failed to protect vital jobs and businesses that are central to every town and village in the country? The president of the Irish Hotels Federation has stated: "The half-baked measures announced today will have almost no impact for businesses that are struggling with ever-increasing costs, much of which are a direct result of the Government's own economic policies." The speech today by the Minister, Deputy Chambers, focused heavily on the economic consequences of the Covid crisis over the past few years. No sector has suffered more greatly than the hospitality sector. This is the time when the Government should be supporting the sector. It has failed it immeasurably.

The budget also fails due to the lack of innovative or creative solutions to make our country and economy wealthier. Instead, we are presented with a surplus that would not exist without the millions of euro from Apple. This is not a budget. It is a lesson on how to buy an election with the public's own money. Does the Government think people are stupid? The repeated energy credits are a complete joke. Why give money to energy companies when legislation could be introduced to stop the price gouging? The legacy of the Green Party in government is to drive up energy costs even if it means our elderly are dying in the cold year after year. Ireland is the country with the highest energy prices in the EU. Go, the Government.

We are at an economic crisis point that requires radical and bold steps to support the Irish people. A State bank, for example, would have enabled people to access tax-free loans and pay 2% on the remainder of the loan up to 20 years. It would provide a long-needed economic stimulus that benefits the public and offers people the opportunity to thrive in the face of the biggest economic hurdle they face today. I refer, of course, to the housing and home ownership crisis. The help-to-buy scheme, which has been well accommodated in today's budget, focuses exclusively on new builds. A total of 5.1% of dwellings in Ireland are vacant. Where is the incentive for buyers or sellers in this regard? This budget could do a lot more to support and incentivise landlords' re-entry to the market, instead of properties lying vacant due to poor management by the Government of rent controls in rent pressure zones. The controls on rent are now incentivising rental properties to be left vacant for a minimum of two years. This shows the Government's lack of foresight and its inability see the downsides of its policies. Shamefully, the Government is content with nothing more than a short-term solution that appears to be supporting renters and workers when, in fact, it is making access to the rental and buying markets harder than ever before. We need comprehensive national infrastructure projects that will truly benefit our citizens. This is essential for any long-term vision by the Government to solve the housing crisis.

One must ask where the Irish people's fight has gone when we continue, year after year, to be failed and sold out by the Government. Our continental neighbours would not hesitate to strike and protest, forcing governments' co-operation with their needs. Industry and our citizens have been failed. Let me remind the Government that it is the citizens and their businesses that contribute every cent to the €105.4 billion in expenditure set out today. I am sickened by the continued monumental waste happening under the Government. Where does it end? The Government has abused its power and the trust of the people it was elected to manage. The budget does nothing for the people who need it most, including children with special needs fighting for school places and the children who need spinal surgeries. If the Government had given €1 billion to those children today, not one person in the nation would have cried about it. However, they were not even mentioned. It is time for change. I urge the Irish public to vote for change at the ballot box in the coming weeks. We deserve better governance and accountability. We deserve better.