I wish to share my time with Deputy Nora Owen.
Financial Resolutions, 1998. - Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed).
Debate resumed on the following motion:
THAT it is expedient to amend the law relating to inland revenue (including value-added tax and excise) and to make further provision in connection with finance.
—(Minister for Public Enterprise).
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. While there are many good aspects to the budget I will deal with one area, that of children, where there has been total neglect. The budget did little to improve the lot of children in crisis, especially those who are deprived due to family poverty. It failed to deal with the crisis in child care. The Government should deal with this matter urgently. This issue was flagged as one where considerable progress would be made in the budget.
The Government should develop a national strategy for child care and provide the necessary funding. The budget failed to provide a reasonable level of funding to develop child care facilities. Action must be taken to provide day care facilities. Parents combining work with family life must be supported. Many families have no choice as most parents must work. Even where both spouses work they cannot afford to own their own homes. The economy needs women at work. One of the reasons for the success of our economy is the availability to it of the skills of women who have returned to the workforce. That should be encouraged. However, it creates an urgency for child care. The Government has failed to address the issue.
Proper training initiatives are required for people looking after children. The child care crisis concerns the provision of places and the monitoring and inspection of day care places. It is extraordinary that in this time of the Celtic tiger, Ireland has the second highest rate of child poverty in the European Union. Investing in our children should be a key priority. This matter has not been given priority, despite a great deal of lip service to families and children. Services for children at risk, as well as thousands of children who need quality day care, are at crossroads. As a proportion of average earnings in the EU, Ireland has almost the highest child care costs. Child care costs in Ireland are 20 per cent of average earnings while in other European countries they are 8 per cent. Parents pay a high proportion of their income on child care.
A new factor in Ireland is the huge growth in participation by women in the labour force. The female labour force is projected to grow by 218,000, an increase of 37 per cent by 2011. This will be a dramatic increase in the workforce by married women and mothers. It is clear the demand for child care will increase dramatically, possibly by 50 per cent. Even now there is a crisis in child care because providers in the formal sector are not expanding, despite ever increasing demands for places.
A number of problems confront this sector which need to be addressed urgently. There are difficulties in recruiting people to work in the child care sector. There is a shortage of places particularly for very young children and a lack of part-time care for parents, all of which is putting huge pressure on the supply of child care services.
Will the Minister outline the position in regard to monitoring and inspection procedures which come under Part VII of the Child Care Act, 1991, and the 1996 regulations which deal with the provision of pre-school services? How many premises have been inspected since the regulations came into force? What funding is provided for inspections and monitoring? Will he indicate what action he intends to take to help this sector deal with the severe problems it faces?
It is clear high quality pre-school education can play an important role in offsetting the effects of social disadvantage and in preventing school failure. The importance of reconciling employment and family life must be recognised. The pattern of family life has changed dramatically and the Government must recognise this and take appropriate action to deal with the changing situation. Part of supporting the family is supporting quality child care. The child care issue is complex and must take into account the needs of children, mothers who choose paid employment, those who remain at home, fathers and child care providers. Action is needed on all fronts.
International research has shown the three most important hallmarks of quality child care in day care facilities are: accommodation and equipment; personnel qualifications and the child-adult ratio. There is a severe danger, given the shortages and the pressure on parents to find child care, that we will fail on all fronts.
A policy to promote the highest standards of quality care nationally, must be developed as a matter of urgency. Will the Minister indicate whether it is correct that up to half of the registered pre-schools throughout the country have not been inspected by their regional health boards and that hundreds of other child care providers have failed to register their centres and are ignoring the two year old Act? Nothing less is at stake than the physical and mental welfare of thousands of our children.
Some 600,000 women are in paid employment. Of those it is estimated that 46 per cent have children under the age of four. The demand for child care from women who have chosen to care for their children at home is also increasing. Some 25 per cent of full-time mothers use child care facilities as they combine parenting with other responsibilities, continuing education, training and voluntary work. Many more women working at home should have further supports, including the option of child care, to assist with their wider participation in the family and community.
The Government must deliver even-handed support structures to all parents. It must respect and value equally the work of women who provide the bulk of this essential unpaid role whether caring full-time at home or combining that role with work outside the home. Initiatives in this area must support parental choices as between paid care and care by family members on a voluntary basis.
Child care is a complex issue and demands a complex solution. It must be approached primarily with the needs of children at the centre but also those of the parents, those at home, in part-time, full-time or seasonal employment and those who may wish to return to education, training and employment.
There is an urgent need for a national child care plan which defines all issues and identifies where responsibility for progress lies. Financial benefits to families with children is one of the most effective ways to support families, and address child poverty. Doubling child benefit for all children under five years of age would be a simple and effective way of enhancing child income support and supporting the cost of child care. A £3 per week increase will not address this issue; it is a mere sop. For a considerable period, Fine Gael policy has identified the doubling of child income support as the first step in tackling this problem. A systematic approach to the development of appropriate child care facilities is also necessary and must occur in partnership with the services which have already been established and which have worked hard to provide quality services in a difficult economic environment. Work must also be carried out on standards, registration, quality and training as we work to bring a sector previously considered to be on the margins of the economy into the mainstream.
It is necessary that we treat the sector with respect and allow it to grow and develop. We must support good employment practices and quality service provision. Local authorities have a particular role to play in planning service provision. All county councils should include child care provisions in their development plans. In particular, planning provision must be available for child care facilities, which meet requirements under the Child Care Act and cater for a minimum of ten children, in residential areas .
IBEC recently published an excellent document in which it was estimated that 70 per cent of employers are facing recruitment difficulties and that more than 40,000 additional child care places will be required in the next ten years if people are to be in a position to take up paid employment. Investment in child care should allow the State to make the most of the investment made in education and training. It will allow the State to maintain and develop skills for women, reduce labour shortages and offer women greater choice in the manner in which they participate in our economy. At this time of unprecedented growth, investment in child care and children must be a priority.
There must be a planned approach to creating a safe, high quality, accessible and affordable system of child care and pre-school provision for all parents who wish to avail of it. The plan must be built on meeting children's needs and offering them a service which has proven long-term benefits. It must respect and support parents' choices and recognise that child care provision is an emerging economic sector which, in addition to the services it provides to children and their families, can offer good quality employment to many.
In partnership with parents and the wider community, the Government has a number of vital roles to play in addressing the child care crisis and creating an effective and responsive range of services. It has reneged on an opportunity to begin that process in this budget. The Government must facilitate the development of child care and pre-school services and must view it as an important element of the social, educational and economic infrastructure. It must facilitate parents to make choices concerning the care of their children and create the necessary mechanisms through which services can be financed. It must also address the issues of child poverty and disadvantage and must seek to reduce the element of coercion which currently forces some women into or out of the workforce against their will. The Government must set standards at national and regional level which guide the provision and delivery of child care and pre-school services.
I urge the Government to address the anomalies which exist within the system, for example the pay levels for child care workers versus the cost to parents. While we must keep children and families at the centre of child care policy, there are economic arguments which support the development of child care. Investment in children will have a long-term benefit in breaking the cycle of child poverty and will give more children a better start on the road to education and economic independence. Quality child care provision is economically smart and socially just.
Service providers are faced with providing proper salaries in order to attract and retain people with the appropriate qualifications. They are also faced with the difficulty of finding the necessary capital to develop facilities to comply with standards. The Government should address these issues. More women are seeking to continue working while caring for children and more women are opting to return to paid employment while their children are young. More employment is available and will contribute to economic growth and long-term sustainability. I am disappointed at the Government's failure to use the opportunity to address the child care issue through this budget as it said it would.
There is an old adage which runs "self praise is no praise". The Minister for Finance thought there might be a chance that the media would not be able to praise elements of his budget and built self praise into his speech. He described the budget as radical and hoped the media might pick up on that line and sell the budget for him.
I do not deny there were welcome elements in the budget. The income tax system will be fairer. Some of the money allocated is bound to do some good in a number of sectors. However, some of the increases heralded from the rooftops as being radical improvements do not seem quite so radical on closer examination.
The budget was a lost opportunity. This country has an additional £1 billion in revenue this year. Week after week, we hear of increased revenue from income tax, VAT and so on. When one analyses this budget it is obvious there will not be any significant reduction in the number of people living in poverty. There will not be any significant change in housing and hospital waiting lists. Adult and child illiteracy will remain untackled to any great degree and rural poverty will grow with the result that more people will be driven into cities and towns, further pressuring urban infrastructure. If I were a member of Government, I would not sing the praises of the budget so highly.
I urge the thousands of Fruit of the Loom workers who were so devastated yesterday at the closure announcement to put pressure on the Government to ensure the task force which has been set up will deliver the required retraining and jobs. County Donegal is essentially represented by five Government TDs and one Opposition TD. The five Government TDs will not rock the boat or pressurise the Government.
The Deputy should not be so sure of that.
I sympathise with the Fruit of the Loom workers at a time when they could have hoped for some extra money to provide extra pleasure for their families at Christmas. They now face a short working week and closure this Friday. A total of 770 people will lose their jobs by the end of January. By the end of 1999 only 600 will remain and that will be the position until 2005. The Minister has had this information for some time but failed to tell the workers what she knew. It was apparent when I visited the plant that they wanted to know what was going to happen as quickly as possible so that they could seek alternative employment or retraining.
The Minister has not been sure-footed. She had an uncivilised public row with Mr. Bill Farley on whom the workers depended for their jobs. They deserved better. I urge her to adopt a more hands-on approach and provide the necessary resources for the task force.
In the past month it has been announced that the Krups plant in Limerick, Betatherm in Ballinrobe and Tarkett in County Westmeath are to close. More than 100 jobs will be lost at Southborough in Kells. I heard yesterday that another textile firm based at the former Farah slacks plant in County Mayo is to close. While the Government is claiming credit that the economy is thriving, it should not be forgotten that in the run-up to Christmas many are suffering, having lost their jobs. Negotiating a redundancy package is not a pleasant task.
The budget fails to tackle in a radical way the problem of the skills shortage. To meet demand provision should be made for in-house training. While hundreds of millions of pounds are available to FÁS, only £8 million is available to employers this year. Additional funds have been sought by the Small Firms Association, ISME and the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland which dealt with this matter in a recent document.
In the technology area an additional 8,300 professionals and technicians will be required each year from 1997 to 2003. The estimated number of graduates, returned emigrants, immigrants and upskilled employees is 6,100. This needs to be supplemented by 900 professionals and 1,300 technicians according to the expert group on future skills needs.
We will not attract new industries if we are not in a position to provide the necessary staff. Thirty years ago the need for good education standards was recognised by Donogh O'Malley and others. If this problem is not tackled, hotels and restaurants will be forced to close down.
On community employment schemes, the recent Deloitte & Touche report recommended the removal of certain categories, including public bodies. There are 3,457 such schemes in operation in schools under which secretarial assistance and caretakers are provided, 2,826 in local authorities and 831 in other public bodies. I have received a letter from a school in my constituency which is situated on the N1 in connection with its caretaker who is 59 years of age and has performed many tasks, including helping the children to cross the road. He has given the principal his first computer lesson and assembled all the new computer equipment following the introduction of the IT2000 programme. He has trained the football and the Olympic handball team. He has fitted shelving and renovated a prefabricated building to provide a remedial teaching room, a library and a medical examination room. It is his intention to renovate the school desks. He is involved in every aspect of school life with management, teachers and pupils. If the community employment scheme is not extended beyond the three year period specified, this school will suffer enormously.
The Minister for Health and Children had a great opportunity to show that inside his blustering exterior lies a heart, but he did not fight his corner at the Cabinet table. An additional £8 million, £4 million less than the amount allocated last year, is to be made available to reduce the number on hospital waiting lists which currently stands at 35,000. The Minister did not, however, refer to the number awaiting appointments with specialists. He kept the report secret.
I have received a letter from a constituent in connection with his wife who has cancer and sought a CT scan. Because of the long delay she eventually decided to go private. The letter reads:
My wife was able to get an earlier CT scan when we made the decision to go private and pay the shortfall that our VHI did not meet. My wife had the CT scan in mid-October and it turned out that the cancer had spread to the liver. I am only telling you this in an effort to highlight the fact that (1) my wife has now been able to get treatment earlier because she can afford to — she will have her third chemo session this week — and (2) it begs the question how many other people may be reaching stages of irreversible illness because of hospital queues.
Women have to wait between three and six months for a mammogram. One cannot wait that long to learn whether a lump is cancerous.
A young man who graduated recently and requires dental treatment for which his parents cannot afford to pay has been on the waiting list for one year. He was offered a day appointment. On the day in question he was informed by the hospital by telephone — the call was taken by his eight year old sister — not to turn up and that it could not give him another appointment even though he is in constant pain. He cannot sell himself well at interviews as a consequence. This is affecting his confidence. The Government needs to put flesh and blood on the statistics they announce so that when it deliberates on spending it directs money to those most in need. It did not do this in the budget to the extent possible. The budget is not radical. It is a lost opportunity.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Fox, Ó Caoláin and Donal Moynihan. This budget is the second of five. It is focused and balanced. For the elderly and those on low incomes there are extra supports. Never before has there been such radical action on taxation. PAYE workers are now in a position to earn up to £100 and remain outside the tax net. The major items sometimes eclipse the many other smaller points that equally help ensure that we are better off after this second Fianna Fáil budget. It will take time to assimilate it.
By its nature, a budget is wholeheartedly welcomed by some, generally welcomed by many and not well received by others. Of all budgets this, the second of a series of five, has pleased a very large section of the community in its balance and its focus on some of the most vulnerable in our society.
It was the elderly who helped create today's Ireland. In their older age they deserve recognition and received it not only in the increase of £6 in their pensions but also in respect of many small measures, such as the move to double the medical card income guidelines, which will bring so many more of our senior citizens within the safety net of the medical card system, and the increase in guidelines for the fuel allowance.
The carers scheme has been expanded so that more people will be eligible to participate. Carers in receipt of domiciliary care allowance and carers of all those who need full-time care and attention between the ages of 16 and 65 years are now to be included. Also welcome is the free telephone rental allowance for all qualified carers.
The £200 allowance provided for respite care is one of the most significant first steps announced in the budget. Respite care is a vital issue, not only for the carer but also for the cared for.
As a Border Deputy I received many representations, both last year and this, in relation to an important source of employment — the filling stations. Petrol prices have not increased in either of the two budgets introduced by the Minister. This has had very positive consequences for those industries along the Border in helping them maintain a favourable differential. Usually one of the ways in which positive aspects of budgets were balanced was through taxing the motorist, but not this year.
The job creation measures and incentives to return to work are key issues in my area. The budget takes 80,000 out of the tax net. It is an initiative that will encourage people into work. It is very important I put on the record my sincere sympathy for those workers from Buncrana, Malin, Milford, Raphoe and surrounding areas who, until today, were gainfully employed in Fruit of the Loom. Other jobs are vulnerable in Lifford. These people put many years of their lives into building the reputation of this company and would like to benefit from the improved tax reliefs introduced by the Minister. Unfortunately, for them a bleak Christmas lies ahead. We do not want to see them added in the long-term to the already extremely high unemployment figures in my constituency.
The £3 increase in social welfare assistance is welcome, but replacement industries and increased supports for local enterprises are what my constituents want. The energetic, enthusiastic and loyal approach they bring to their employment is what they are used to and what they wish to return to in the near future.
Deputy Owen has commented on the public representatives in the area. Representatives in the locality have all worked actively to secure a positive resolution of the crisis. We are not sitting on the sidelines. I welcome the various improvement to the FÁS placement service, the jobs initiative places, the bridging programme for the long-term unemployed and the £13.5 million in improvements to the self-employed pensions provisions. Those seeking employment deserve every assistance in terms of skill analysis, re-training and placement. That has already begun in terms of the existing task force and it is ready to immediately help at skills, retraining and replacement. The immediate needs of almost 1,000 people in north Donegal must be a priority within such supports, which have been improved by Minister McCreevy in the budget.
In an area where farming and fishing are the only alternatives for employment, I welcome the focus in the budget on the low income farmer. On examining the details of the £15 million scheme, the farming community, especially the smaller farmer, will appreciate the benefits of the move away from the £1 for £1 assessment The new scheme, importantly, will not be confined to people whose only income is from farming but will enable the farmer, within a means test, to have an income from other activities. The projection that double the number currently on the smallholders' scheme will qualify for the new scheme and that most of those in the existing scheme should be entitled to increased payments suggests that the goal of assisting those most in need in what has been a difficult year will be achieved.
I also appreciate the work being done by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Woods, for the fishing industry. It is a major source of employment in a region with so many difficulties. Over the past year he was able to support projects on pier repairs in Greencastle, Moville and Malin and he addressed the age profile of the whitefish fleet, which was becoming historical. The budget shows continued support for developing facilities at small harbours and landing places. Given that the island has such potential for marine development, this is an especially significant aspect of the budget. I would like to see increased recognition of this from the Minister for Finance. Indeed, there issues beyond the facilities available to fishermen which should be addressed.
Throughout the year and again in the budget money is targeted within the Department of Education to help those most in need. I commend the work of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, in his approach to his portfolio and acknowledge that, like the Minister for Finance, he is also working to a five year plan that will see continued improvements across the board in education. His recent announcement of more books for school libraries is reflected in the budget measures which give tax reliefs on donations to public libraries.
The need to develop the love of reading is linked to having facilities available. I acknowledge the good news within my constituency of the advancement of the library project in Buncrana to construction stage. I trust the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, will ensure that the fire station will also proceed to construction in the next few months.
What about delays?
It has already gone to tender.
I am sure Deputy Blayney will sort things out.
The country is doing well. Some parts are doing much better than others, but the potential for all is improved in the decision on regionalisation. Continuing Objective One status and the peace process will have significant meaning for the people of County Donegal.
I hope the Minister for Finance continues on his five year plan and in so doing finds ways to deal with the issues which have been unresolved this year, such as child care and the woman in the home. He is to be commended on his work to date; there are too many issues to commend him on individually within the time allocated to me.
Many areas have been addressed in the budget, but many remain to be addressed. The difficulties in the farming sector are among those which achieved the highest profile during the year. I am happy that the smallholders' allowance is to be revamped with an income disregard which will benefit families especially. This will be a welcome step for small farming families who are worst hit by the income crisis, which has prevailed in every sector of the farming industry.
The reintroduction of the control of farm pollution grant, dairy hygiene and installation aid grant for young farmers is long overdue and to be welcomed. These schemes have been suspended for far too long. It is very important that no further time be lost before they are put into place to benefit farmers who wish to improve their farms and young farmers who will be involved in legal costs associated with transferring farms.
Depopulation is more than a word bandied about from time to time. It is a real concept in rural areas and small towns and in some of the villages I represent. Every effort must be made by the Government to support smaller schools, post offices and Garda stations. Simple measurers like maintaining railway stations and keeping them open can make a huge difference to encouraging young people to reside locally instead of moving to Dublin and other cities where they work and study. The two stations at Glenealy and Avoca in my constituency are examples. I am sure there are many more throughout the country. These stations have been closed because of the neglect of platforms. It would cost less to keep them open than what is being spent on pollution reduction measures and traffic gridlock.
I was pleased to note that Bray Garda station is to benefit under the Estimates for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. That station is inadequate, but that problem is being addressed with the allocation of money provided to upgrade it.
I acknowledge and welcome the budgetary measures in respect of the carer's allowance scheme. The extension of the free telephone rental allowance to all recipients will be of great benefit. The extension of that scheme to the carers of children in receipt of a domiciliary care allowance is also welcome. I welcome the measures to modify the requirement that carers should live in the same house as those for whom they care, which acknowledges that it is unrealistic that they should be expected to provide care 24 hours a day.
I was disappointed more was not provided in the budget to address the problem of child care, particularly in regard to tax relief. A report is being drawn up on this area and recommendations will be made to the Minister. I urge him to ensure those recommendations are implemented without any unnecessary delay. I am sure all Members will keep a watchful eye on proposals in this area.
The removal of low income earners from the tax net is one of the main moves to be welcomed in the budget. The increase in the tax bands by £4,000 and in the personal allowance of £1,050 for single people will make a difference. A single person will no longer have to pay tax on earnings under £100 per week. That means that 80,000 PAYE workers on low pay will be removed from the tax net. As a young person, I welcome that move. It will encourage young apprentices and those who have only begun to work to continue working.
I welcome the substantial increase in the old age pension. The increase of £6 per week in the full personal rate and £3 per week for a qualified adult is welcome. Although the much talked about target of £100 has not been reached, these increases are a significant step in that direction. I hope the Government will deliver on meeting that target during its lifetime.
I also welcome the additional money provided for education services and that special education needs and the needs of the disadvantaged were highlighted. I am pleased there will be a focus on the provision of a remedial service which will ensure that children who may have learning disabilities at a young age will not be discriminated against from day one, but will be given an equal opportunity, which they deserve.
An article in the Evening Herald last week suggested that the children's allowance should be paid to parents who have children living at home up to the age of 30. I am sure many laughed at that suggestion. I am not suggesting it should be taken seriously, but the article made a good deal of sense when one considers there are many people of my age — I am 27 and still living at home — who are still living at home because they cannot afford to buy their own homes. How many young couples can afford to pay the prices demanded for houses in Wicklow? The minimum price for an average house is £140,000. Furthermore, one cannot get planning permission for a house in Wicklow unless one has three or four generations of ancestors in the local graveyard.
A serviced land initiative provided by Wicklow County Council sought to provide sites to young couples to give them a chance to build houses in their local areas. The scheme was a major success, but it is only a drop in the ocean when it comes to addressing the problem in this area. Housing and subsidised sites will have to be given top priority in the coming months and years.
I agree with what Deputy Browne said about the provision for VRT. The Minister made a mistake in his approach to it. I ask him to revisit that proposal in the Finance Bill. To do that, he will have to change the implementation date of 1 January for the increase in VRT. Deals have been struck and cars ordered and that implementation date has put car dealers throughout the country in an awkward position of having to impose a £600 increase in some cases and an average of £3,000 on two litre cars. According to the SIMI, deals have been cancelled, even though cars have been ordered. Unless this issue is revisited we will see far too many secondhand imports on our roads. They will bring very little revenue into the Government's purse and such secondhand imports will cause as much pollution as that which we are trying to reduce.
I concede the budget was a good step forward for the country. It is important to ensure no one group is left behind and that we all move forward together.
This year's budget clearly reflects the criticism of what was done last year. The Minister said it is all part of a five-year plan with the outline of each year's budget already mapped out until the end of this Government's term of office. I admire his optimism. The political reality is very different. The Government had to respond to the widespread dissatisfaction with its last budget. In doing so, it had to acknowledge, as the Minister did in his speech, that everyone is not benefiting equally. It was then obliged to address the growing inequalities in our society. To the extent that it has done so, I commend it, and I have no hesitation in welcoming the positive aspects of the 1999 budget while pointing out its many shortfalls.
Twenty years ago people throughout this State took to the streets in protest at the gross inequality of the taxation system in which PAYE workers bore a massively unfair burden. Through all the years since those massive tax marches of 1979 the call for a fairer taxation system has been made but has gone unheeded by successive Governments. However, this year's budget takes some significant steps towards a fairer tax system and that is welcome. It vindicates the efforts of people over many years to inject more fairness into the taxation system.
The removal of workers earning £100 per week or less from the tax system is a very welcome and long overdue measure. The other tax changes favouring the lower paid are also positive. We must ask what it says about the nature of our Celtic tiger economy when we hear that 80,000 workers are earning — and up to last week were being taxed on — a paltry wage of £79 to £100 per week. Much is made of the incentive to work which these tax changes are supposed to bring, but there is as little incentive to work for £100 per week untaxed as there is when tax is deducted.
Here we encounter one of the major shortfalls of this Government's tax and employment strategy and a huge gap in the budget. That is the whole issue of a minimum wage. Given the widespread democratic consensus in favour of this progressive and long overdue measure, the tardiness of the Government approach is totally unacceptable. Why do people have to wait until April 2000 at the earliest before they see a minimum wage enshrined in legislation and who knows how long, if ever after that, before a minimum wage is implemented, with workers having the benefit in their weekly pay packets?
It is estimated that the reduction in corporation tax in last year's budget will cost £102 million in 1999. The corporate sector is set to benefit to the tune of at least £227 million every year in the next couple of years and this will rise dramatically as the corporation tax is reduced to the Government's 12.5 per cent target. Instead of giving bonuses to the corporate sector, the Minister should have retained the tax and used it to press needs of our health and education systems.
The most disappointing part of this budget was undoubtedly the deplorably low level of social welfare increases. The increases barely keep pace with the rate of inflation. They lag behind the growth in the average industrial wage. The Minister has thus continued the trend which has seen a 22 per cent growth in average income over the past four years compared to only a 16 per cent increase in social welfare payments in the same period.
Given the resources available to the Minister the £3 per week increase is not only insubstantial but will serve to widen the poverty gap. The Minister, Deputy McCreevy, described this budget as a radical one. A truly radical departure would and could have been made by linking social welfare rates to the growth in the average industrial wage.
It is a very sobering thought to realise that 30 per cent of our population have social welfare as their only source of income. Yet despite some welcome provisions this budget largely failed to benefit them. Once again other sectors moved ahead and left a widening gap between the welfare dependent and the rest.
In the face of a housing crisis the measures announced are totally inadequate. Only 4,500 housing starts in 1999 throughout the 26 Counties will leave tens of thousands on the housing waiting lists. A comprehensive public housing programme with greatly increased funding is needed to address this crisis. In the months ahead this will perhaps be seen as the greatest failure of this budget as the assessment of housing need, which is due to be published next spring, will certainly show an unprecedented growth in the need for accommodation, only a tiny fraction of which is being met.
The relief for low income farmers which was included in the budget is welcome, so far as it goes. However, the depth and breadth of the farming crisis has not been recognised. I highlight in particular the now very acute fodder crisis. I had the opportunity last week in north Monaghan, in conjunction with Monaghan IFA, to witness at first hand the state of the situation on the ground. The recently announced fodder scheme of the Minister for Agriculture and Food is far too narrow in its remit, with entire counties where farmers are going to the wall being excluded. I call on the Government to take urgent action to widen the remit of the scheme and to increase the supports available.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In concluding my contribution I want to cite some of the neglected social and economic clauses.
I draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that there are less than four minutes remaining and we still have one speaker.
In deference to that I will conclude with this comment. Those clauses include, under Article 23, "the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.the right to equal pay for equal work.the right to just and favourable remuneration. .supplemented if necessary by other social means.". Under Article 24 "the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing" and the right to education under Article 26 are asserted.
Despite much progress the State has yet to live up to its obligations as so clearly and idealistically set out and adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The budget for 1999, despite its positive aspects, confirms that underlying reality and challenges those of us who seek real and lasting social and economic social change on this island. We will meet that challenge.
Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Aire Airgeadais as an cháinaisnéis mhaith a chuir sé os comhair an Tí seachtain ó shin.
Ar dtús ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis na hAir a bhfuil an t-airgead eacha breise faighte acu, go speisialta le hAire an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta, Gaeltachtaí agus Oileán. Tá sé soléir go bhfuil sí ag baint úsáid mhaith as an chuid airgid atá á fáil aici.
Bhi áthas orm an t-airgead breise fá choinne na scoileanna naisiúnta do leabhair dona daltaí a fheiceáil. Is rud mór é sin a bhí i ndán dona scoileannna, go speisialta na scoileanna beaga mar ní bhíonn an oiread sin acu.
Déanaim comhghairdeas le Aire Roinn na Gaeltachta agus Aire Stáit Ó Cuív chomh maith. Tá siad ag cur airgid ar fáil nach raibh againn leis na blianta anuas. Chomh luath agus a dimigh an páirtí seo as Rialtas stopadh sé lá arna mhárach. Ní raibh ina dhiaidh sin airgead ar fáil le haghaidh bóithre sna Gaeltachtaí.
I congratulate the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, for delivering a budget which has targeted the old and the less well-off, given encouragement to job creation and provided almost £600 million in tax relief. The decision to allow the first £100 earned to be free of tax will be widely welcomed and will be of particular benefit to young people entering the workforce for the first time, the lower paid and part-time workers.
The major tax reform is very welcome, as is the increase in old age pensions and the easing of the means test for qualification for medical cards for old people, especially those of 70 years. Also welcome are special arrangements for the self-employed who started paying into the PRSI scheme in 1988. This measure confirms the commitment of this Government to the aged and the sick in our society.
There has been much criticism of the low prices many farmers receive for produce from the processors and the fact that these low prices are not passed onto the consumer. Consequently, foreign companies have seen a niche in the market and are exporting their produce to us. Shoppers are choosing with their purses and opting for the cheaper produce which is often the imported item. Last year we imported 15,000 tonnes of beef at a cost of £25 million, 30,000 tonnes of pork at a cost of £56 million and 25,000 tonnes of poultry at a cost of £60 million. If this money was spent on Irish produce, Irish farmers would not be experiencing the present difficulties. We could compete with foreign produce and prices if the processors would reduce the price to the consumer in line with the reduced price the farmers are getting for their produce. I ask the farming representatives on the boards of management of the processing plants to ensure a reduction in the price for the consumer. The Irish consumer knows that our own produce far exceeds foreign produce in quality. We must increase the promotion of Irish food. I ask An Bord Bia to take steps to clearly indicate the origin of all food and let the public make an informed choice.
The budget should be commended to the House. It is a budget which is aimed at the less well-off, the sick and the elderly and which has also promoted job creation.
Debate adjourned.