I wish to share time with Deputy Mattie McGrath.
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 Health and Children).
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I compliment the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, on another excellent and caring budget, especially in the area of social welfare support where the increase amounted to €900 million. Total spend on social welfare in 2008 will be approximately €17 billion, which will benefit 1.5 million people. This is most welcome.
At a time when the finances of the country are not as good as they have been in recent years, I compliment not only the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, but the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Cullen, on being able to achieve that type of package for social welfare recipients.
As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, I welcome the supports that have been introduced for the farming community. The capital gains tax relief on the dissolution of farm partnership is welcome. This relief will run for a period of five years and it is estimated to cost approximately €5 million in 2008. A few of my constituents are affected by this measure. They gave up land in different parts of the county and acquired land from the land commission to start a co-operative farm partnership. This has worked well. Some people from your county, a Cheann Comhairle, came to County Meath from County Kerry many years ago under a partnership agreement. They were successful farmers.
That is how Meath won a couple of all-Ireland finals.
That is correct. There is no doubt about that. We were very lucky to get people from Kerry and the west.
When the day came when young people were not interested in continuing farming, it was decided to divide the land. Currently, my neighbours are breaking up a farm partnership and this measure is most beneficial to them. The Minister came under much pressure from farming organisations and individual farmers. This issue was raised on numerous occasions at meetings of the agriculture committee. I thank the Minister, Deputy Cowen, for acknowledging the problem and acceding to the request to change the law.
I welcome the proposal to spread income tax liability over six years for diversification aid under the sugar beet compensation package. This measure follows on from the Finance Act 2007 provision which has already provided for similar treatment for restructuring elements of the package. The cost in 2008 is estimated to be €9 million. Deputy Crawford will recall deputations, especially from south Leinster and Munster, at numerous committee meetings regarding this difficult problem with which farmers were confronted.
The Finance Bill includes a provision to avert a clawback of income tax when a farmer who has opted to avail of the special income tax averaging arrangements subsequently enters a milk production partnership. The farmers' flat rate addition for VAT is being retained at 5.2% for 2008. Stamp duty relief for farm consolidation has been extended which will provide significant assistance for the farming community in improving the viability of holdings through consolidation.
An additional €15 million has been provided for the suckler welfare scheme to help develop business opportunities in the increasingly competitive beef sector. A payment of up to €80 per cow, up to a limit of 100 cows, will be available to suckler cow farmers who undertake to comply with certain animal welfare measures for calves born from 1 January 2008. I compliment the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Coughlan, for pushing these changes hard in Europe in spite of opposition. This scheme is most important for the future of the beef sector.
I am delighted to address the House on budget 2008. I compliment the Minister, Deputy Cowen, and his officials for the manner in which they produced this prudent document. The Minister has availed of the opportunity to be fiscally responsible and to react to the changes to the economy since last year's budget. The management of the national debt is most responsible. It has been kept to approximately 25% of GDP, which is one of the lowest in the developed world. The national development plan is an ambitious programme for investment in the future. The top priority is for our continued economic and social development. This budget continues to implement the national development plan, providing important infrastructure in transport, education, housing, environmental services and health. We are investing in building up our skills and enhancing our competitiveness internationally.
The budget also prioritises the environment through a range of measures on VRT, motor tax, VAT changes, energy conservation and research, and carbon reduction measures.
I welcome the proposals supporting home ownership. The ceiling on mortgage interest relief has increased for first-time buyers to €10,000 for a single person and €20,000 for a married couple. Stamp duty on residential property has been revised so that the first €125,000 is exempt. The above measures are very important and will help to kick-start the important house building industry.
I especially welcome the broad range of improvements in social welfare. The increase on last year's budget will cost €980 million in a full year. This means social welfare expenditure in 2008 will be more than triple the level set by the Labour and Fine Gael parties when they were last in Government. Furthermore, as a result of the changes made in budget 2002, all social welfare weekly increases will be paid with effect from 1 January 2008, which is most important. As a result, increases for those dependent on social welfare are payable more than five months earlier than was the case heretofore.
Other key positives in the budget include increases in the carer's allowance, carer's benefit and death benefit and pension increases of €14 per week. This has been warmly welcomed in my constituency of south Tipperary. I spoke to many pensioners who receive pensions from abroad and they are envious of the rates of pension available here.
The respite care grant has been increased by €200 from June 2008. Minimum maternity benefit and adoptive benefit rates have been increased to €221. FÁS payments have been increased in line with social welfare. This is important as people employed on such schemes do valuable work and it is vital that we reward them.
Family income supplement income thresholds will increase by €10 per week, which will improve the situation for large families. I referred to old age pensions. We are honouring our election promise in 2002 to bring the pension to €200 per week. Prior to the 2007 election we pledged to increase pensions to €300 over the lifetime of this Government and we are well on the way with the increases given this year. I warmly applaud the Minister, Deputy Cowen, and his officials. I fully support the measures taken in this budget.
I wish to share time with my two colleagues.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Will the Acting Chairman tell me when my time is up?
I will.
I have no doubt that will be the case. The Acting Chairman should not delay because my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, is always ready to tell me.
They are telling Deputy Durkan for a long time that his time is up but he proved them wrong.
They tried often.
I am glad of the opportunity to say a few words on the budget. For some reason last year was one year I failed to speak on this subject.
This budget needs close scrutiny. It is a post-election budget, partly anaesthetic and partly healing. On looking at it closely one will find the reasons it comes within those two categories — the shock of the public in the aftermath of the general election and the failure to deliver on a series of promises. There comes a time then when the public must be assuaged, confronted, rebutted. That is the purpose of this budget. This is the stumbling block that explains why the Government cannot deliver on its pre-election promises. That is a sad truth. I hope all Members and parties in this House, including the present multi-party Government made up of Independents, the Progressive Democrats, the Greens and good old reliable Fianna Fáil, snuggling up in the comfort of each other's company as we come up to the season of Christmas, think carefully about the promises they failed to keep and the people affected by them.
The budget proposes to increase expenditure on housing. It is no harm to welcome that, but it comes very late. In recent years there has been a process of downgrading the local authority housing programme and introducing, and replacing it with the activities of voluntary housing agencies. This has resulted in the voluntary agencies having the pick of the crop and they do not take on the difficult situations where there are serious social problems. The local authorities must provide housing and have been doing so on a diminishing scale for several years.
Additional funding is proposed for health and the delivery of the health services. When the health boards were abolished a few years ago it was regarded by the then Minister, Deputy Martin, as a good idea because they were wasting money hand over fist. The only difference between then and now is that then there was accountability. One could raise the issue in the House and get an answer instantly. One cannot do that anymore. One could raise it at any level anywhere and there was always accountability. There was transparency and people were called to account on a regular basis. That does not happen to the same extent any more despite the employment of an extra 33,000 people in the services within the past five years.
The way the health services have gone is an appalling indictment of the failure of Government to confront the issues in the health area, to address the issues fundamentally at ground level and to ensure that provision is made so that services can be delivered to the public. The patients and the public are the most important people in this equation and they are the last to be considered. They are the ones who get second-class treatment on a regular basis. I do not propose to go through the difficulties that have arisen over the past two or three years at various locations throughout the country where serious deficiencies have been shown in the way services are delivered to the general public.
In case any Member on the Government benches might get offended at this, I emphasise that this is not a criticism of anybody delivering the services. It is a criticism of the way the services are delivered and the rotation in which they are delivered. Unless something is done about it as a matter of urgency, there will be serious consequences. The Government will spend ever increasing sums in that area with the same result we have had to date. It is appalling.
The other area we hear much about nowadays is the environment. The Green Party started off in the life of the present Government by cycling in front of the squad cars. We must make allowances for the exuberance that follows early appointment but I am glad this practice has been discontinued and no other members of the Cabinet or junior Ministers pursue that practice. Dispose of the bicycle clips and let us get down to brass tacks. Let us look briefly at the environment. The problem with pollution of ground-water is one of the areas on which we get many lectures by Government. We are told about industry, agriculture and everything that damages the ground-water and the environment. We never get a lecture from anybody on the local authorities — which are funded directly, albeit inadequately, by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government — who are responsible for ensuring that raw sewage does not pour into lakes and rivers, that there are sewerage schemes capable of fulfilling their purpose and water treatment schemes put in place sufficiently in advance of population requirements so that the pollution of ground-water does not continue. Let this Government start by taking a leaf from its own book. Let the Government do something positive and prevent the pollution of the ground-water supply.
For many years since first coming into this House I have questioned the quality and adequacy of the domestic drinking water supply. I have always been assured that it is more than adequate, there is adequate storage, there is plenty and that all in the garden is rosy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Government has sat idle while all this pollution occurred and failed to address the issues. It is failing to do so in the current year and will fail again. I bring to the attention of the parties this issue that requires attention.
On the economy in general, for several years some of us have pointed to our lack of competitiveness. The Government chose to ignore us. Those on the Government benches say we are unpatriotic to make such statements. We are becoming ever less competitive and are being replaced in the world markets by others who are more competitive. If the Government thinks we will survive on world markets on that basis, by all means let it continue but if it thinks a remedy is needed, it should come forward with it and do something about it now rather than wait until the economy falls apart. Tomorrow it may be too late.
In the world marketplace, that hard-headed business world, nobody cares and it is all a matter of tough negotiation. One either delivers or one fails. I ask the Government not to continue to allow jobs to be relocated to other more competitive economies. I need not enumerate the instances where it has happened in the past. The Members on the Government benches from Donegal and Dublin will know full well what I am talking about and it happens even as we speak.
My colleagues are more than anxious to contribute and I can see the Acting Chairman, Deputy Brady, becoming restive. I wish him a happy Christmas in case I do not have an opportunity to see him again before then.
I thank Deputy Durkan and wish him many happy returns.
I ask the Acting Chairman to let me know when my time is up because I would not want to take time from Deputy Ring.
We will ensure that does not happen.
Budget 2008 gives a zero gain for low income earners. These are not my words but the words of CORI through the mouth of Fr. Sean Healy. I hold in my hand the document that he presented to us today.
It is no wonder the Taoiseach realised that he would at least have to postpone his own income increase of €700 per week when a couple earning €15,000 each or €30,000 per year must look elsewhere to fund the increased prices of oil, food and the essentials of life. They did not get a 1 cent increase in this budget.
Certainly, benchmarking or independent groups such as those who justified the Taoiseach's €38,000 reward are not interested in the 30% of people finding it difficult to make ends meet. Recently, a person from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul advised that this year, coming towards Christmas, their clients were not looking for special toys but for the bare essentials of life such as food.
It is hard to believe, after 15 years of constant growth, that we still find so many people in such dire need, especially children. I welcome the fact the Government has agreed to previous commitments on social housing, so that 9,000 houses will start or be bought in 2008. This will also benefit the building trade, where many houses are now unsaleable. It is vital that local authorities are not used as the relieving officers for hard-pressed builders, but that they get genuine value for money.
Motorists have once again taken a hit from this Fianna Fáil Government. Many will have forgotten by now that it was Fianna Fáil that did away with car tax, along with rates on houses, in 1977, solely to get elected. This led to the serious debt problems that brought our country close to bankruptcy. The 10% increase in car tax has nothing to do with the green agenda, but is just another stealth tax by the Government.
It is only a few months since the Government promised a reduction in taxes, increased numbers of teachers, nurses, gardaí and whatever else was wanted.
Money back for Eircom shareholders, what about that one?
The Government should do it.
Now all these promises have gone by the wayside and instead of a €2 billion surplus, we are now heading towards a €5 billion debt, just to meet increased wages, social welfare etc.
I welcome the increase in social welfare and, hopefully, I will get an opportunity to speak on that matter in another debate. It is vital that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, not only speaks of rectifying mismanagement at every level within the Government, such as the HSE, but that he delivers on his proposals.
Over the past ten years we have had massive increases in public service employment, yet we have less frontline staff in many areas. I was advised only this week that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government cannot deal with applications for water and sewerage schemes because it has not got sufficient quality personnel to examine the projects. If any farmer gave the same excuse with regard to pollution control, he would soon be out of business. In my constituency dental services are being removed from the town of Cootehill because in spite of all the staff within the HSE at management and other levels there are insufficient dentists.
The HSE received agreement from Government to train speech therapists and physiotherapists, but now that these people are qualified, they cannot get jobs from the HSE because they have not got work experience. Many patients are, as a result, left without a service. This is just another example of lack of management or joined-up thinking.
The budget had very little to offer to the farming community. At the time the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Mary Coughlan, announced the special grants scheme for waste management to help farmers deal with the nitrates directive, I received assurance from her — its on the record of the Dáil — that the Government had no problem with funding for that scheme. However, the Minister for Finance made a big deal of the fact that he has increased her budget by €35 million towards that end, with no guarantee for full payment. No funding has been provided for the restoration of the farm development scheme, which was supposed to last seven years, but was suspended after four months. Many young farmers in the process of taking over holdings were badly caught by this and may no longer be able to commit themselves to full-time farming.
I acknowledge, as Deputy Johnny Brady mentioned, there have been some improvements in the tax regime as far as partnerships are concerned. The situation was ridiculous. If a partnership broke up as a result of sickness, death or a fall-out of some sort, the tax implications were appalling.
Mushroom production was an extremely important family farm project ten years ago, with almost 600 people involved. However, there are now only approximately 80 units in full-time production. It is clear from answers I received from the Minister regarding other farm production that she has no idea how many are actually involved. I will return to this issue on another occasion. Young farmers need all the support they can get to stay in business, but it is clear the Government has lost interest. It is strange that at a time when we are threatened with foot and mouth disease, or any such problem, agriculture becomes extremely important, but at budget time it is another story.
I want to address the important issue of our road network. I am delighted we have a reasonable road from Dublin to Monaghan, with the third bypass finished recently. I am concerned, however, by the Minister's statement in the budget with regard to his commitment to the Dublin area and projects currently under construction, as he makes no commitment to the Border region whatsoever. The road from Monaghan town to Emyvale and on to the Border is extremely poor and is now a bottleneck——
It is in the national development plan.
It is not in the plan as it has been removed from it. We need to be sure of the direction we are taking. The last letter I received from the NRA gave no commitment to even making improvements to that road. It said that under the Good Friday Agreement, it was looking at a dualcarriageway from Derry to Dublin, but that will take some time. I plead for moneys to be made available for the project and with Deputy Blaney and others who use that road when travelling from Donegal to back me on the desperate need for improvements on the road before we have a serious accident. In the context of accidents, major question marks must be raised with regard to the way funding was made available under the DBO structure for the Castleblaney bypass, with which there are major difficulties.
Another equally important cross-Border road is the N3 which passes through Cavan, but there has been little progress on the Belturbet bypass. This bypass has been in the pipeline for many years, but I have been told by Cavan County Council personnel that while it is fully sanctioned as far as the legal end is concerned, there is no money available for it. I have no doubt some millions will be made available this year from the NRA towards the purchase of land, but we need to see real progress on the construction of that road. If the peace dividend is to mean anything to those in the Border region, we must have proper road structures put in place immediately.
When a former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, announced the ceasefire, I walked across the floor to him when the House closed to welcome it and suggested that he should at least provide some moneys for the reopening of the Border roads. He did that some weeks later. I make the same suggestion to the Government now. Roads such as the N2 and N3 may not be major thoroughfares in the eyes of the Government, but they are extremely important cross-Border projects that need funding.
I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on the budget because many of the announcements made by Ministers are not made in this House, but in Northern Ireland or in Government Buildings where none of us can go in to hear them. They can brief and tell the media what they want, but we cannot get the opportunity to argue with them. I was glad to see my colleague went to a press briefing to hear the Minister for Education and Science last week, but the Minister did not like it and wanted him removed from the meeting. He had a right to be there as Opposition spokesman.
From 1995 to 1997, Fine Gael was in Government. I have often heard the Minister of State come in here to make announcements and compare that time to the present day. I want to make a simple comparison for him. Fine Gael and Labour handed over Government in 1997 with a surplus, the first time since the foundation of the State the Government ran a surplus.
Hear, hear.
This economy was booming for ten great years. When the choir was clapping, singing and dancing to congratulate the Minister for Finance last year, we nearly had to bring in the national orchestra to play the music for it.
It was like something from Noel Coward.
Exactly.
There is plenty of music over there.
Within a year, the same Minister came into the House with a deficit instead of a surplus. He will now have to borrow. I am speaking slowly because some of the Deputies opposite are a little deaf from listening to me shout. Perhaps I will be calm and quiet. The Government is going to have to borrow €5 billion to run the country.
It is disgraceful.
The Government, and particularly the Minister for Finance, have squandered that much money. According to what they said in May of this year, there were no problems in the economy, the health sector, the education system or the agriculture industry. The Government said it would not be able to spend all the money it was collecting from taxpayers.
Hear, hear.
The taxpayers' revenue was squandered by the Government within a short amount of time.
Robbery.
The Minister for Finance——
What about the national debt and pensions?
The national debt has gone up.
We will talk about them tomorrow on the Social Welfare Bill.
Our national debt is one of the lowest in Europe.
The Government has squandered our money. I will remind the Deputies opposite of something of which the Government has made a total mess. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, spoke last week about the reform of stamp duty. He had three or four opportunities to deal with stamp duty over the past year, after he received warnings from everybody in the industry. I have no sympathy for the builders. I am delighted by what has happened.
What happened to the Deputy's promise to be calm?
I hope every second one of them goes bankrupt because they robbed, blackguarded and destroyed young people in this country. I can give an example from last Thursday's The Irish Times. There might not be as many builders running into the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races next year. They might be on the Green Party’s bicycles next year because they will not be in their Mercs.
They will have their bicycle clips ready.
They will not have the money next year to be throwing it into Fianna Fáil.
Fine Gael has a tent at Punchestown. The Deputy should not lecture us about the Galway Races.
The Irish Times reported last Thursday that builders and developers had been able to drop the price of houses — not by €1,000, not by €5,000 but by €100,000. Shame on them because if they could sell the houses for €100,000 less last week, they should have sold them for €100,000 less last year.
That is a good point.
They were robbing the young people of this country by mortgaging them in a way that puts them under pressure for the next 40 years. Thanks be to God that the good days are over for the builders because they ripped off the young people of this country when they had the opportunity to do so. They blackguarded them. Having spoken to auctioneers, I know they were not satisfied to be getting €400,000 for houses which had been valued at €180,000. People are not buying houses off the plans — or off The Irish Times or the Irish Independent — anymore. I sometimes wonder whether there is a God, but I know now there is when I see what is happening to the builders who misbehaved over recent years.
The Minister for Finance could have helped young people by reforming stamp duty and doing something in relation to mortgages, but he did not do so. He thought the boom would never end. The Government has squandered the boom and destroyed the country. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, who thinks he will be Taoiseach within a few months, is depending on increased growth next year. He was sitting where the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, is sitting now when he told us last year there would be a budget surplus of €1.7 billion this year. Instead of that, we will have to borrow €5 billion this year.
It is appalling.
Shame on the Minister.
Absolutely.
He could not manage the country——
It is a disgrace.
——at a time when it was going well.
Hear, hear.
He squandered our boom. He squandered our future.
Hear, hear.
Now we are back to the hairshirt budgets again.
Hear, hear.
This is not a hairshirt budget.
The Government will know before next year that the increase of 7% or 14% in the health budget will not pay for the wage increases under the benchmarking process. It will not even meet inflation, and by God will we have inflation given that medical inflation is twice as high again. People protested about cancer services outside the Dáil a few weeks ago. People are waiting for hip operations, or heart operations. I spoke the other day to a 92 year old woman who has been waiting for 15 months for a cataract operation that takes six minutes.
That is not unusual.
Deputy Ring should have told the woman about the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
Deputy Blaney's uncle would turn in his grave if he heard that. The Minister for Health and Children, the Department of Health and Children and the Government, rather than the National Treatment Purchase Fund, should be providing such services. We should not have to send our loved ones to England or Northern Ireland to be operated on.
We are not.
We are not able to do it here despite all the money we are spending on health. We should be doing it here. Is the National Treatment Purchase Fund the best answer Deputy Blaney can come up with? His comments remind me of the reply I received today when I tabled a question to the Minister for Education and Science about the results of a young man's junior certificate examination. The Deputies opposite should listen to this as an example of the kind of country we have now. Deputy Blaney was very quiet when he was an Independent. Has he found a mouth now that he has joined Fianna Fáil?
It is not as loud as the Deputy's mouth.
Has the chairmanship improved the Deputy? I want to tell him about a young man whose future was affected by the Government.
What about the budget?
We are paying people to correct exams. Perhaps Deputy Blaney once worked as a teacher — if so, he will understand what I am about to say. The young man in question did his examinations and got his results. His teacher said that the result of one examination, which the young man had supposedly failed, could not be correct because he was the best in his class at the subject in question. When the result was reviewed, it was discovered that a mistake had been made and the grade was changed to an "A", rather than a fail. When I asked the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, about it today, she told me she has no responsibility for the matter. Deputy Blaney made a similar comment a moment ago. That is what is wrong with the Government — it takes responsibility for nothing. The country is being run by report, commission and regulation.
Hear, hear.
Ministers are not responsible for anything anymore. The country is being run by commissioners, regulators and EU officials.
And consultants and advisers.
I would like to return to the issue of health. What are we doing with medical cards? People on social welfare do not even qualify anymore, when the rules and regulations are implemented strictly, because the guidelines have not been changed properly in the last few years. We are to have another review. More consultants will be asked to look at the matter. It is very simple — we should increase the limits and look after those who need to be looked after.
It is not rocket science.
It is like another matter I used to raise in the House.
The Deputy has one minute remaining.
That is a pity.
I am only getting going.
Deputy Ring has plenty of material.
He will be able to sit and listen.
If the best the Deputies opposite can come up with is a reference to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, like Deputy Blaney, I do not want to hear what they have to say.
That is the problem.
I am sure the scriptwriters have handed the Government Deputies their scripts and they will have to read them. Who wrote Deputy Curran's script? Which Department is responsible for it? Was it the official in the Chamber? Was it the programme manager? Was it John Dowling? Who wrote it? That is the new thing now.
I am sure the Deputy will stay in the Chamber to hear it.
I want to finish by talking about the carbon tax — the green tax.
It is a tax increase for rural Ireland. I think the carbon tax should be introduced in the cities only because that is where all the carbon is being used. Where I live, there are nothing but potholes on our bad roads. We have no infrastructure and no water and sewerage schemes.
That is right.
We should have proper roads and proper infrastructure before we start to introduce a carbon tax and an extra road tax.
Hear, hear.
Instead of having proper train and bus services, we have——
That is a great advertisement for Mayo tourism.
It is a bit like the football team in the Minister of State's county. Mayo has been waiting as long for the Government to look after it as Kildare has been waiting for an All-Ireland.
There will be a small crowd in the tent the next time.
I wish to share time with Deputies Curran, White and Gogarty.
It would be hard to follow that rant.
The Deputy can bring his prepared script.
It was not a rant, it was a well-delivered body blow.
That is one thing about Deputy Ring. I look forward to his coming to the House because he provides a bit of entertainment, although that is about all he does.
I am not a turncoat like Deputy Blaney.
We will see who can listen now.
He took the Queen's shilling.
Deputy Durkan referred to jobs in Donegal. I must inform him that employment has never been as high in Donegal as it is at present. The workers who lost their jobs were re-skilled and they are now back in employment.
There have been 10,000 job losses.
That is the reality. How many are out of work?
Ten thousand jobs have been relocated from Donegal. That is only one county.
The Deputies only want to look at the negative side.
Unemployment in Donegal is the highest in Ireland.
Deputy Crawford referred to agriculture. He has always talked a lot about dairying. He did not refer to dairying tonight because milk is doing a lot better than it has in recent years as a result of work done by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Mary Coughlan. Deputy Crawford also referred to a motorway and the N2 and N3. I do not know how many times the Taoiseach needs to announce the amount of money being set aside for that motorway — £400 million — before the Deputy will realise that the money is there and waiting. As soon as the authorities and the NRA get things up and running that money can be spent. Even Ian Paisley, while on a visit to America last year, acknowledged the £400 million that has been allocated by the Irish Government. I do not know why Deputy Crawford is looking for more money for a motorway from Dublin. He is not up with the facts at all.
Deputy Ring referred to builders. His party had a period in charge of finance. If this had continued there would be no jobs left in this country.
There are not too many in Donegal.
The Deputy fails to realise——
Ten thousand jobs are gone. It has the highest unemployment in the country.
I listened to the Deputy shouting for long enough. He should listen for a while.
The Deputy is talking about sterling even though he lives in Donegal.
The Deputy should calm down and listen for a while.
Is the Deputy mixed up? He thinks he is in the Six Counties.
There would not be a job left in the country if the Deputy's party got going.
Health and the pay increases in this area were mentioned. There would be nobody working in any sector if the Deputies' party had its way. Let us consider current issues such as the cancer strategy, to which Fine Gael is opposed.
Not in Letterkenny.
It is closing down hospitals.
Let us go back and revisit Portlaoise.
It is closing down hospitals all over the country.
The problems at Portlaoise began while Fine Gael was in Government, with Deputy Noonan as Minister for Health. The Deputies, who were on the back benches, got him to overturn his strategy. He was trying to do then what the current Minister, Deputy Harney, is trying to do now.
Who abolished the health boards?
If the Fine Gael Deputies had any guts at all——
The HSE abolished them. Has the Deputy ever heard of it?
Please allow the Deputy to continue.
——they would support the cancer strategy for the good of the patients.
Who abolished the health boards? This is appalling, Chairman.
Instead they are looking after their own backsides and the seats in their own areas.
I have no responsibility for the HSE. Did the Deputy ever hear of it?
It is time the Deputy took some responsibility for health rather than looking after his own seat, which is all he is doing.
The Minister is powerless.
The last few speakers failed to realise that we are supposed to be debating the budget. I do not think they knew what they were speaking on. Much has been said about the budget delivered by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, last week.
We will have to get the Deputy a scriptwriter.
Most of it was positive but we have had the usual claptrap from the negative quarters across the way. I find it amusing that the only argument some politicians could muster was that some of the measures should have been introduced before now. That makes for a pretty good budget.
The most talked about element of the budget was, rightly, stamp duty reform as most would agree with it. The Government took a brave step and I commend the Minister, Deputy Cowen, for doing this. We will reap the benefits of this measure over the next year. The slowdown in the housing market has begun, but it will level out again. Equally, the rise in mortgage interest relief will benefit many who have already invested in homes, thus easing the burden on those who are currently investing in our economy.
The environment was a hot topic in the budget, in which a range of measured planned for the coming year and the years ahead was introduced. Motor tax and VRT have been mentioned. Due to the changes in the VRT regime, many cars already in the Irish market will become much cheaper. I have been informed that a BMW 320 could be reduced in price by €8,200 as a result of these measures. This is a brave step by the Minister because it puts the onus on those producing the cars to build cars that produce fewer emissions. It is a smart measure which is typical of the other measures introduced in what is overall a smart budget.
What about the Greens?
I hope the poor Greens come out as well in this.
On the matter of energy conservation research and carbon reduction measures, while some might feel that the planned VRT and motor tax measures are harsh, one must look beyond initial reactions. We owe it to our environment to introduce such measures based on CO2 emissions rather than engine size. Our children will thank us in years to come.
The changes in personal income tax affect all of us, including the increase in personal tax credits of €70 for single persons and €140 for married persons and the increase in PAYE tax credit of €70 per year. The home carer tax credit was also hiked by €130 per year, increasing it to €900.
The Deputy has one minute remaining.
One minute to midnight.
There are so many items, I could go on.
We do not mind. The Acting Chairman should let the Deputy continue.
The figures that the Deputies across the way——
We want to hear it.
The Deputies got their time.
The Deputies across the way are blind to some of the more positive figures. I could go on but I will finish by saying that I am very proud to be associated with the budget as delivered in the House last week by the Minister, Deputy Cowen. This forward-thinking Government continues to lay strong foundations for this country's future. Our children will look back and thank us for the sensible measures introduced in the budget. History will prove that by the actions of this Government in its third term in office Ireland will be continue to be a proud example to other economies around the world.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I compliment the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, on delivering a balanced budget in more difficult economic times than in recent years. It was a prudent budget which maintains public services while providing for significant growth in our capital programme. Listening to the delivery of the Budget Statement and reading the reports in the newspapers, it is clear that it inspires business confidence, which is important.
I acknowledge the fact that Deputies Ring and Durkan have stayed in the House for a few minutes.
We wanted to hear the Deputy's speech.
Bring it on.
It is important that they hear our views on where we see Ireland. It is certainly not the picture that the Deputies tried to portray earlier. Deputy Ring referred in his comments to the budgets of 1995 to 1997 and made a big issue of delivering a budget surplus. He was critical of the Government's borrowing of €5 billion.
Yes.
I will go back to 1995 and 1997 in a moment, but to put it in context, the reason we are borrowing this money——
It is because the Government squandered it.
The reason we are borrowing €5 billion is to maintain a significant capital programme. We will not have stop-start development of infrastructure. The money we are borrowing is about 0.9% of GDP.
Before Deputy Ring leaves, there is one comment I want to make which he might find interesting. He comes in here——
Actually, he is disappointed.
I will let the Deputy go after this.
I wanted to hear Deputy Curran's speech, but it is rubbish.
I do not have a prepared script, but I have been making notes on comments made earlier.
Did the Deputy throw away the prepared script?
His scriptwriter has been made redundant. It is another job loss.
Deputy Ring made a big issue of the fact that in the period 1995 to 1997 the coalition Government returned a budget surplus. It did so but, to its shame, it did it by abandoning those in need. It delivered the most miserable social welfare increases——
Hear, hear.
——at that time.
Hear, hear.
It was on the backs of the vulnerable people in this country.
(Interruptions).
We created 4,000 new jobs a week.
It was on the backs of those people that Deputy Ring stood up tonight to boast about the budget surpluses. The Deputy's party walked away from them.
Deputy Curran's party squandered it.
It was the most miserable——
They let the poor get poorer and the rich richer.
Allow the Deputy to continue.
Those are the facts.
It was the most miserable increase in social welfare ever, but the Deputy boasted that his party produced a budget surplus.
We had a better economy than the current one.
Much better.
Fine Gael did not have a better economy by any stretch of the imagination.
The emphasis was on people, not horses.
Deputy Ring is living in a dream world. To turn around and say that the economy of 1995, 1996 or 1997 was better than the economy we have now is a load of rubbish.
It was improving. One could buy a house.
On one salary.
Fine Gael had a budget surplus in one respect, but it abandoned the vulnerable people and its social welfare budget was a disgrace.
That is why the Deputies are over there.
Deputy Blaney will be over here soon enough. He will recognise the furniture.
Deputy Durkan spoke about Ireland being less competitive and jobs moving from Donegal and so forth. We heard Deputy Blaney refer to the workforce being reskilled and re-employed.
The jobs are gone.
Order.
It is worth noting that we have the highest ever number of people working, approximately 2.1 million. The Deputies should not talk us into a recession because that is not where we are going. It is important to remember——
We are not talking. The Government is creating a recession by itself.
The Deputy is correct in that we will not be competitive if it comes to making T-shirts, but we are creating jobs in products higher up the value chain, such as research and development, biotechnology and so forth, and adding value.
Explain it to the world's economists.
The Deputy should not talk us into a recession.
We are in it.
I acknowledge that we are not competitive when it comes to making T-shirts.
The problem is that the Government did not take preventive measures.
Deputy Durkan should let Deputy Curran continue.
I am sorry, but he is upsetting me.
A number of speakers stated that the good times are gone and we have squandered the money, but we have not. We have invested the money in a significant range of services and infrastructure. Less than a decade ago, special needs education did not exist in this country. Between resource teachers and special needs assistants, there are approximately 17,000 people employed today. When people on the opposite side stand up to speak, they do not acknowledge this fact. There are 8,000 SNAs alone. We have invested the resources we have created in the past decade.
And increased the national debt. The Government has increased the burden on the people.
In a range of services, we have looked after the most vulnerable, the poor and the elderly in ways that had not been done previously.
What of the homeless?
There have been real increases in child benefit. We introduced the early child care supplement. This range of services would not have been possible one decade ago.
What of medical cards?
To say this is a waste or squander is untrue. Those people who are the beneficiaries and recipients——
(Interruptions).
Allow the Deputy to continue.
——of the payments would not agree with the Deputy. How many minutes have I left?
The Deputy has more than two minutes remaining.
On a serious note, I have listened to many contributions on the budget debate. During the Minister's pre-budget outlook, we discussed existing levels of service, ELS. I sit on the Committee of Public Accounts, which examines Department's outturns and was chaired by Deputy Noonan in recent years. It is not fair to suggest that changes do not take place because they do. In the five years I have been a member of the PAC, all of the new projects in our roads programme are coming in on time and within budget because of the changes that have been made instead of coming in late and over budget consistently.
Hear, hear.
We must tackle and perform a major review of ELS across the public service.
Benchmarking.
Were it a private company, we would expect and anticipate to——
It would be relocated to a more competitive economy.
Allow the Deputy to continue.
——continue providing ELS at a reduced cost, that there would be innovation and an increased use of technology. Everyone needs to buy into it, not just frontline managers, but unions, workers——
Programme managers.
I am discussing the public service.
Fine Gael is the only party to have had programme managers.
Advisers and soothsayers.
Spin doctors.
No one interrupted Deputy Durkan.
I am sorry and will not do it again.
Please, or I must ask the Deputy to leave.
If we are to maintain existing levels of service and introduce new programmes and services, we must find greater efficiencies in the public service. The services being delivered across all Departments must be analysed with a strategic view to providing them next year at a reduced level, not at this year's level plus the rate of inflation. This is what private industry strives to and succeeds in doing. We must introduce the same levels into the public service.
I am pleased both to be speaking this evening and to be a Member of the House at the time of the first green budget in the history of the State.
That is telling the Fianna Fáil Deputies.
It is a proud moment for the Green Party. There are three areas of the budget that I would like to discuss, namely, the environment, social justice and increased provisions for women.
On the issue of the environment, I would like to share the sentiments expressed by my party leader last week that this budget is the first to include significant green measures and that is due to the presence of the Green Party in government. The overhaul of vehicle registration tax so that the tax is centred on a car's CO2 emissions and not engine size, combined with the extension of incentives for hybrid cars and VRT exemption for electric mopeds, will increase awareness of the need to minimise carbon use. It is long overdue, but nevertheless welcome. As someone who has converted to the merits of bio-fuel, I believe the budget announcement on VAT reduction on certain seeds and bulbs for growing bio-fuels will help the industry to develop.
The battle to address climate change requires more than just more energy efficient and smaller engines; it requires a societal and industrial revolution away from oil towards renewable energies. The targeted incentives for businesses to switch to renewable energies, such as the tax credit allowing companies to write off 100% of capital spending on energy-saving technologies, the €13 million provided for energy conservation and €7 million for energy research, including the study of ocean energy, are all examples of forward thinking measures that have been delivered. The measures announced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in Ireland's first ever carbon budget last Thursday complemented these measures. The initiative of banning the incandescent light bulb by 2009 is the talk of the town in Bali this week.
Social justice has always been and remains at the core of the Green Party's political philosophy. The budget is socially progressive. More than half of this year's budget has been allocated to social welfare and child benefit. All tax credits and bands were increased in line with inflation. Low income earners were kept out of the standard rate band and middle income earners were kept out of the higher rate band, as was promised in the programme for Government. The Green Party has worked hard to ensure that the qualified adult allowance for over 66 year olds was increased in this budget by 15%. The Green Party is also proud of its influence in ensuring the respite care grants will increase next year by €200 to €1,700. These provisions are targeted at some of the neediest in society and all sides of the House should support the increases. Those most in need in the developing world have also been remembered in this budget, as seen in the overseas development fund increase of €83 million to 0.54% of GDP in 2008.
As the Green Party spokesperson on women's affairs, I welcome the provisions for women and mothers in the budget. The €100 increase in the early child care supplement will mean the payment is increased to €1,100 per year. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, has taken on board a key component of the programme for Government by doubling the income eligibility for parents of children less than six years of age and the trebling of the income eligibility for parents of children with an intellectual disability less than 18 years of age. These measures will hopefully give some comfort both to parents of children with special intellectual needs and parents trying to pay for the costs of child care.
Much more needs to be done in many areas of social welfare, tax reform, State funding and environmental protection. One budget will not address all the challenges of redistribution and equality, increased spending and investment in services and human capital and the immense environmental challenges upon us such as climate change. It is only the first of five budgets the Green Party will deliver with its partners in Government. It is only a beginning. I am aware of my party colleague Deputy Gogarty's hope for more targeted spending on education in the budget. Like him, I look forward to well targeted funding for primary, secondary and third level education. However, this is a start. This is a progressive and environmentally responsible budget.
Deputy Ring mentioned scripts. I put one together and assure him, if he is watching on the monitor, that it is made up entirely of my own words. No one has put a muzzle on me or tied one of my hands behind my back. I can express my opinion. It is a free country and I am in a free party.
We will convey the message.
We will tell them.
When my Green Party parliamentary colleagues and I signed up to the programme for Government, we pledged to vote as part of a three party coalition, barring exceptional circumstances, until the end of the Government's five year term of office. The Government has my vote but no Government will take away my conscience. In all conscience I cannot give the budget a ringing endorsement. It is like the proverbial curate's egg — good in parts but with bits that would turn one's stomach, no more so than in the area of education.
The programme for Government expressly states the Government will commit each year to allocate an additional €350 million over and above existing levels of service. That in itself falls well short of the investment needed but it certainly pointed in the right direction. Instead, if we add the figures, we get a figure of approximately €95 million, a clear breach of the programme for Government and not a good start.
I can take all the snipes about sell-outs on Tara, Shannon Airport and stopping current incineration projects, knowing wholeheartedly that these were never going to happen with just six Green Party seats, regardless of which of the two larger parties headed the Government, but a breach of promises and achievements made as part of negotiations is a different story.
When a well respected and highly competent Minister for Finance says money is tight, we must listen but at the same time it is one's duty to query where the sword fell and why. There is some welcome extra money for education thanks to the efforts of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, and also due to the Green Party's participation in government, but it falls well short of what was promised following negotiations, budgetary fiscal caveats or not.
At least, more funding has been provided for school buildings. I look forward to the new developing areas section of the Department working to identify and provide new schools alongside housing development, aided by forthcoming legislation from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, but other than that increases for education have been relatively paltry and are stretched to meet even the existing national development plan commitments, let alone additional projects. I am aware the economic outlook is tightening but that is all the more reason for investing in the education system.
The Minister for Finance had a number of options. He could have reprioritised existing spending. The stamp duty changes come to mind. Given that the housing market will continue to fall and perhaps correct itself and allow first-time buyers obtain more affordable houses, the real measures should be aimed at those facing negative equity. He could have reprioritised existing spending in that or other areas. He could also have raised taxes, a brave decision which was not going to happen on any side of the House, or borrowed more to fund educational projects. As I will continue to say until I am blue in the face, investment in education makes sense. It is the morally and fiscally correct thing to do but, perhaps regrettably, not the politically astute thing to do.
The trouble with the political system is that everything is geared towards the next election. That is perhaps one reason the Minister did not see the benefit in investing in education now to reap rewards in ten or 12 years' time and the reason potential Ministers in the Opposition did not give any indication in the past 12 months that they would do anything different. Investing to address the adult literacy problem helps to breaks the cycle of poverty and disadvantage. Investing in educational welfare officers and backup services helps to break the cycle of school absenteeism which leads to the dole queue, a dead end job or a prison cell. Those are all forthright reasons for investing in education but also taxpayers' money goes down the drain if we put someone into a young offenders centre or prison. It is a no brainer.
The same applies to investment in National Educational Psychological Service psychologists, further education and training, breakfast and after-school clubs, and sports and recreational facilities in schools. It applies also to investment in training for life skills, tackling bullying, coping with our drug and alcohol addicted society — I saw more than one Deputy in the Dáil bar tonight drinking alcohol while the Dáil was still in session, of which I do not approve — and preparing for a future of climate change and energy shortages. That is a more austere scenario, whichever way one looks at it, but one to which we can make the transition successfully if we can mobilise society to maximise the long-term potential of the island.
Deputy White mentioned some of the welcome investments in research and development in the energy field. That investment must be matched at the higher education level also. We must be innovators in that technology, rather than simply facilitate companies in coming here. We could export energy supplies in 20 or 30 years' time. We must maximise that potential. It will cost money but in real terms it would cost far less taxpayers' money to deal with the problems now instead of after elections some years from now. We have a mixed bag instead.
My esteemed colleague, Deputy Mary White, outlined a long list of positive achievements in the budget. Like her, I welcome the measures, particularly those that move us towards a sustainable green economy. I welcome the increases over the rate of inflation for pensioners, the additions to the respite care grant, increased child benefit and the extension of the medical card scheme.
When will they be brought forward?
The Minister, generally, showed prudence, responsibility and a firm hand but what the Government, collectively, did not show was a vision on the education front to transform society, ignore short-term political considerations and invest prudently for the future. I am embarrassed by this aspect of the budget, especially considering the work I put into outlining the case for educational investment in the past few years, although the Government is not alone in its lack of vision for education and commitment to substantially increase funding in the long term. As I pointed out in Dáil debates earlier this year, before the general election, the major Opposition parties had not taken education seriously either. They sniped but refused to commit to a long-term funding package——
Everybody is wrong but the Deputy.
That is no consolation, even from a petty political point scoring point of view.
Why did the Deputy not vote against them?
I am talking about a vision.
What about the vision when the Deputy walked through the lobbies with the Government?
I will tell you.
Let us hear it.
Will Deputy Gogarty refer his remarks through the Chair?
Let us hear it.
Deputy Connaughton should allow Deputy Gogarty to conclude.
As I said in the first sentence of my contribution, I signed up to vote with the Government as part of the programme for Government and will continue to do so. My vote is given but my conscience is not.
I understand. The Deputy wrestled with his conscience and it lost.
I want to see a country where the education needs of the citizenry are recognised and funded, where potential is realised and cost savings are made through lower crime rates, lower incarceration costs and a healthier, more literate and more creative population. That is not just my vision; it is the vision of many education partners the length and breadth of the island. It is clear, however — Opposition Deputies might listen to this aspect — that we need another Tallaght strategy, this time on education. There must be cross-party agreement that investment is needed, that this issue is beyond point-scoring and that any short-term pain will be addressed in the medium term. Would that not be a legacy for the elected representatives of today to look forward to?
We did it before.
We would be able to say we looked beyond covering our own political backsides. I urge elected representatives of all parties to put the short-term view aside——
When you are in trouble.
——and put pressure on the Minister and Opposition Finance and Education spokespersons to commit to funding education in a serious way, to move well beyond the figure of €1 billion in additional investment outlined by the Green Party and to make thinking about education part of the everyday vocabulary, until such time as voters and the political establishment see it as second nature. Until we act in this visionary and collective manner, we will continue to short-change existing and future generations. We will continue to place higher costs on the nation than we need to, particularly hard-pressed taxpayers in the middle income brackets. We will continue to favour the privileged over those who most need our help.
I welcome many of the measures in the budget but I also regret that it did not live up to its potential. I am an optimist, however, and there is always next year. I will be watching the Minister closely and sincerely hope the deficits in an otherwise good budget will be addressed in 12 months' time. All parties failed to show the necessary commitment to education. They failed to outline the costings and from where the money would come. We need that type of vision now. Politics and petty arguments must be put aside and a Tallaght strategy put in place for all to work together for the future.
I wish to share time with Deputies Paul Connaughton and Joe Carey.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Like my colleague, Deputy Connaughton, I have witnessed many Budget Statements in the House. Some were good, some bad and some mediocre. It is difficult to state into what category this budget fits.
There has been a dramatic change between last year's circumstances and Wednesday's. Last year, the Exchequer had a surplus of almost €5 billion but this year it has a deficit of €2 billion. A problem was created somewhere along the line. No matter what spin is put on it, the Government must accept responsibility for this development.
The spin doctors did a great job for once when they primed the country to expect the hardest hairshirt budget in memory. It turned out otherwise because the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance failed to face up to the realities of the situation.
This year, €5 billion will be borrowed for capital purposes. We cannot quibble with this as infrastructural development must be brought up to average European levels if we wish to be competitive economically and to hold on to jobs. I am long enough in the House, however, to recall how it could lead to a slippery slope in borrowing. I hope we do not fall into a cycle of borrowing for every budget until we reach the similar situation reached some years ago when all income taxes went to service the national debt. We will never allow Fianna Fáil to get away with that.
Up to €21 million has been set aside for the decommissioning of the whitefish fleet. Some years ago, a similar scheme was announced but with a €59 million package. Some €59 million to €21 million is a drastic reduction.
There is an undertaking to amend the tax code to assist and maximise the take-up of the decommissioning payment. I have nothing against that as it happens in other lines of business. A laid-off factory worker's redundancy payment will be tax free. This year when drift net fishing was terminated and salmon fishermen were no longer allowed to pursue their traditional methods of fishing, their compensation package was not as generous as the whitefish fleet one and was liable for tax. Why can the same tax code applied to the whitefish fleet not be applied to the salmon fishermen? The Minister of State in his previous post will be familiar with this and I ask him to bring it to the attention of the Minister.
The Green Party's fingerprints are all over the proposals on vehicle registration tax, VRT. All parties are in favour of this. While it does not belong to one party, I accept the Green Party led the way. It is well known that many people purchase new vehicles in the first six months of the year. Many have already done their deals and will collect their new vehicles in the first fortnight in January. One man I know will be buying a Renault Laguna, the VRT on which will be reduced next July from 25% to 16%, a saving of €2,000. Since he already has the deal concluded for January, he will lose that saving. It is not fair that he is penalised. Can the new VRT regime be introduced in January? Failing that, can a refund can be organised for those affected when the new regime comes into effect in July?
Whatever is claimed about the schools building programme, a new stealth tax, water charges, will be imposed on every school in the new year. I am a former school principal and have been in touch with many schools in the Donegal South-West constituency on this matter. This year schools will have paid €336 for water but next year, when they are metered, it could rise to thousands of euro. These are schools where the boards of management, principals and teachers are engaged daily in raising money to keep their schools going. These new charges will put an intolerable burden on them. Will the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Education and Science examine this issue?
Much has been said about this budget and I have heard many Budget Statements in the House. I will give the Government one bit of credit on this. As far as spin is concerned, it is top of the pops. It conditioned the entire electorate into believing this year's budget day would be the darkest day in history. However, we knew better.
This time the Government balanced the books by borrowing €5 billion. This country is fortunate that it has the flexibility to do that and there is no wrong in it. As Deputy McGinley asked, however, how did it get so bad so quickly?
I was on the hustings on the first week of May——
I was too.
——when the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance stated at one of their great press conferences that, on a predicted growth rate of 4% for 2008, the Government would be able to do A, B, X and Y, reduce the top and bottom rate of tax, reduce PRSI by 2% and give out medical cards like confetti. Only the Government knew what was really in the books. The Opposition did not because it did not have its hand on the tiller.
The Opposition made plenty of promises too.
We were reading the tea leaves.
All we could do was read between the lines. Six months ago, the Government led the country astray. Outright lies were told about the state of the economy. What would have happened if the economic growth rate for 2008 was only 1% or 2%?
Many great opportunities were lost. When the Dáil met in June, the Opposition implored the Government to tackle the stamp duty issue to give the housing market a chance. The Taoiseach said over his dead body would there be changes to the stamp duty regime as it was not what the building industry needed. The Minister of State knows what happened on the road to Damascus. Suddenly reforming stamp duty was the thing to do in the budget. Why was that conversion so dramatic? The Government had an eye to the tent in Galway. They are the lads who call the tune to which the Government dances.
They call it inside and outside the tent.
Many of the builders support Fine Gael.
Many commentators gave the thumbs up to the budget although it has little to do with agriculture. The Minister received credit for making available another €30 million to continue the 60% grant for the farm pollution scheme. Why would she not? It was announced three years ago and there is a written contract with every farmer to the effect the grant is available. It was announced approximately five times. Had she not made it available she would have broken a contract with every farmer in the country.
The Minister is doing a great job.
I know that well and the Minister of State is good too.
The Minister was not so forthcoming with the 40% for the farm improvement scheme. Just before the general election, on a fine morning at the great press conferences, I heard there would be a 40% grant for every farmer in the country for matters relating to the environment, up to 2013. Lo and behold on 31 October the hatch was raised and there is no grant available. That was not mentioned in the budget. I am probably the only person who has spoken about it.
Promises were broken and there is no value for money and it does not appear that through benchmarking there will be a process to create better value for money. Unlike the famous day when the former Minister for Finance, Mr. Charlie McCreevy, started his budget speech by talking about decentralisation there was not a squeak out of the Minister about it this time because the Government knows it has made a hames of the programme.
My party is totally committed to decentralisation.
Not really.
We did as much as anyone else on it when we were in Government but we never excluded the stakeholders. That is where the Government made a terrible mistake.
How much time do I have, a Leas Cheann Comhairle?
There is seven minutes left in the slot.
I will leave it at that because I do not like to cut into my colleagues' time. I am sorry, however, we do not have another half an hour.
I was in Galway recently visiting the Marine Institute which has 200 staff.
The Government is making a hames of it.
I welcome this opportunity to speak on the first budget since I became a Member of this House.
I am deeply disturbed that this Government sees fit to borrow €5 billion in the face of a modest slow down in the economy because this sets a mark of things to come from this supposedly new Green Government. It is alarming that the Minister for Finance has overseen such a plunge in the public finances from a €2.3 billion Exchequer surplus in 2006 to a €4.9 billion borrowing requirement in 2008.
In years to come, if this borrowing continues, we will be back to where we were, in debt up to our eyes with nothing to show for it but a wasted opportunity. The Minister for Finance blamed global markets for the slowdown in this country. The Minister and the Government have allowed the economy to rely too much on the building sector. That was fine while there was confidence in the housing market but now we are feeling the pain as tax receipts have plummeted because of the loss in confidence and the Government stood idly by.
I welcome the reform in stamp duty, but why has it taken so long for the Government to realise that change was necessary? Rising interest rates and building inflation suggest the Minister has missed the boat. I hope this will stimulate the housing market but I have reservations.
This summer the economic future of the mid west and County Clare was plunged into great uncertainty when Aer Lingus announced its withdrawal from the Shannon-Heathrow service. The fall-out from this nonsensical decision will have far-reaching implications for the business and tourism interests in the mid west. The Government holds 25.4% of the shares in Aer Lingus to protect the country's strategic interests. It could intervene in this decision but refuses to do so. The Minister for Transport continues to ignore these facts and I urge him to meet with the British authorities to discuss this and agree to designate the Shannon-Heathrow service as a public service obligation, PSO, route. This option remains open to the Minister but to judge by replies I have received to parliamentary questions he and his officials are not giving it a fair deal. It would restore connectivity to the mid west.
Prior to this year's general election the former Minister for Transport stated that a large package would be put in place for Shannon in response to the publication of the tourism and economic development plan published by the Mid West Regional Authority. I am disgusted that the new Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, and the Government seem to be reneging on this promise as there is no provision for it in this budget.
The Government has lost significant support in the mid-west because of its inaction on the Shannon-Heathrow issue. Budget 2008 provided a great opportunity to regain some of this support but instead the Government is breaking another promise by not delivering the €53 million package to Shannon. This package could help Shannon Airport to secure 30% of the direct transatlantic market and provide a vital leg-up to the Shannon region in an open skies era. It is incredible that the Minister and officials from the Department of Transport who had an input into the formulation of the plan are ignoring it. I can see no provision in the budget for movement on the rail link to Shannon Airport. Every modern functioning airport in the Western world has access to rail except those in Ireland. I ask the Minister to prioritise the delivery of the rail link to Shannon Airport in the interest of the region.
This budget does not go far enough in provision for education. There will be no action next year to reduce class size. This is a clear breach of the agenda set out in the programme for Government. It is not acceptable that students continue to be educated in overcrowded classrooms. The Government's record on this issue is damning. This budget provided it with an opportunity to address class size and it failed.
I urge the Minister for Education and Science to announce in early January what projects will go ahead next year because so many schools are held up waiting for this announcement.
I am most disappointed that the Minister for Finance did not announce any reform of the medical card. It is clear the thresholds need to be dramatically increased.
As Fine Gael spokesperson on juvenile justice I am disappointed with the reduction of €5 million in the capital budget for the youth justice service. While I acknowledge that much work has been done recently to establish the service one of the shortcomings in the system is the need for capital improvements. The capital spend in this area is designed to provide for the physical development of the service which cannot happen without the proper funding. The youth justice service works with children and deals with the consequences of their being in trouble with the law. It focuses on rehabilitation and, only as a last resort, detention. This system could provide many young people with a lifeline which would keep them out of the revolving door justice system and give them a chance to lead a crime free life. It is a disgrace that the Government has not taken this opportunity to help young people in trouble and in the long term reduce crime rates.
Debate adjourned.