Financial Resolution No. 3: General (Resumed)

Debate resumed on the following motion:

THAT it is expedient to amend the law relating to customs and inland revenue (including excise) and to make further provision in connection with finance.

- (Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation)

The Taoiseach

Yesterday the Government delivered its fourth budget to the House. This is a budget to secure our recovery and get Ireland working again. It is a recovery that many in this House said was impossible. When the Government was elected into office, the outlook was very uncertain. Unemployment was rising rapidly, the deficit was out of control and the financial system remained at risk. In response, the Government laid out its clear plan to rebuild our economy, create jobs and get our national finances under control. The budgets introduced in the interim were all stepping stones on this path to recovery. The sacrifice and understanding of the Irish people has been essential as we grappled with the serious challenges facing the country. I understand that for many people that these times are, and for some remain, tough. Many people lost their jobs. Some sectors of the domestic economy were devastated by the economic mismanagement of the previous Administration. Others who were lucky enough to keep their jobs saw their efforts being taxed at very high levels.

After seven long years of economic crisis for this country, we can now say with a measure of confidence that Ireland is in recovery mode. This time last year we were still in an EU-IMF bailout. While fragilities still exist, we are now in a very different and much better place. We fulfilled our commitment to the people of Ireland to successfully exit the bailout last December. Confidence - both home and abroad - has returned. In addition, we have cemented our return to the international markets. Just last week the NTMA auctioned a further benchmark ten-year Irish Government bond at a record yield of just 1.63% and has raised a total of €8 billion this year. In recent weeks the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, secured agreement on the early repayment of a portion of our IMF loans. Recent figures show that economic growth is strengthening, and we project 4.7% growth for 2014. Having hauled the country back from the edge, we now face a choice on how we shape the recovery. I want to make it very clear that the decisions we made in this budget will secure and embed that recovery. Like all of those we have taken to date and that we will take in the future, those decisions will not threaten our recovery.

We have introduced targeted tax and welfare reforms that will help create new jobs. We are using the welcome flexibility available to us to incentivise work and our workers. We want to change things so that work, not welfare, will always be the attractive and viable option. I am of the view that the 52% tax rate relating to low and middle incomes, which was introduced by the previous Government, is anti-employment, anti-enterprise and dangerously out of line with the marginal tax rates that apply in respect of middle income workers in countries with which we compete for investment and talent. It undermines the incentive to work, do overtime or start a business. It also makes it more difficult to attract home the 350,000 people who have left our shores as a result of the recession.

In the Statement of Government Priorities 2014-2016, which was published in July, the Government committed to delivering better living and working standards to our people. Among other measures, we also committed to developing a considered and focused tax reform plan that will reduce the 52% marginal tax rate for low and middle income earners in a manner that maintains the highly progressive nature of the Irish tax system. This will be delivered over a number of budgets. This budget is the first step in a multi-annual process to reduce the 52% rate on low and middle incomes. It will improve the competitiveness of our tax regime in a way that strengthens the economic recovery. Delivery on that commitment began yesterday when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, announced a 1% cut in the 52% rate of tax for the 635,000 middle income earners earning between €33,800 and €70,000. This cut will take effect on 1 January 2015.

For a working family of two middle-income public servants, such as a garda and a nurse, each earning approximately €50,000, these changes will result in an extra €100 per month. The Minister for Finance has confirmed that this is the first instalment of a plan to progressively reduce the tax rate on low and middle-income earners. We now have a formula for targeting tax rate reductions at low and middle-income earners without giving disproportionate benefits to those on highest incomes. The tax rate on middle-income families will be lowered further in budget 2016 to at most 50% while ensuring those on higher incomes continue to pay their fair share. If the Government is re-elected we will deliver a further rate reduction in the 2017 budget.

All taxpayers will be better off after this budget. The reductions we have delivered to the universal social charge are designed to ensure that work pays for those on lower income. The increase in the threshold at which the USC becomes payable to €12,000 will take a further 80,000 out of the charge altogether, on top of the 330,000 who were removed by this Government in 2012. That amounts to 410,000 people on low incomes whose earnings are now better off under this Government than the last. It is estimated that the extension to the income tax standard rate band will remove approximately 33,000 taxpayers from liability to the higher rate of income tax altogether. The Department of Finance has estimated that a series of reforms along the lines introduced yesterday and delivered over the next three-year period will boost employment levels by as much as 15,000 extra jobs, over and above existing projections, when the full impact of the changes have taken place in the economy.

The taxation changes are designed to incentivise work and help create jobs. The reforms are matched by further changes to our welfare system to ensure those who are currently unemployed can get back to work and start enjoying the kind of fulfilling life that having a job allows. We cannot and will not rely on economic growth alone to reduce the dole queues, as was, perhaps, habitually and historically the case. Why? We regard the psychological and social exclusion that comes from not having a job or decent work to go to as intolerable to the human and social experience in our country. That is why we published Pathways to Work. Since its launch in 2012 the strategy has seen the roll-out of 44 Intreo one-stop-shop centres. The roll-out is to be completed with the opening of a further 16 centres by the end of this year. The biggest change has seen the introduction of a new case management approach to helping jobseekers return to work, whereby jobseekers receive scheduled one-to-one interviews and assistance with case officers based on their individual profiles. Budget 2015 provides funding to decrease the jobseeker to caseworker ratio to 200:1, more in line with international norms than the current 500:1, which is not satisfactory. With these new services in place we are targeting the roll-out of this case management approach to 100,000 long-term unemployed by the end of next year.

Changes are also being introduced to help families return to work. Analysis by the ESRI suggests that 60% of unemployed men and women with children face significant financial disincentives to return to work and that some are actually better off staying on the dole. How soul-destroying this is for the men and women involved, mothers and fathers who are keen to rear their children by their example. To help them get off welfare and back to work we are introducing a new back-to-work family bonus. This will allow families to retain the full qualified child increase of €29.80 per week per child for 12 months after their return to work and 50% of the payment in the second year by way of incentive. To replace another welfare trap caused by rent supplement we are now rolling out the housing assistance payment after a successful pilot scheme in Limerick. The recently introduced scheme, JobsPlus, which is designed to incentivise employers to hire long-term jobseekers has helped to change the lives of up to 3,000 people already. I am pleased indeed that funding has been set aside to double the number of places to 6,000 and we are working to reduce the number of long-term unemployed as quickly as possible.

Last week, the Tánaiste and I launched the Pathways to Work 2015 programme. This builds on the progress made in recent years. More than 50,000 people who were long-term unemployed at the start of 2012 have found work since the strategy was launched and we will exceed the 75,000 target we originally set. Furthermore, we have launched an employment and youth activation charter. Employers who sign this charter will commit that at least 50% of candidates considered for interview will be taken from the live register. It is a real incentive for people on the live register to attend for interview and have the opportunity to get a real job. We will continue the roll-out of youth guarantee initiatives to support young jobseekers as well. We acknowledge that we still have major challenges ahead and our plan for 2015 specifically addresses long-term and youth unemployment. We have set aside more than 60,000 places in the education and training system especially for the long-term unemployed on the live register.

To reduce unemployment further we must create more jobs. As a result of the success of previous policies, like the reduction of VAT for tourism services, we have seen the creation of 70,000 additional jobs since early 2012. Building on this progress, budget 2015 has introduced a number of new measures to accelerate job creation. The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, which is expected to be launched formally by Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, shortly, will increase the availability of loans of longer duration coupled with more flexible conditions and potentially at a lower cost. Changes to be introduced will also see the amount of finance that can be raised by a company under the employment and investment incentive to €5 million annually subject to a lifetime maximum of €15 million. Jobs are being created in most sectors of our economy not only the so-called high-tech sectors. Exports are continuing to perform strongly for indigenous and multinational companies. Through Enterprise Ireland we have a range of supports to help our indigenous businesses target export growth. Next year, the Government will roll out an integrated export finance strategy. To help Irish businesses win more business abroad the foreign earnings scheme will also be improved. Furthermore, we have allowed for an extension of three year corporation tax relief for new start-ups in line with our recently launched national entrepreneurship policy. In addition, given the importance of the agrifood industry to the rural economy the Government has decided to introduce a range of measures to incentivise the transfer of additional land available to young and active farmers in advance of the abolition of milk quotas. This will bring considerable further potential for the agri-sector.

The contribution of foreign direct investment has been essential to our efforts for job creation. Since entering office we have defended strongly our transparent 12.5% corporation tax rate, which will continue to remain a cornerstone of industrial policy. The Government believes international reform in this area offers more opportunities to Ireland than it does risks. At 12.5%, Ireland has the lowest general corporate tax rate in the OECD and this Government, and I, as Taoiseach, are committed to maintaining that. As international tax loopholes progressively get closed down our low general corporation tax rate will become even more attractive to business. Ireland's package of tax, skills and the reputation of our business-friendly location is a major advantage that other countries will struggle to match.

Yesterday, we outlined a roadmap to secure Ireland's place as the destination for the best and most successful companies in the world. The roadmap responds to changing international environments and ensures that we continue to attract and retain companies of real substance offering real jobs. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has outlined how we intend to improve the research and development regime to enhance Ireland's existing intangible asset tax provisions to develop more intellectual property, as well as changes to the special assignee relief programme to attract more senior talent. Given these positive changes coupled with the phased ending of the double Irish regime I note the welcome of the Government's announcement by American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, the Irish Tax Institute, IBEC and companies such as Google and others.

I note that Fianna Fáil, the party which dreamt up the disastrous decentralisation programme, the promissory notes and the bail-out for Anglo Irish Bank that led our economy off a cliff, questions the prudence of our plans to secure the recovery. There seems to be an innate fear for the future. There will be no repetition of the mistakes of that Administration. This Government will not let our country slip back.

While conscious of the challenges ahead, I am optimistic about our country's future and am confident that the policies announced in this budget will serve to reinforce and secure the recovery that we are now witnessing.

Exchequer borrowing will fall by €1.45 billion in 2015 compared with 2014, reflecting tight control of spending and economic growth. There is almost no spending growth projected next year as compared with the likely outturn this year. The Government is targeting a deficit of 2.7% of GDP in 2015 - below the 2.9% ceiling under the EU Stability and Growth Pact - to act as a buffer to allow for any unexpected developments. One never knows what might happen internationally. The Government is also forecasting that our gross debt ratio will drop below 100% of GDP in 2018, which is also ahead of the reduction required by the EU Stability and Growth Pact.

This country is now emerging from a torrid seven years. While we have made much progress, too many people do not have jobs and too many men and women are struggling to make ends meet. In framing this budget our goal is to copperfasten the recovery and to ensure that people see the recovery, not in the headlines but in their daily lives. Our goal is to fix the economy, help to create more jobs, make work pay and to let it be seen to pay.

We are not blind to the serious risks we face as a country. Progress is hard won and can be easily lost. However, just as we mind our progress, we must also mind our people and our society. The economic recovery, no matter how essential it was, can never be an end in itself. There are times when many of our people, particularly those who are fragile and who live on the edge, must wonder if recovery will ever come to their personal lives. I assure them that the recovery we and they have worked so hard to achieve is about giving them the type of life they deserve as citizens of a still young republic. Recovery from the economic crisis means we can look further than the existential and start to examine the type of Ireland we want to build and be part of in our recovery. Today, as part of our national journey, I commend this budget to the House.

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton)

This budget marks a decisive shift. The economy is growing, unemployment is falling and confidence is returning. The first phase of the recovery is complete and we are now starting the second phase, restoring living standards for families, older people and low- and middle-income workers. This budget will cement the economic recovery by sharing the fruits of that recovery in a fair and equitable manner that gives the greatest proportion of the gains to low- and middle-income workers.

This is a fair budget. Families, older people and low- and middle-income workers will benefit. Businesses will remain competitive. Through shared prosperity, all Irish people will begin to feel the recovery in their daily lives and in their standard of living. We will not do anything to imperil the recovery. The Government will continue to do what is right for Irish families. There will be no return to the recklessness of the past.

The 2015 budget is built on the foundations of economic recovery. It is crafted to sustain that recovery and to broaden it out so that it nurtures both social and economic renewal. It is a fair and prudent budget. It combines modest but focused increases in public expenditure to address clear and identifiable needs with adjustments in taxation which target available resources to the benefit of low- and middle-income families in a responsible way. At the same time, we have ensured that the ongoing repair of our public finances is continued and that we achieve our targets for public debt and deficits within a comfortable margin of safety.

Budget 2015 ensures that the economic dividend from the recovery is used to invest in sustainable growth, communities and public services. On the expenditure side, compared to earlier ceilings which envisaged reductions in spending across Government Departments of almost €1.4 billion next year, the Government will increase expenditure by €639 million. This will allow for investment in priority areas such as affordable housing provision, the health service, education and social protection, while maintaining overall expenditure levels within prudent limits.

The co-existence of severe housing shortages in major urban areas with widespread vacant property in other areas of the country is a clear manifestation of the dysfunctional nature of housing policy during the boom years. This is a social and economic problem that we must address immediately to prevent it from becoming a crisis. Our commitment to resolve this issue is clearly demonstrated by the commitment to capital investment of over €2.2 billion for social housing provision over the next three years. This capital investment is part of a multi-faceted approach which combines a number of tax incentives to encourage supply, additional current and capital expenditure to provide additional social housing units in the short term and a number of off-balance-sheet vehicles for the provision of affordable housing in the medium term.

Providing for the health of our citizens is a key priority for the Government. The Government will provide some €13.1 billion for the delivery of health services in 2015 to ensure that core services will continue to be delivered and improved, including in our mental health services.

One of Ireland’s key assets is its educated workforce. The importance of education to our society, to our economy and to individuals, families and parents cannot be overstated. The Government is providing €8.3 billion to education in 2015. This will include funding for 1,700 additional full-time posts, comprising 920 mainstream teachers, 480 resource teachers and 365 special needs assistants. Our teachers do a great job. We have growing numbers of young people and I am happy that there will be extensive recruitment of teachers and people who work in schools next year. In addition, during the term of office of my colleague, Deputy Quinn, and the current Minister for Education and Skills, more than 150 new schools have been built in a time of very deep recession. I hope all Deputies will have a chance to visit some of those schools, because they are a testament to what Ireland can do when we all act together.

Additional resources of approximately €30 million have been found to address real needs in the agriculture sector, such as the smooth transfer of land from older farmers who wish to retire to younger farmers in need of that land.

On the revenue side, additional taxation raising measures amounting to approximately €700 million have been set aside, and instead, a modest and carefully targeted package of income tax reductions of approximately €500 million will boost the disposable incomes of low- and middle-income families. All the available levers, including rates, bands and thresholds, have been employed to deliver a progressive income tax reform which targets relief at low and middle income earners. It is a complex set of changes to target that group, but targeting low and middle income earners is the best policy in terms of tax reform in this country at present. The changes in the universal social charge, USC, including an increase in the entry point to €12,012, a broadening of the lower rate band and cuts of 0.5% to the two lowest rates, will be of particular value to lower-earning workers.

In the income tax code, the standard rate band has been increased by €1,000 for a single person, which is double for a couple where both are working, and the top marginal rate has been reduced by 1%. Again, it is a carefully modulated structure of changes.

Taken together with the adjustment to the top rate of the universal social charge, these changes cap benefits for incomes of more than €70,000 per annum. While everybody gains, including those with significant earnings, higher gains are capped for incomes of more than €70,000. We have taken a fair approach that targets relief at low and middle income workers.

Budget 2015 provides an additional €3 billion in resources for the domestic economy compared to previous plans. This will help to sustain the already strengthening recovery in the domestic economy, which will support an additional 50,000 jobs next year, with unemployment set to fall further to 10% by the end of 2015. Unemployed people need to be ready to take up these jobs. The recently launched Pathways to Work 2015 programme maps the way forward to provide people with the necessary skills to return to work. To support the implementation of Pathways to Work, my Department, with the Department of Education and Skills, will spend €1.6 billion in 2015 to provide approximately 300,000 work and training places. This will give many people who are unemployed through no fault of their own, as well as their families and communities, the fresh start they want. In addition, €12 million has been allocated for JobPath in 2015, an initiative which will match the long-term unemployed with appropriate training and employment opportunities, not only in urban areas but also, in the tailored programme, in rural areas. We are also doubling the number of JobsPlus positions to 6,000, with a focus on young unemployed people. This will cost an additional €13.5 million in a full year. JobsPlus has been a major success and its benefits have not been confined to large cities such as Dublin, Cork and Galway but have extended to every town and village.

To ensure a focus on lower paid workers and in line with the Government's statement of priorities, a low pay commission will be established in 2015.

In the corporation tax system a suite of measures, including revisions to tax residency rules and adjustments to the research and development tax credit will maintain the competitive nature of the corporate tax structure, while sustaining a fair contribution from the corporate sector. In addition, a number of small measures have been targeted at start-up companies and small and medium enterprises, which form the backbone of employment creation in the economy.

The social welfare budget for 2015 is an example of the Government's wider approach. Overall expenditure will fall, thereby helping to ensure public finances remain strong. In 2012, 2013 and this year, the Department has returned money to the rest of the Government budget, particularly in the health area, through savings achieved as people return to work. Notwithstanding these transfers to other areas of the Government's budget, there remains scope for achieving almost €200 million of targeted increases in certain social welfare payments and new incentives to help people return to work. It is precisely because of the surge of people returning to work that these objectives can be achieved, which is the reason I am promoting them for next year. I want everybody present to become a persuader and help anyone they know who is not working to return to work. It is important to change the culture in this country. While we want to have a good social welfare system, we also want people in their working years to be in employment, including self-employment. All sorts of models are developing which offer a range of opportunities, particularly to younger people.

The Pathways to Work strategy has helped to ensure a reduction in unemployment from its crisis peak of 15.1% to its current rate of 11.1%. Having a job is the best single protection against poverty, the best path to a better and independent future for individuals and families and the best way to reduce expenditure on social welfare. Large numbers of people are anxious to return to work. If we can match those who wish to return to work with the employers who are beginning to hire, we will remove a significant proportion of people from the live register and achieve our objective.

All existing welfare supports and payments will be maintained in 2015 and there will not be any reductions in rates. Increasing employment has boosted PRSI receipts, while the decline in unemployment has reduced expenditure on unemployment supports. This has improved the finances of the Social Insurance Fund and released resources to fund a number of targeted measures that help other jobseekers return to work, increase child benefit and further protect vulnerable groups such as older people and people with disabilities. I am, therefore, announcing a number of initiatives costing €198 million which have four key objectives. First, we are assisting unemployed families to return to work by providing continued financial support. Second, we are helping all families, whether in work or unemployed, with the cost of raising children by providing a €5 increase in the monthly child benefit payment, followed by a similar increase next year. Third, we are recognising the additional pressures on pensioners and people with disabilities who are living alone by providing a small but significant increase. Fourth, we are helping vulnerable welfare households to meet the costs associated with water services.

I propose to speak specifically about the new back to work family dividend. Through this scheme, long-term unemployed jobseekers with children who leave the social welfare system to return to work can retain the child related portion of their social welfare payment on a tapered basis over two years. People in the construction sector who may have lost their jobs should note that the scheme also applies to those who move to self-employment. This is important because recent developments in the construction industry mean many construction workers are self-employed. Those who leave the social welfare system to return to work will receive €1,550 per child in the first year of employment or self-employment and half this amount in the second year, while their work patterns recover and their income rises. The scheme will cost €22 million in 2015 and €46 million in a full year. The back to work family dividend will help increase the pace of the progress we are making in helping people to return to work and will assist the economic recovery. Combined with the employer incentives provided under JobsPlus and activation measures under the JobPath scheme, these measures will ensure people who have remained on the live register for a long period can benefit from the recovery in the labour market. Almost all of the families to which they will apply will also receive family income supplement, to which we are allocating a significant additional amount of money because of the numbers of people returning to work.

The budget, therefore, contains three measures aimed at families. It provides for an increase in child benefit for everyone who has a child, introduces the back to work family dividend for people returning to work and revamps the family income supplement, a well regarded and established scheme on which we will spend significantly more this year and next year.

On supports for children in general, the €5 increase in the child benefit rate will bring the monthly rate from €130 to €135 per child. This measure, which will cost €72 million in a full year, recognises the sacrifices families made during the economic crisis and the continuing difficulties they face. In the statement of priorities the Taoiseach and I made earlier this year, the Government promised a new deal on living standards for hard pressed families. The increase in child benefit is in line with that commitment.

On pensioners and people with disabilities, the living alone allowance will be increased by €1.30 per week, bringing the weekly rate from €7.70 to €9. This measure will benefit more than 177,000 people and will cost €12 million annually. The Government is committed to reducing the risk of poverty among marginalised groups, including older people and people with disabilities, in particular those who live on their own.

People living alone can be more vulnerable to economic deprivation than a two- or three-person household where, to some extent, resources can be pooled. The increase in the living alone allowance will help to address this risk and provide for a greater level of income adequacy both for pensioners and people with disabilities living alone. The payment was last increased in 1996. It is good that we have some resources available to target this particular group of people.

In line with the statement of priorities, I am introducing a water support payment of €100 to recipients of the household benefit package to help older people and other vulnerable groups meet the cost of water services. The €25 payment will be paid every three months directly to the beneficiary household at a cost of €42 million in a full year.

In addition, I am introducing a payment of €100 per annum to fuel allowance recipients who are not in receipt of the household benefits package. We signalled these changes in the statement of priorities last July. Subsequently, as Minister for Social Protection, I held extensive meetings with organisations interested in the area of social protection, including those representing older people and people with disabilities. They also included the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and organisations dealing with children. The budget reflects the advice and requests such groups gave to me on policy direction.

These measures will assist almost 700,000 households. It is not an individual payment but one payment for a household. A tax allowance for water charges at the standard rate for those in employment has already been announced by the Minister for Finance.

I now wish to mention the Christmas bonus. Christmas is a time of celebration but it is also a difficult time for families under strain who are dependent on social welfare benefits for financial support. I am pleased to announce that this year a Christmas bonus of 25% - a partial restoration of the Christmas bonus - will be paid to recipients of long-term social welfare payments.

There will be a minimum payment of €20. This payment will benefit more than 1.16 million social welfare recipients at a cost of €65.5 million. The Christmas bonus was introduced in 1980. Those of us who work with old people or who have elderly relatives, will know that the bonus was very much appreciated. That payment allowed people some easement in dealing with the cost of Christmas. This is a recovery budget so I am happy that we should have a small dividend for elderly people whom we all respect. We want them to be able to have a little extra resources.

The social protection measures will, overall, help more people to return to work, particularly families with children. They will also support all families with children, as well as pensioners and people with disabilities living alone. In addition, the measures will assist low-income families on welfare to meet the costs associated with water services.

Throughout the crisis, the Government protected core social welfare rates and maintained a massively strong social welfare safety net. That was a political choice which both parties in this Government made very deliberately; it is not one that was followed in other bailout countries. Some Opposition Deputies advised us to follow other bailout countries, but we did not do so. We chose to maintain our strong social welfare system, rather than going down the road of default and throwing our hats at it. We chose to work it and create a sustainable and sustained recovery.

This is acknowledged by the ESRI, among others, which has pointed out that, unlike in other countries, income inequality has fallen in Ireland in recent years, largely because of the overall maintenance of the welfare system.

Deputy Finian McGrath

That is news to us. It is news to Vincent Browne.

Deputy Joan Burton

We did not just maintain the system throughout the crisis, however, we transformed it. It is a social welfare income-support system but it is now also a public employment service which helps to get people back to work. Developing the second part of that dual aspect gives us more resources, more savings for Government in general and allows us to target some of those extra resources at people who need and are entitled to support from a social welfare income. They included retired pensioners and families with children.

In doing that, we have strengthened the Springboard back-to-work scheme. My idea of the social welfare system is that it should be like a trampoline or a cushion. It is there to support and catch people if they fall ill, lose their jobs or when they retire. It is also there for young people of working age to lift them back up and get them where they want to be - back into work, education and training. That is the social contract. We tell young people and others who become unemployed that we will support them with income, but we require them to do everything to make themselves available for suitable work. They must also be trained and educated to get back to work, create a small business or become self-employed. That system strengthens Ireland’s recovery.

The resources for this budget represent the combination of painful adjustments that are no longer necessary due to the recovery. In addition, some modest but considered additions to expenditure and taxation reliefs will nurture and sustain the recovery, making it real and tangible in the pockets of low and middle-income individuals and families.

We are not in the realm of the sort of reckless abandon which was the calling card of the previous administration and is currently favoured by many on the Opposition benches. We have made real and substantial progress in repairing the enormous damage that has been sustained by the Irish economy and more importantly by our society, as well as to our confidence and belief in ourselves as a people.

I must say, however, that the goal against Germany last night probably did as much for our self-confidence as the budget announcements yesterday. So well done to our team. Our work is not done, however, just at that team's work is not done, although we have high hopes and expectations.

The aim is to sustain the recovery, not undermine it. The budget marks the start of a new journey for people in Ireland. It will ensure that all our citizens benefit from the economic recovery. In the coming years, with increased economic growth we hope to see an Ireland with more people in work, more houses for people to live in, and where the vulnerable can be assured that they will be protected. It is a journey that I think will lead Ireland to a shared prosperity.

Deputy Micheál Martin

In every part of our country there are families facing the reality of a two-tiered, deeply unfair recovery. The way to assess this budget is not how many headlines it gets but how much it helps those who are being left behind. No matter what way you look at it, the budget has failed this test.

Yesterday the Government delivered the first of two election budgets. It had no social economic vision, purely a political one of electoral survival. The most leaked and most spun budget in Irish history contained no objective other than trying to dig the Government out of its current deep hole. It included a collection of measures designed to try to take the edge off many of the worst decisions of the past three years.

We have already been through three budgets, and a so-called "jobs budget", presented by this Government. The same pattern keeps repeating itself. The initial hype of Ministers and the cheers of Fine Gael and Labour backbenchers have ultimately been replaced by an angry public reaction. This year will be no different.

Ministers have become expert at hiding the pain and hyping the positives. In many cases figures presented as generous allocations have actually represented deep service cuts or, at best, the maintenance of existing policies. As we listen to the Government praising itself and talking about how much it has delivered, we should remember what it said previously. Last year’s budget produced tables showing every type of family, except those on over €150,000, maintaining the same disposable income. These were reproduced in all parts of the media and hailed by the Government as a turning point, but people soon saw that their disposable incomes kept going down. Property tax was doubled and a raft of other charges took effect.

It was this exact day last year when the then Minister for Health issued a statement saying that the Government’s generosity would mean that services would improve this year. Some 200,000 families were to get a GP visit card, mental health services were to expand and there was to be a minor and not very significant change in medical cards. We all know how that turned out. Thousands of medical cards were taken from the sickest and people who were very ill. The health service has been put under enormous stress during the year.

The basic preparation of the annual budget has indeed been reformed, but not in the way Ministers claim. It has been reformed by the politicisation of every element of its presentation. If one looks beyond the empty rhetoric one sees that the defining characteristic of the Government’s fiscal policy has been a decisive shift to a more regressive approach. The incomes of low and middle-income families and the services they rely on have been targeted. As the Labour Party correctly predicted, every little cut has hurt. Today, the core regressive and unfair approach of the Government remains intact. Yet every budget of the last three years has been introduced with the claim that it was fair and protected vulnerable groups. We heard it again yesterday, and it is as untrue this year as it has ever been. The biggest winners, by some distance, are those on well above average incomes. When a person on €200,000 gets four times what is given to a minimum wage worker it is many things, but fair is not one of them.

This is a budget dominated by immediate political concerns, and because of this it is yet again a budget that supports no vision for the future of services such as health and education, on which people rely. There is no vision for respecting ability to pay when levying charges, improving the quality and number of jobs available in all parts of the country, reversing the destruction of rural services or tackling a deep and growing two-tier economy in which some are getting ahead and many are left behind.

In the first line of his speech yesterday the Minister, Deputy Noonan, said, "When the Government took office in March 2011, we set out a plan". This is, of course, absolutely untrue. The Government did nothing of the sort. There was no new budget for a year and there was no major change in any fiscal target. There was no new plan. The only significant new policy was to end the approach of the previous Government’s budgets, which were tough but highly progressive. This is not an empty political charge; it has been borne out by every independent study of the budgets of the last seven years.

This Government has been deeply regressive in its actions since it took office. By making budgets more unfair, refusing to be more responsive and focusing on headlines rather than the long term, Fine Gael and the Labour Party have directly worsened the two-tier recovery. There is a reason so many communities and families are not feeling the benefit of recovery - namely, the decisions made by Fine Gael and the Labour Party in government. The dominance of media management in the presentation of this budget has gone beyond the ridiculous. Through most of this year, "Tax relief is on the way" headlines have appeared on an almost weekly basis, adding "exclusive" to the list of words devalued by this Government.

Yesterday the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, found the time to put out scripted political videos and tweet their selection of ties, but they became the first ever Ministers to deliver a budget and not have the basic courtesy to listen to the replies of Opposition speakers.

Seo Rialtas a bhfuil sé le rá faoi go bhfuil bearna ag fás i gcónaí idir an méid a deirtear agus réaltacht a ghníomhartha. Tá an méid ollmhór de gheallúintí briste atá ag fás go leanúnach le trí bliana anuas fós ann. An rud a chonaiceamar sa cháinaisnéis seo ná Rialtas scanraithe roimh an bpobal. Go bunúsach, ní thuigeann siad conas a bheith fírinneach agus oscailte le muintir na tíre seo.

Tá an Rialtas ag iarraidh a thabhairt le fios go bhfuil siad ag laghdú cánacha, ach an fhírinne ná go mbeidh an t-airgead a thógfar ar ais ón mbuiséad clainne an bhliain seo chugainn ag méadú. Tá an Rialtas ag iarraidh an dubh a chur ina gheal ar an bpobal go bhfuil siad ag feabhsú seirbhísí, nuair a bheidh na córais sláinte, oideachais agus leasa shóisialaigh ag streachailt arís an bhliain seo chugainn.

This is by any measure a cynical, short-term and political budget. One of the most cynical parts of it is the claim that the Government has delivered a fair tax system. Key statistics which help to make year-to-year comparisons have been removed from the budget material. In their place a new infographic has been presented. It is headlined with the claim that tax and USC are highly progressive in Ireland. The entire basis of this claim is found in measures that were in law before Fine Gael and the Labour Party came to office. In fact, both parties voted against the very measures for which they are now trying to claim credit. In regard to USC, it is new level of political cynicism to produce documents praising its progressiveness when both parties not only voted against it but campaigned against it in a general election.

The same type of approach is to be found in nearly every part of the budget. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was established to help direct policy, yet there is now a 100% record of its recommendations being ignored. We have even been refused the chance to debate its recommendations. The publication of the budget figures has been politicised in an unprecedented manner. Instead of showing the changes in services from year to year, the Government has presented absolute levels, and in this way presents cutbacks as if they were good news. I have never seen this before - the failure to give a proper presentation of Estimates in advance of a budget. The Government deliberately decided not to do that and to hide the facts from people in terms of the detail of departmental Estimates, outturns and so on. In previous years such information would have been published days and weeks in advance of a budget. In a small example of this type of approach, which is copied in every Department’s allocation, the budget claims that recovery is being supported because Science Foundation Ireland will support 3,000 researchers. It removed the figures showing that it used to support 20% more.

Basic income distribution tables which were formerly produced by Ministers in different governments are now absent, although they must exist, as the Department of Finance licenses the software which can produce these tables in minutes. The day after the budget, there are many basic things we still do not know about its impact on vital supports and services, and this is exactly what the Government wants. It wants to make claims but hide the contradictory evidence for as long as possible.

Unsurprisingly, Ministers have also heightened their attacks on the Opposition. Ministers are entirely correct when they attack Sinn Féin’s claims that everything tough can be abolished and huge resources can be available without any difficulty. This is just not credible. It is dishonest and it is about exploiting rather than solving problems. To be fair to Sinn Fein, it is simply following the same model of dishonest opposition patented by Fine Gael and the Labour Party before the last general election.

For this budget and each of the last three, Fianna Fáil’s spokespersons, Deputies McGrath and Fleming, have, together with colleagues, prepared and published detailed alternative proposals. Not only has everything been costed; all of it stands up to scrutiny. We have not blindly opposed Government proposals, but we have led the way in exposing the hidden costs and real impacts of its many bad decisions. We have not run away from the budgets we implemented in government. We took genuinely tough decisions which the Government left in place. It has actually included these measures in international presentations about how Ireland turned itself around. In these presentations the graphs are allowed to show the fact that nearly two-thirds of the vital changes were brought into law by Fianna Fáil and Green Party and that these changes hit the wealthiest the hardest. At home this truth is never acknowledged.

In the past three years there have been many hard choices to be made, but there have still been choices. The impact of the Government’s budget decisions has been divisive and damaging, not because it had no choices but because it made bad ones. No amount of spin or manipulating the baselines on tables will get away from this, because it is reflected in the reality of what people experience every day. One of the many striking things in this Government’s record is that it has never produced a detailed analysis of how it wants to develop the long-term capacity and growth of the economy.

We have seen many short-term projections, all of which have been wrong, but no plan or vision for the longer term. Last year there was a brief attempt to present a medium-term plan when the one inherited in March 2011 had run out. It was so unambitious and irrelevant that it is no longer referred to, even by Ministers.

It is amazing that in reviewing the reduction of the budget deficit the Government has failed to mention any of the major factors. There is no mention of how the ECB’s action has reduced interest rates for every state and of the technical restatement of GDP, which reduced the deficit by 1.6% at a stroke. The House will remember that this restatement included putting a value on illegal activity such as prostitution and including it in GDP, something fortuitous and useful in terms of the budgetary figures. This technical restatement has provided almost €2 billion in fiscal room within agreed targets.

Deputy Joan Burton

Recognising research and development, that is what the bulk of it is. Do not suggest it is from illegal activity in Ireland.

Deputy Micheál Martin

Nobody suggested that; I am making the point that, like everything the Government does, it is about presentation.

Deputy Joan Burton

Just acknowledge the truth.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy Micheál Martin, to continue, without interrruption, please.

Deputy Micheál Martin

Yesterday, Deputy Michael McGrath highlighted this issue and pointed out that the Government was fortunate-----

Deputy Joan Burton

After I suggested it to him.

Deputy Micheál Martin

-----in having a technical restatement that provided €2 billion in fiscal room. It appears the last thing the Government wants is an informed debate on the economy because that might get in the way of its campaign to claim credit for everything.

The return to growth has been helped by fiscal consolidation. There is no doubt about this, but fiscal consolidation is not the reason Ireland has returned to strong growth. As the OECD has pointed out, the core growth potential of the economy is set by the skills and dedication of the people, together with an infrastructure which is radically improved from that of 20 years ago. This did not happen overnight and to try to claim that growth has come from short-term measures is to ignore the current strength and best direction for the economy. As the OECD has also pointed out, the specific spark for growth has been recovery in key markets and the major changes in EU and ECB policies.

The new international environment has been essential for growth in Ireland; therefore, to fail to even acknowledge the threats to Ireland from a European slowdown is, at best, negligent. Why is ours the only government in Europe which is introducing a budget without addressing the concerns which are dominating political and economic debates in every other country? Instead of a considered vision for the future of the economy and the society it will support and instead of an approach which learns the lessons of the past, what we have is a series of targeted election measures designed to have an impact for no more than one year and a few months.

Just as public investment in skills and infrastructure was central to past growth, it is essential to sustained growth in the future. It was mentioned in the budget speeches but without any major initiative being announced. We cannot understand how the Government keeps refusing to publish a development plan which sets out specific objectives for future investment. It is becoming ever more reliant on projects which address immediate political needs or were planned years ago. The small increase in public investment announced yesterday will provide only a small stimulus to the economy and does not represent any strategic commitment. An investment of €210 million in an economy the size of Ireland’s is not a significant stimulus. A larger and more ambitious public investment programme is required and possible. The most important factor is that it would create long-term State assets which would raise the growth generating capacity of the economy. It is not about a short-term fix; it is about doing something permanent to address the needs of the country. What we had yesterday was the reannouncement of many projects which were happening in any event and new ones which would be part funded by allowing existing infrastructure to decay. For example, projects already announced to cater for an increased school enrolment are to proceed, which is welcome, but they are part funded by cutting funding for minor works to maintain existing buildings.

Last year the European Union agreed to a series of measures to make capital funding available to member states. The Taoiseach told us this would bring billions to Ireland, but it has not. The refusal of the Government to plan for new projects or commit to co-funding means that we are missing major opportunities. The failure to present any analysis of long-term growth or even to plan, let alone fund, a public investment plan is a gaping hole in the economy. In this case, the road the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, has decided to go down is one on which he has refused to bring a map.

During the recent Labour Party leadership election it was said pushing Deputy Eamon Gilmore out was an essential first step in moving the Government to the left. There has certainly been a move to the left in the rhetoric used to sell the tax changes announced yesterday..

A feature of the two-tiered recovery has been the absence of high quality and secure employment for many. The budget does not set out a vision for tackling this significant issue in developing the economy and our society. We have always been fully supportive of inward investment, which remained strong in the toughest parts of the recession, but this has not been acknowledged. The areas identified as national strategic priorities a decade ago have delivered well for us, as has the investment in research which we made.

The Government has provided as little detail as possible on the announced changes to corporate tax rules. We are concerned that it has moved so quickly to abandon its position that current rules are in order and that changes should only take place on a co-ordinated international basis. Why have we decided to move without linking the changes with similar ones in the Netherlands and other countries which have almost identical rules? Why has this change not been linked with a demand that the impact of bank related debt be removed? Has the Government formally abandoned a demand which the Ministers, Deputies Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin, once said could be worth tens of billions of euro to Ireland?

We must continue to attract and support inward investment. The failure to produce an impact analysis of the changes is, at best, manipulation of public opinion and, at worst, suggests the Government has taken a risky and ill-thought out step. Equally, we must start to take seriously the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, but the sector has largely been ignored in the budget. Small and medium-sized businesses employ hundreds of thousands of people and are the foundation of the domestic economy. They have suffered deeply in recent years and need to be a priority. Some of the changes made will benefit them, but the Minister for Finance confirmed last night that the policy was to hope the rising tide would eventually lift the SME boat. The majority of SMEs are run by people who are self-employed for tax purposes. Important and affordable changes which would help them have been ignored. Also ignored was the critical issue of financing. Credit is not yet flowing to SMEs in the economy. Legacy debt in the SME sector remains a permanent drag on them and the domestic economy.

A MABS-style service for SMEs is needed immediately, as is a dedicated fund for helping SMEs.

Housing is an area in which the Government has finally woken up to a crisis that it allowed to develop. The rental market has been made unsustainable and core supply has been neglected. Ministers took an approach to NAMA which focused on selling off properties as quickly as possible and ignored any wider social needs. Housing has had a Labour Party Minister at Cabinet for three and a half years but it is only now that a housing plan has been published. Incredibly, it is one that may directly feed a new housing bubble.

Completely abolishing the windfall property tax risks a return to destructive land speculation. Combined with the halving of the requirement under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to 10% social housing provision, the mechanisms for providing social benefit from future development have been rolled back by the Government. At the same time, there are no measures for dealing with the problems faced by renters, who will be excluded from the housing market by new Central Bank demands with regard to savings. Many of the problems faced by renters are the direct result of the Tánaiste’s policy on restricting rent supplement, and there is not a Deputy in the House who does not know this. The changes to rent supplement have had a disastrous impact on people desperately seeking high-quality housing. That is the reality on the ground. The hardest hit areas remain the major urban centres, so this failure means that the most acute aspect of the housing crisis will not be addressed.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, has been very assertive in recent weeks in talking about housing in the media, while at the same time trying to keep his head down on the growing public anger about Irish Water and its crumbling justification. When this Fine Gael idea was announced, the core rationale was that it would be incredibly efficient and charges would be simple. Yesterday, the Government tried a last-minute rescue on the worst impact of the charges. It has failed. It remains a highly regressive charge which does not fully respect the citizen’s ability to pay, and it is now one of the most complicated charges ever introduced. Once this budget is enacted, there will be four separate ways to assess the charges. Once it is collected, it will be used to fund a gold-plated bureaucracy, paying executive bonuses and incurring costs which even the former Minister of State who set it up now admits are simply unjustifiable. Deputy O'Dowd was correct: it has been an unmitigated disaster in terms of the Government's implementation and execution of the Fine Gael policy.

This is the first budget since the reshuffle in which the Taoiseach’s main objective was to stop the complete implosion of the health system, or at least to stop the health system from damaging the Government’s electoral chances. Even though he and his colleagues cheered the work of the former Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, every step of the way, he was made the scapegoat and a new Minister was installed. This was to be the budget in which he delivered a complete change in policy. It has not happened. The spin about the budget is that it has given the health system an increase in funding and services will be improved. Just as last year’s spin was false, so too will this year’s be exposed.

The first thing that has to be said is that there was, in fact, no overspend in the HSE. The Government ordered a certain level of services but refused to acknowledge the cost. It gave us a false and dishonest presentation on health this time last year. When the bill came, the Government expressed surprise and condemned the HSE management. It has been a shoddy spectacle. For next year, we are told that spending will be at this year’s level. If this turns out to be true - and we may have to wait months to find out because of the way Ministers now interfere in HSE statements - then what it will do is to maintain this year’s rate of decline. Maintaining funding will not stabilise services because waiting lists are rising and the Government itself says that €200 million is needed to deal with demographic changes. The health service is in crisis. The workers are being put to the pin of their collar through a deliberate strategic electoral decision to starve health of funding in order to enable the Government to do other things. The supposed negotiating success of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has another large hole in it because it is based on his finding the money for himself. The budget documentation states that there will be €130 million in savings and €330 million in new income, but this translates into other service cuts and increased charges.

Everybody here knows how the urgent the needs are in the field of mental health. Yesterday, we were told that relief is on the way. Unfortunately, the details show that the €15 million taken from the mental health budget this year will not be restored. This budget shows no commitment at all to tackling the growing crisis in the health services. It doubles down on the already discredited reform programme, which is multiplying problems caused by low funding. It re-promises initiatives that were supposed to be in place two years ago. All the evidence is that 2015 will be another bad year for the health system. With growing evidence of a major outbreak of a most damaging drugs situation in provincial centres, the refusal to act now rather than let the crisis develop will have deeply damaging long-term effects.

One of the many pre-budget leaks - we had it again this morning from the Tánaiste - concerned how a major development was planned for school staffing. Instead of this, what has been announced is that existing pupil-teacher ratios will be left in place. The maintenance of current policy, once something that was left to technical documents, has now become a central part of budget spin. In previous times, if population increased, the number of teachers automatically increased - it was called the demographic dividend in education. It was left to the technical documents and no Government would have the brass neck to claim credit for it. This Government trumpets it, leaks it as an exclusive and it is a central part of budget spin.

In our alternative budget proposal, we showed how the most damaging parts of the Government’s education policy could be undone next year. Instead of maintaining current levels of overcrowding, there was an opportunity to cut the pupil-teacher ratio and restore a desperately needed careers and guidance service, which the Government has savaged.

During the summer, there were many reports about how the Government was going to give a new impetus to rural affairs. Yesterday, we discovered it was yet another broken promise. The cumulative impact of cuts targeted at rural schools, hospitals, gardaí and other basic public services has had a deep impact. In many places, the fabric of the local community has been threatened. In 2011, the portfolio of rural affairs was removed from the Cabinet. This has been followed by three years in which a difficult situation for rural communities has been made much worse by Government decisions. It would have cost €6 million to reverse the damage caused to small rural schools by Deputy Quinn when he was Minister for Education and Skills, but it was not a priority for the Government. It would have cost a fraction of the overall budget changes to restore proper rural policing, but again, it was not a priority. Rural towns need support and urgent intervention. Again, a little would have gone a long way. Moreover, the failure to invest properly in the rural social scheme and the delaying of national funding of important farm income supports means that all farm families remain at the mercy of a malfunctioning market which is stacked against producers.

This budget has been heralded by the Government as a turning point, even more than the Government had heralded last year’s budget as a turning point. Because of a combination of factors, the Government had the opportunity to undo some of its worst decisions and shape a recovery which could be genuinely felt by all. It had the opportunity to set out a vision for our economy and society and begin working to achieve it. It had the opportunity to make classes smaller, reduce waiting lists, invest in infrastructure and support rural communities. It had the opportunity to show a commitment to the future development of our public services. Instead, it decided to look to the short term. In the first of two election budgets, it has spread money around in a way that helps some but leaves many deep problems untouched.

Today, the Government continues to roll out its prepackaged messages and announcements, just as it did last year. However, at a critical moment in defining the future of our economy, our public services and our support for families and communities, the Government has chosen the path of putting politics first. Because of this, it will come to realise sooner rather than later that the Irish people will not fall for the spin and complacency of which Fine Gael and the Labour Party are today so proud.

Deputy Finian McGrath

The days of stunts are over.

Deputy Gerry Adams

Yesterday, when the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform were making their statements, they were listened to by the Opposition. However, when it came to the spokespersons for the Opposition parties responding, both Ministers were absent from the Chamber. Bhí siad as láthair gan meas ar bith. Bhí an Taoiseach ansin ach arís gan meas ar bith. When Deputies Pearse Doherty and Mary Lou McDonald were responding for Sinn Féin, the Taoiseach heckled continuously. Rather than behave like a Taoiseach, Teachta Kenny behaved like a delinquent or a character out of "Father Ted" - I am thinking of Father Dougal or perhaps even Father Jack - shouting and gesturing at the Sinn Féin speakers. It struck me as rather odd, on such a significant day, that the leader of the Government was far from being composed or confident, and I asked myself why. After all, yesterday's budget was hailed as the ending of austerity and the launch of the new recovery. The Taoiseach’s lack of composure was evident also in how he handled the McNulty affair and other issues. Yesterday, in my view, it was because he knows this budget does not live up to the Government spin. The Taoiseach knows the Government had the opportunity to lift the burden from long-suffering citizens. Instead, it brought in a short-term, two-tier budget.

The Government had the ability to get rid of the water charges and the family home tax and to take the remaining 210,000 lowest paid workers out of the tax net but decided not to do this. Instead of giving more to those who have less, the Government gives more to those who have more and less to those who have less. There is no equality, no inclusivity and no fairness. That is the limit of the vision of this bad and incompetent Government.

It is possible to measure the standards of a society by the way it treats the disadvantaged, the poor, senior citizens, children and citizens with disabilities. It has always been my view, which I think is universally shared, that any party's view of the economy is based on its core political values. If it is for privatisation and a market led-economic policy and if it does not believe in the right to public services, it will have a particular view. If its view is every man or woman for themselves, that will be represented in its economic policy. That is the view best represented by this Government's austerity policies. However, if it believes in a real republic; in a citizen-centred, rights-based society; in equality - now that is a strange word - and in the right to a home, universal health services, a job, access to education and freedom, that will also shape its economic policy. That is the ground that Sinn Féin stands on.

In my experience, the majority of citizens always want to play their part. The majority of people respond positively to positive leadership. This is the same in terms of getting the economy moving forward and dealing with the debt. The problem thinking people have is the absence of any notion or degree of fairness or equality in the approach adopted by this and the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government and the huge gap between the rhetoric and the substance of what they do. In Fine Gael's famous, or infamous, "5 Point Plan" document, which I rarely hear the Taoiseach reference, it said:

Fine Gael believes passionately that Ireland needs a new start. That the only way to save our country is to change it. Fine Gael wants to do more than rebuild Ireland. We want to transform it. To create from the ashes of the old, a New Ireland that is better, stronger and fairer.

This is rhetoric without substance. Since 2011, Fine Gael and Labour have attacked the welfare of our citizens from the cradle to the grave as they demolished the most basic social protections. In a series of brutal austerity budgets, they imposed a range of cuts and taxes that amounted to a direct attack on low and middle-income households. Tá na beartais seo in éadan na ndaoine atá tinn, seandaoine agus daoine óga. The Government followed the path laid out for it by its Fianna Fáil predecessors and it hid behind the troika at every turn as an excuse for what it was doing.

The failure of the Government to deal with retrospective bank capitalisation has locked future generations of Irish citizens into debt and placed an unsustainable burden on the economy. The Government does not need me to remind it that servicing the debt will cost the taxpayer €8 billion this year. Fine Gael and Labour have not governed in the interests of Irish citizens, They have not governed in the common good. Instead, they have been guided by the destructive, anti-social ideology of austerity and by their own perceived narrow party political interests. Simply put, they have put ideology and electoralism before the common good with the inevitable disastrous consequences.

Austerity is a bad policy choice. It is bad for the economy and it does not work, although it depends on what one wants the economy to do. If one wants to the economy to be a servant of the people as opposed to the people being slaves to the economy, of course, that is something else entirely. It is also bad for society. It is bad for us as people and for our communities. It has slowed down the rate of recovery. It has led to the dismantling of public services. It has inflicted further unnecessary damage on this State's shambolic health system. It has decimated rural communities, which the Taoiseach is bound to know. Small, indigenous businesses, which remain the largest employer in this State, are being allowed to collapse. Tá na pobail bheaga ar fud an Stáit scriosta, go háirithe muintir na tuaithe. I see the damage in my own constituency of Louth which has suffered as a result of unemployment, emigration and partition and where mortgage debt and homelessness are major issues. The public services, in particular the health and ambulance services, are staffed by really good people who are struggling to meet demands. In the mean time, schools, post offices and Garda stations are closing at an alarming rate or are underfunded. The Government's commitment to austerity has pushed more and more people into poverty and severe financial hardship with the attendant social ills of increased mental health problems and an accelerated suicide rate.

What the people needed and wanted yesterday was a fair budget that would have given low and middle income households a real and substantial break, that would have seen the most damaging cuts of recent years reversed and the deficit reduced through a new and progressive tax policy. Sinn Féin demonstrated, under the leadership of Deputy Pearse Doherty, how this could be done in our alternative budget submission ach mar is gnáth, níor éist an rialtas leis na daoine.

The increase in child benefit must be seen in the context of the cuts to maternity benefit, the lone parent income disregard and the school clothing and footwear allowances. Child benefit was cut in previous years. Despite the Government spin, the budget does not signal the end of austerity. Many of the people who will benefit were never adversely affected by austerity in the first place. Many of them do not even know there was a recession. However, for the vast majority of citizens, it is business as usual.

The Government could have introduced a different budget. Our thoughtful and costed proposals sought to repair the community, rebuild the economy and renew society. We would have put €800 million back into the pockets of ordinary workers through the abolition of the property tax and by stopping water charges. The Taoiseach stated during Leaders’ Questions that he would not do this.

We sought to end the forced emigration of young people by restoring the jobseeker's payment over two years for those under the age of 26 years. We prioritised investment in health and education to make going to school more affordable and to recruit an additional 1,000 nurses and midwives.

We proposed investing €1 billion from the Strategic Investment Fund to build an additional 6,600 homes in the next 18 months and create 8,000 jobs. That is what a real and genuine initiative would look like.

We sought to invest an additional €202.6 million in disability services and supports. That was one of the Taoiseach’s red line issues. When the previous Tánaiste and the Taoiseach were asked to identify their red line issues, the former answered that it was child benefit, while the Taoiseach said it was disability services.

We proposed to reduce the salaries and allowances of high earners in the public sector and the Oireachtas. In short, Sinn Féin offered a way to ease the burden on ordinary citizens and rebuild the domestic economy. We offered a fairer, more equal way forward.

We proposed removing all those earning less than the minimum wage from the USC net, while keeping the exemption for households earning less than €60,000 and with medical cards. In a full year, our tax raising measures would bring in an additional €1.7 billion through a third rate of income tax, restoring capital gains tax and capital acquisition tax to 40%, a 3% betting tax and a range of other measures. However, Sinn Fein’s net tax increase would be just €263.7 million because our measures would see €1.053 billion going back to low and middle income workers. That would not only be the fair and decent thing to do, it would also be economically smart because the people who would benefit would spend the money and thereby stimulate the economy. We also sought to reverse cuts to the respite care grant. The Government’s refusal to restore the grant left 70,000 carers bitterly disappointed. It is a measly €325 per annum. The Taoiseach gained more in the budget than what the people in question have lost. It is a small amount of money but a lot for the families concerned. Even at this stage, I ask the Taoiseach to reconsider the Government's position. I am sure the people would agree to it in a plebiscite. It would cost the State €29.6 million. We further sought an increase in family income supplement. Our approach to the economy has to be guided by the principle of equality. The Labour Party is in a maze because it cannot see that it has to equality-proof the measures it introduces by investigating their social consequences.

The Government has lost the plot. It does not care about the crippling effect on citizens and families of the property tax, water tax and a range of other stealth charges. It has been shown the evidence and provided with fair alternatives, but it presses on and dismisses them. The budget is a far cry from the five-point plan.

Citizens were told that political failure lay at the heart of Ireland's economic failure and that to fix the economy we must also fix the political system. The Taoiseach is the longest-serving Member but he has treated the political system with contempt, which I do not understand. Perhaps, he has been here so long he lives in a bubble. Not only has he used all public offices, State boards, the Seanad and other accoutrements for his own party political benefit and the benefit of friends, but this is the very thing he railed against Fianna Fáil doing before him. We have witnessed how he has blatantly ignored the clear statement of the electorate in favour of a radical, reformed Seanad. The Government is now talking of a recovery but struggling families do not see any evidence of it in their daily lives.

Last Saturday in Dublin, people told the Government that there is enough of austerity. The same thing happened in the by-elections. If the Taoiseach thinks for one second that the budget and the Government's selling of it will assuage that expression of public anger, he is badly mistaken. He can be cynical and work out that Fine Gael has such and such a section of the vote and if it looks after it, the others will footer about and get tripped up. He may think that Fine Gael will get back in if it caters to those who fit into its demographic, but that is not what it should be about. That is not what Deputy Kenny's role as Taoiseach should be about. He sits here as Taoiseach, not as Leader of Fine Gael. As Taoiseach, he has a responsibility on behalf of all citizens.

People are demanding very clearly an end to the unjust water tax. While it was Fianna Fáil's idea, the Taoiseach's Government is implementing it. That is the backdrop to the introduction of the reliefs, some of which are modest, that the Taoiseach announced today. The Government has capped some water bills at €100, but why should citizens have €100 less of a water bill they shouldn’t have to pay in the first place? It is like someone stealing one's wallet and giving one a few quid to get back home. Some 856,000 working people will not be able to avail of this cap. The message is very clear and it is that the Taoiseach must scrap domestic water charges. Sinn Féin has shown how a first class water service can be paid for by the State without penalising working people. The Taoiseach can rubbish it all he wants, but he knows it is the truth. If we ever get a mandate for Government, Sinn Féin will abolish water charges as we did in the North. That is what the Government should have announced yesterday.

We accept that it is necessary to adjust the deficit and we have shown how to do it without harming families or front-line services by stimulating instead of cutting the economy, and by asking the wealthiest to pay more. If it is a choice between taking money from a carer or a person with disabilities and asking the wealthiest to pay, it is a no-brainer for me. The Government's property tax, water tax, the removal of medical cards, mortgage distress and a lack of social housing have pushed working people to the limit. That is without even dealing with the particular effects in rural Ireland. Sinn Féin agrees with the Government on lots of things. We agree with the Government that Ireland needs a new start and that the only way to save our country is to change it. We agree with the statements that a new Ireland is needed that is better, stronger and fairer and that political failure is at the heart of Ireland's economic failure. However, those failures lie at the door of the three main conservative parties that have ruled the State since partition, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour.

Those who voted for the Labour Party in large numbers at the last general election did so to put a brake on the right-wing, reactionary impulse of Fine Gael. That is what they were asked to do. Alas, that has turned out not to be the case. Labour is as locked into austerity policies as Fine Gael. Where is the €1 billion strategic investment bank that the Labour Party promised? Why is Labour part of a budget process that rewards the highest earners first and foremost? There is a clear failure by Deputy Joan Burton to bring a change of direction to Government budgetary policy and that underlines the truth that a change of faces without a change in policy is meaningless. Many women are in low paid jobs and there is no incentive, initiative or tax breaks in respect of child care. There is no Scandinavian model as promised by the Tánaiste.

The budget fails to lift the burden from struggling families and hard-pressed citizens. It continues to support the basic inequality that exists in this society and that is the Government's legacy. Labour and Fine Gael Ministers will be more than four times better off than a married couple with an income of €35,000, which is a shame on the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. For our part and in our modest way, we will do our best to focus on demonstrating to citizens and families throughout the island that there is a clear, workable and fairer alternative to the way the Government is doing things. We will continue to seek a mandate and win support to take our society and economy in a different direction based on genuine republican principles of equality and fairness.

Deputy John Halligan

Like many who worked through the budget last night, I mulled over the extra €5 per month for parents paying more for child care than they do on their mortgages and considered the €100 in water charges relief for those vulnerable people who have had most of the safety nets designed to protect them undermined in recent years. What I saw was a Government clearly at ease with spending public monies in what is unquestionably an attempt to buy votes with the €7 billion it will borrow to run the country this year. Not many voters will thank the Government for borrowing in their name while allowing them a bit of loose change in return.

Ordinary, struggling people are all too aware of the consequences of repaying the debt over the last six years. I accept that to a large degree it is not the responsibility of the current Government. However, we do not have enough teachers in our classrooms or beds in our hospitals. Waiting lists are increasing for critical health services and thousands of children with disabilities are waiting years for assessments and supports. No matter how much Government officials attempt to massage the figures, we have one of the most expensive child-care systems in the world. St. Vincent de Paul and Combat Poverty will announce shortly that more than 750,000 of our people, including more than 200,000 children, are living in poverty. Of our population, 10% experience food poverty and we have very stark income-related health inequalities. Calls for assistance to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul have increased by 100% since 2009 and the organisation is spending almost €80 million per annum helping individuals and families in need. Parents are daily waving goodbye to children who cannot find work here and indigenous SMEs owned by brave entrepreneurs who should be given every support possible are on their knees.

The story presented yesterday by the Government - I use the term “story” because there was an enormous amount of embellishing details - was that this budget was a clap on the back to the good people of Ireland for all their efforts in poverty and deprivation of recent years. We were told we had good news on the universal social charge, USC. When USC was introduced, it was called an emergency measure because "we were in crisis". According to the Government now, the crisis is over. Why is this so-called temporary measure not abolished then? May I remind the Labour Party that in its manifesto it said it would abolish USC when it got into power?

Why are the measures introduced so unevenly distributed? Many have commented on how a worker on a €70,000 salary will be €746 better off while a low-paid worker struggling to make ends meet on €15,000 a year will have just €115 more in their pockets. Why should we on our salaries be better off because of this budget than those hundreds of thousands of people in poverty who elected us? The fact we have done well out of this budget does not sit comfortably with many Members. I believe it is reprehensible.

I referred earlier to those brave entrepreneurs who put their necks on the line by setting up their own business in a time of crisis. I am horrified at the way the Government has discriminated against them within the tax system. The increase in their USC contributions is scandalous. If someone takes a chance, goes out on their own and probably creates jobs, to have them paying over more tax is ridiculous. We should be encouraging these people, not driving them out of Ireland.

I am especially disappointed with the level of investment in early childhood care and child care provision. This could have been a game-changer in facilitating people back into the labour market with incentives like tax credits to parents against child care costs. The back-to-work family dividend is not much use without proper child care options. The average working parent will pay 20% of their take home salary on full-time child care. Some parents even pay more for child care than they do on their mortgages. An additional €5 extra a month in the children's allowance will mean nothing to them.

Add to this the fact that by next July, 60,000 families will be hit by changes to the one-parent family payment which has effectively encouraged many to leave the workforce due to the high cost of child care. The Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection promised back in April 2012 that the new rules would not be implemented unless there was a "system of safe affordable and accessible child care in place". I had hoped some provision towards this would have been made in budget 2015 but am disappointed this has not transpired.

I am also disappointed the Government failed to address the inequity brought about last year by the single parent restriction. This effectively boiled down to a penalty against single fathers, most of whom would already be paying maintenance. The process as it currently exists is a very unfair one and needs to be rethought by the Government.

The Government abandoned people with disabilities a long time ago, so perhaps it was naive of many of us to expect a turnaround in policy on this front. Nonetheless, after cuts to the mobility allowance, housing adaptation grant and the medical card review, not to mention barriers put in place to activation measures, I had hoped some meaningful measure would have been introduced to tackle poverty and deprivation among the disabled. None has been.

Judging from the number of e-mails I have received on the water charge tax credit, the Government is completely out of touch on this. I have much time for the Minister of State opposite, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, but I cannot see why he does not understand this. The Government needs to see the effect of these charges on a family on social welfare, low or middle income. Come next year, two bills will land on them, namely the household charge and a water bill, coming to an average of €600. The Government can dress this up anyway it likes, claiming it is only €2 a week. Where are people on social welfare, low or middle income expected to get this? I am not coming at this from an ideological perspective but from a practical point of view. On Leaders' Questions this morning, Deputy Adams, who is ideologically opposed to it and rightly so, put it aside to make the simple point of how are people going to pay these charges. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul said it will need €100 million this year. Up to 750,000 people have gone into poverty with many on the minimum wage and low incomes. The Minister of State must look into his heart and ask himself how the Government can ask someone to pay when they have nothing. These ordinary decent people will have their water supply cut off or reduced to a trickle and be brought before the courts. These are people who will not want to be put in such circumstances but will have been because they really cannot pay their water charges. If the Labour Party were in opposition, irrespective of how it thought the economy was going, there is no way it would have ever tolerated the imposition of such an unfair and unjust tax as this. Neither would it have allowed the company, Irish Water, introduce this tax, in conjunction with the Government, to treat people the way it has. The Government must ask Social Justice Ireland, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other groups which deal with poverty and one-parent families what they think. The answer they will give is that it is not a case that people will not pay. It is a case they will not be able to pay.

Deputy Joe Higgins

This morning the Tánaiste and Minister for Social protection, leader of the Labour Party, had the audacity to suggest the €5 a month increase in child benefit is in recognition of the sacrifices made by families over the past six years. She insults the women and children of this country by putting a value of a paltry €5 per month per child on the six years of savage austerity that they have suffered as a result of the policies of, first, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, and, now, Fine Gael and Labour.

Let us sum up the past six years. The bankers and bondholders who speculated wildly and crashed the economy got a reward of €60 billion. Many of the developers in the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, who played a major part in the crash get €200,000 plus a year. The women and children, however, get €5 a month. It really does sum up the Government’s priorities and how out of touch it is.

Budget 2015 is a deeply cynical measure, designed to boost the Government’s propaganda offensive of the past six months that austerity is finished, that we are in an era of recovery, that the Government has been vindicated in its actions over the past three and half years of continuing the slavish implementation of the troika diktat. That diktat can be summed up as the ordinary people of Ireland rescuing the European financial market system by bailing out its largest banks and bondholders from their disastrous speculation in the Irish property bubble.

Austerity is not finished, it is embedded in every pore of the public services, in the savage attacks on living standards of low and middle-income workers, in the attacks on social welfare recipients and, shamefully, in many cuts, such as those to the respite care grant. Without blushing, the Government says that in 2015 it will set up by a low pay commission four years into its term of office. It is quite incredible.

To bolster the idea that the Government has brought austerity to an end, we are treated to a few partial reversal measures. They are totally minuscule in their scale and more insulting than anything. One quarter of the Christmas bonus will not even buy the turkey. The budget is deeply cynical and deeply dishonest, especially because the second biggest austerity attack on households in the course of the whole austerity era, in the form of water charges, has totally disappeared in the Government's propaganda. Two major tomes were distributed yesterday by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Each of them colludes to cover up the reality of what families will face over the next period because of the water charges. Example No. 6 shows the reality of a single worker on the minimum wage, which is a paltry amount to live on. The change to the universal social charge will mean an annual gain of €173. Irish Water says its bill for this single worker will be €176 per year. There is not a word about it in the propaganda tome. I have modified another example to give the reality for families. Where there are two parents, one on €35,000 and one on €20,000 per year, with two children over 18 years of age who may be college students, the net gain according to the Government is €354 but Irish Water says its bill will be €483. That completely wipes it out even with a paltry attempt at a concession. The attack would be much deeper because Irish Water has seriously underestimated the amount of water households will use. I demonstrated that in the facts and figures by comparison with the studies done by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and others. That is why I interjected yesterday when the Minister for Finance was speaking about the minor tax credit for water charges. I said that it would not save the Government. It was directed at the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party but particularly at the Labour Party. The panic measures to try to pretend it is seriously alleviating the burden of water charges will not save the party from the wrath out there in society. The 100,000 people who poured onto the streets of Dublin last Saturday should make the Government afraid. The result of Friday's by-elections in Roscommon-South Leitrim and Dublin South-West should make the Government parties very afraid. The sending of Deputy Paul Murphy, the Anti-Austerity Alliance candidate, to represent the massive opposition to water charges in Dublin South-West is merely representative of the feeling of communities around the country. In January 2015, the Government will face a massive boycott of water charges the length and breadth of this country.

In the 1990s, the Fine Gael and Labour Government faced a boycott and a campaign in half of Dublin. Even then, people power, mobilisation and political pressure forced the abolition of this hated tax announced in December 1996. In 2014 and 2015, the Government faces a revolt at a higher scale nationwide. What will it do when it is faced with hundreds of thousands of householders who correctly see the injustice and refuse to pay? Will Irish Water arrive in estates to turn down the pressure? What happens when communities rightly come out to stop it doing so? Will the Government flood the communities with the Garda Síochána? If Irish Water succeeds, active campaigns will turn on people overnight. The Government will not intimidate people with this method. Will it bring thousands of people to the courts for simple contract debts? Will the Government set up special water courts because it cannot deal with the level of opposition? It will face a general election within 12 months of that date. The smirk will be wiped from the face of the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, because the Labour Party will be wiped out at the general election if it persists with this unjust and disgraceful new attack on those who have carried the burden over the past six years.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Deputy Joe Higgins said the same about the bin tax. Is he paying his bin tax now?

Deputy Joe Higgins

The Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, will disappear. He should listen to what I am saying.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Is Deputy Higgins paying his bin tax? Yes, he is.

Deputy Joe Higgins

Moving along quickly, some 10,000 houses will be built in four years as against 90,000 on the housing waiting list. The figures from the 1970s should put the Labour Party, especially, to shame. In 1971, 4,789 homes could be built. That increased to 6,000 in 1973 and 8,794 in 1975. At the time of less wealth in Irish society, the Government could build as many houses as the current Government proposes to build in four years, with the scale of the crisis massively greater. That shows the utter failure of this Government to resolve any of the crucial issues in our society. Happily, people are rising up against horrific austerity. We have only seen the very beginning of it.

Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly

I categorise the budget as politically cute and economically foolish. In spite of many proclamations over the past few years that we would not see a return to boom and bust election budgets, this budget is exactly that. What does it do? It gives many people a little bit of money back via income tax and the USC. Most people have suffered through the economic recession and a little bit of breathing space is welcome. However, all of the tax is offset by water charges. The net result for households this year is that the total amount of tax collected will remain the same but the net amount from higher income households will drop and the net amount from lower-income households will increase. That means the tax changes in this budget, together with the water charges, do not change the total tax but move the burden from higher income households to lower income households. This should not have been done.

The budget also avoid cutting spending where it should have been cut. An additional €500 million in new measures includes social housing, which am glad to see. There is an additional €900 million for something called demographic pressures. The detail of it is difficult to find because it is scattered throughout 200 pages of the report of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin. Some €800 million in savings were meant to happen but have not happened. The result is that spending was supposed to reduce by €1.4 billion to address the deficit and the national debt. Instead of spending being reduced by €1.4 billion, spending is being increased by €1.4 billion in spite of real opportunities to save money. Let us take health care, about which we are all concerned.

What do we know? There has been an overspend this year in health of approximately €500 million, and there are two ways to tackle this. We can give the health care system an additional €500 million or we can find €500 million that should not be spent and take it out of the health system. The answer in this budget has been to provide the money, and that comes in spite of very real opportunities to save money.

In my budget submission I demonstrated how over €1 billion per year can be saved by moving from the amount we spend in Ireland per capita on pharmaceuticals to the amount spent in the UK. We should mandate the use of generics wherever possible and work with the National Health Service, NHS, to leverage its better buying power to save €1 billion per year. Deputy Adams stated earlier that the health system is under-funded, but I respectfully disagree. When we adjust for our young population, in Ireland we have the second-highest health care spend per capita on Earth. Only the Americans spend more money in the sector. Our health system is not under-funded but it is badly run. Unfortunately, the answer for next year is not to make it run better but to give it more money. They are throwing more money into a bad system rather than fixing that system.

This budget has the feeling of Fianna Fáil budgets during the boom, but there is one very important difference, as Fianna Fáil had giveaway budgets with budget surpluses, whereas this is a giveaway budget with borrowed money. What is the result? Instead of closing the deficit, this budget includes measures to increase the deficit to the tune of €1 billion. Had the Government done nothing, the budget deficit would have fallen. At a time when we are still borrowing €5 billion, this budget is increasing the deficit. The troika has not been gone a wet week.

Who are the winners? The single biggest winners are the landowners, which is not surprising, as Fine Gael is appealing to one of its bases. There are 11 separate taxation policies for landowners in the budget. The other winners are high earners, who do marginally better than others, as the money they will get back in reduced taxes will more than offset the water charges. As parents and, arguably, as taxpayers, they will not be better off.

This brings us to the losers. If landowners and high earners win, who will lose? Lower-income households will clearly lose, and although they get a little back in lower income tax, more than that will be taken away in water charges. The self-employed have taken a hit again and I cannot understand why this Government has introduced an 11% universal social charge just for the self-employed. I do not understand what the Government has against the self-employed and why that group should pay the charge at 11% while a person in a PAYE job - which does not have the same risk as self-employment - pays the charge at a rate of 8%. The negative equity generation has been completely ignored, although there were opportunities to help it with local property taxes and mortgage difficulties. All of these have been ignored.

There have been no changes to the cost of child care, despite the fact that this country has the second-highest child care costs on Earth. This means there are many parents at home who want to and are ready to work but could not afford to do so if they could get jobs in the morning. In my budget submission I considered what a parent in Dublin or Wicklow with two kids would have to earn to make it reasonable to work. Based on current taxation, such a parent would have to earn €50,000 just to break even. That salary would pay the bill for taxes and child care as well as the cost of going to work. A salary of €70,000 would leave the parent worse off than somebody on basic social welfare. Nothing has been done for these people.

Lone parents have seen a marginal increase, but nothing has been done to reverse the really horrific cuts they have seen. Over the past five years, the proportion of lone parents suffering from deprivation has increased from one in four to one in two. One in two lone parents in Ireland and their children now experience deprivation. Students at primary, secondary and third level have also lost out. The pupil-teacher ratio is being maintained but it is not being improved. Schools are to see further cuts to their capitation grants, and the ongoing per-student cuts to higher level education continue in this budget. Pensioners and anybody with a private pension will also lose out. The 0.15% levy to the pension fund has been maintained despite previous promises from the Minister that he would get rid of it.

The question is, therefore, what should have happened with this budget. The Irish people have put up with much in cutting the deficit and this effort should not have been abandoned just because there might be an election next year. Efficiency savings such as that exemplified in the smart purchase of pharmaceuticals should have been identified and pushed through but they were not. There should have been investment in education, as the handling of such investment is both the single biggest threat and opportunity to the future prosperity of the country. The total amount going to education is falling in this budget, which is extraordinary.

The cost of child care should have been addressed. The Tánaiste promised such issues would be sorted out and we would have a Scandinavian-style child care model. As a parent of three kids, I assure anybody listening that we certainly do not have a Scandinavian-style child care model. The negative equity generation should have been supported through a fairer local property tax which could take account of negative equity or stamp duty paid. A much more hands-on approach to tackling the mortgage crisis could have been taken, and there is cross-party agreement in this respect. The Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform published a very good report which identifies a raft of problems, including a lack of fairness and transparency, within mortgage crisis issues, and much of that could have been addressed in this budget. Entrepreneurs and the self-employed should have received the same taxation burden and supports as PAYE workers. Self-employed people and entrepreneurs should not have been hit in this budget with a higher taxation rate specifically for them.

The budget should have been tested for equality. For three years I have asked that when Ministers come to the Chamber with their documents on budget day, we be provided with a distributional analysis. They have again refused to do this, as they have done every year. I asked the then Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, to do it and he responded by calling me an opportunist. I asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to do it because he is a member of the Labour Party and he argued it would not be reasonable to test crisis-level budgets for equality. One could argue that the optimal time to test for equality is during a crisis, as that is when many nasty and painful decisions are made. Yet again, we do not know who this hits hardest. My sense is that it will yet again be another regressive budget, with women hit harder than men. We do not know. We will all be asked to vote on measures but we do not know their distributional effects.

This budget should have maintained financial discipline and targeted support where it is most needed rather than where it is felt there are votes. It should have boosted entrepreneurship rather than penalised it and it should have invested in education. Rather than looking to the next election, this budget should have looked to the next decade and the next generation. Unfortunately, it failed to do so.

Sitting suspended at 1.30 p.m. and resumed at 2.30 p.m.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Simon Coveney)

I propose to deal with the two Departments for which I have responsibility. I will deal first with the Department of Defence before moving to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The defence organisation which encompasses the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces has a proud track record of reform. This has been a critical factor in the maintenance of a broad range of capabilities within reduced resources in recent years and ensured the Defence Forces can continue to deliver the required operational outputs, both at home and abroad. The overall gross defence sector allocation provision for 2015 is €897 million, comprising €676 million for the defence Vote and €221 million for the Army pensions Vote. This is a significant allocation of funding and will provide the resources necessary to deliver on the key objectives for 2015.

At the strategic level, all outputs of the defence organisation are encompassed in a single programme within the defence Vote. The key outputs from the programme are grouped under three strategic headings: defence policy; ensuring the capacity to deliver; and Defence Forces' operations.

To allow the Defence Forces to effectively deliver on their outputs and undertake the tasks laid down by Government at home and overseas, an adequately resourced Permanent Defence Force, PDF, is obviously required. In this regard, the 2015 defence pay allocation of some €495 million will provide for a PDF strength of up to 9,500. In addition, it will provide for the pay and allowances of some 625 civilian employees, 350 civil servants, 18 chaplains and 14 army nurses. Targeted recruitment is continuing to ensure ongoing the operational capacity of the Defence Forces to meet their prescribed roles. To that end I am pleased to announce that 220 Defence Forces recruits are currently in training and plans are under way to enlist some 180 additional recruits by the end of this year. In addition, 37 cadets have commenced training in the cadet school, while 15 apprentice aircraft technicians have also commenced training in the Air Corps.

In parallel to the reorganisation of the PDF in recent years, we have seen significant organisational reform of the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, arising from a recent value-for-money study. The RDF reorganisation was implemented last year. The RDF has undergone major change. One of the key outcomes is the new single force concept, which means we will have Army units with permanent and reserve components rather than having a separate stand-alone reserve. I take this opportunity to convey my appreciation to the many committed members of the RDF who give so willingly of their time and energy in the service of the State.

Our overseas commitments remain a key priority within the defence sector. On 1 October, Ireland was contributing 420 personnel to 14 missions throughout the world. Currently, the main deployments are 195 personnel to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, better known as UNIFIL, and 135 personnel to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, in Syria. People will have come to know this acronym in recent weeks. Prior to deployment, troops selected for overseas missions are subject to a rigorous programme of mission-specific training to ensure their capacity to undertake the tasks expected of them. Irish troops overseas have access to the most modern and effective weapons and equipment. This training and equipment proved invaluable to personnel serving with UNDOF following an escalation of the conflict on the Golan Heights. I take this opportunity to commend the professionalism and courage of the 44th Infantry Group on its role as UNDOF's quick reaction force and on discharging its duties very effectively along with all the peacekeepers participating in UNDOF in recent weeks. Members of the 44th Infantry Group have now returned home and I was particularly pleased to meet them in Baldonnel on their return. I wish every member of the 46th Infantry Group, which has now deployed to UNDOF, a safe and successful mission.

At home, the Defence Forces provide invaluable assistance to the civil authorities and powers in dealing with a variety of events, planned and unplanned. These events cover a broad sweep, including severe weather emergencies, gorse fires, maritime patrols, air ambulance missions, cash-in-transit escorts and missing person searches.

A considerable element of the Defence Forces Vote provides for essential standing and operational costs of the Defence Forces and the necessary procurement of replacement equipment across Army, naval and Air Corps structures. Standing and operational costs incorporate expenditure on utilities, fuel, catering, maintenance, information technology requirements and so on.

The 2015 allocation for equipment purchases provides a significant contribution towards the naval vessel replacement programme and the purchase of a third offshore patrol vessel for the Naval Service. By taking up the option of purchasing a third ship under the existing contract, the Department ensured that the new ship would be bought at 2012 prices and that the cost would not be index-linked. The first vessel, LE Samuel Beckett, was delivered in 2014, and LE James Joyce is expected in February next year. These acquisitions, which will replace older ships, have been funded from within the reduced defence allocation of previous years and the maintained allocation for this year, a further illustration of the prudent financial approach adopted by the defence sector in recent times.

The Government is supportive of the decade of centenaries commemoration projects and has made funds available over the period 2014 to 2016 to improve access to the facilities at the military archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks. Furthermore, in 2014, the first two tranches of material from the military service pensions collection were made available online, and I am pleased to note that further material from this historic collection will be released over the coming years.

I acknowledge the significant contribution that Civil Defence volunteers make in supporting the efforts of the front-line services in responding to major emergencies and the tremendous value for money that their voluntary efforts provide to the State. As well as grant aid and policy advice and support, the Department of Defence provides other supports to local Civil Defence units, such as central training for local instructors in a train-the-trainer system through the Civil Defence College, located in Roscrea. The Department also assists with supplying vehicles, boats, uniforms and personal protective equipment for volunteers and a wide range of other equipment to local authorities for Civil Defence use.

A grant is provided for the Irish Red Cross through my Department. Ongoing funding is made available to the Army Equitation School, with approximately €860,000 to be allocated next year. It is important to note the history and continuing contribution of the Army Equitation School to the horse sports sector in Ireland, which in my view is considerable.

The army pensions Vote, which funds the payment of some 12,900 military pensions of all categories, will have a gross allocation of some €221 million for 2015. This expenditure is primarily non-discretionary and is demand-driven.

Before I conclude on defence matters, I wish to point to the future. We are in the process of putting together a White Paper on defence. I expect to have a draft ready before the end of the year with a view to having a consultation process on the draft early in the new year. This should allow us to finalise the White Paper, a document that will essentially set defence policy for the next ten years. From a defence point of view, this year's budgetary process was about stopping the cuts and maintaining expenditure into next year. On the back of a White Paper on defence, my ambition is to see an increasing defence budget in future to ensure we can fulfil all the roles the Defence Forces will be obliged to fulfil in the context of the new policy vision.

Yesterday, we saw a significant budget from an agricultural point of view. The Exchequer contribution to the Vote of my Department will amount to €1.251 billion in 2015, comprising €1.036 billion of current expenditure and €215 million in capital expenditure. This represents an overall increase of €32 million over last year's figure. This is the first time my Department has increased expenditure since 2009.

In successive budgets, this Government has prioritised agriculture and food as a major economic driver for the Irish economy. The sector has responded by performing strongly through the economic downturn. Food and drink exports reached an all-time high last year at somewhere over €10 billion, a 40% increase in value terms on 2009. However, there are challenges ahead, as well as others to be addressed as we speak, and the measures announced as part of budget 2015 form part of the policy response to those challenges.

A comprehensive agri-taxation policy initiative was taken yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. In the past 12 months my Department and the Department of Finance held a consultation process which resulted in yesterday's announcement. In all, 12 new measures are introduced in budget 2015, as part of an overall package of 25 measures designed to encourage the more productive use of agricultural land and increase the amount of leased land available. The key taxation measures in the budget are aimed at increasing land mobility through increasing the income thresholds for relief on leasing income by 50% and the introduction of a fourth threshold for lease periods of 15 years or more. If a farmer or land owner who has a significant farm in size and scale agrees to lease the farm for 15 years, he or she can now secure up to €40,000 in income, tax free, from leasing that land. Obviously, there is a series of tiers beneath that figure. However, these are significant changes and they will change land markets into the future in terms of moving the focus away from conacre to long-term leasing, which is exactly what we want. In addition, the lower age threshold of 40 years of age for eligibility has been removed from that measure. It was totally inappropriate.

Assisting succession and the transfer of farms has been a central part of the Government's agri-taxation policy and budget 2015 includes a number of measures to maintain and strengthen that support. They include the retention of agricultural relief from capital acquisitions tax, retirement relief from capital gains tax, the current stamp duty exemptions on transfers of land and other new measures, including a targeting of agricultural relief from capital acquisitions tax at qualified or full-time farmers or those who lease land on a long-term basis. There is an extension of the eligible letting period under the retirement relief for a qualifying asset to 25 years.

The income averaging measure has also been enhanced by increasing the period from three to five years. This is a response to the price volatility we have experienced this year in beef markets and which we might experience next year in dairy and milk markets. Farmers must be able to have consistency across a number of years with regard to income averaging, which is the reason we extended the period from three to five years.

The budget marks the commencement of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, RDP, which will be a key support for rural areas. My Department is awaiting formal observations from the Commission on the draft RDP. Formal approval of the programme will be pursued as a matter of priority. I have secured a combined allocation of €439 million in the 2015 Estimates for capital and current expenditure on RDP schemes. As the amount this year is €405 million, it is an increase of nearly €35 million.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív

Is a copy of the Minister's speech available? It is usual to circulate a copy to Members.

Deputy Simon Coveney

I will arrange to have that done.

With regard to the agri-environment schemes, budget 2015 provides for the introduction of GLAS - the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme. As older schemes run their course, the associated financial requirement continues to reduce. A total of €52 million will be paid to nearly 17,000 farmers under the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, in 2015, while a further €70 million will be paid under the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS. In terms of GLAS, I am delighted to be able to provide for 30,000 new applicants over the course of 2015. These will be paid on a part-year basis for 2015, with contracts running thereafter for a full additional five years. I am continuing strong support for areas of natural constraint, ANCs, previously the disadvantaged areas scheme, by allocating €195 million in 2015.

There is a really strong package for beef worth €73.8 million. Beef farmers have had a difficult year, following a decline in prices from the high levels in 2013. Providing the type of support that can contribute to restoring confidence in the sector has been a priority for me. In this context, I am pleased to announce a package of supports for the beef sector worth in excess €73 million next year, of which the main element is the beef genomic scheme, for which €52 million has been allocated. We recognise the fact that it is more expensive for smaller farmers per head than for large beef farmers. We are proposing, subject to Commission approval, that the farmer receive €100 per head per calved cow for the first ten animals and €80 per head thereafter. This is a significant concession when one considers that three years ago, under the suckler cow welfare scheme, farmers were getting €40 per suckler cow. It will now be €100 per head for nearly 300,000 animals, almost half the number of animals that will be in the scheme.

Other supports in the beef sector include: €1.6 million for the Irish Cattle Breeders Federation, ICBF; €9 million for the beef data programme; €5 million in payments under the beef technology adoption programme; €6 million for the beef quality assurance scheme and €3.8 million for the marketing and processing fund.

In the sheep sector I am providing funding for a third year of the sheep technology adoption programme, or discussion groups as they known. A sum of €4 million is provided for the programme in 2015, including €l million in respect of payments under the 2014 scheme. We will also be doing something under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, for sheep from early next year. We are effectively decoupling the €15 million sheep grassland scheme this year to incorporate it into the sheep farmer's single farm payment to ensure they do not lose it.

In the dairy sector I will launch a new dairy equipment scheme to support the sector in its expansion plans in the light of the removal of milk quotas next year. This is part of the €34 million TAMS II allocation in the budget. Next year will be a momentous one in Irish agriculture as Irish farmers will be free of the shackles of dairy quotas. They will have the opportunity to expand and benefit from economies of scale, if they deem it appropriate for their business plans.

From TAMS II funding there will be a special allocation for the pigs and poultry sectors, reflecting the need for investment in them. As we move closer to January and February, when we will introduce the new TAMS, we will hold a consultation process with farming organisations on the exact allocation from the figure of €34 million.

Separately, we are allocating €12 million for a farm safety scheme. There have been many tragedies on farms this year and I hope similar tragedies can be avoided by farmers investing in their farms to de-risk their farmyards. We will provide 40% grant aid for items such as covers on slurry pits, the replacement of cracked or broken slats in sheds, to improve grip on the ground and carry out a series of practical actions such as providing hand rails and so forth on farmyards which could reduce the likelihood of injury or fatality.

Yesterday was a big day for the horse and greyhound sector. For a number of years I have promised that when new revenue comes to the Government from an online betting tax which will be introduced shortly, the horse racing and greyhound industries will secure a direct benefit from it. Next year there will be an increase of €14 million in one year in the horse and greyhound fund. That is an extraordinary commitment to the sector, but it is value for money. We will raise approximately €25 million extra for the Exchequer from the online and remote betting tax and we will put some of that revenue back into the sector that is generating the revenue. The sector needs it, given the cuts it has experienced in the past six or seven years.

An Ceann Comhairle

I call Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív who is sharing time with Deputies Michael Colreavy and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

Deputy Simon Coveney

The Department will do everything possible to spend that amount.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív

It is not a significant amount in the greater scheme. As I stated, it would be useful if the Opposition were made privy to the breakdown in the Department's voted expenditure.

I suggested last year and I suggest again this year that it should be made obligatory to show on payment slips to non-registered farmers what the processor or mart is paying and, separately, what the State is paying in terms of a VAT rebate. This would allow farmers to identify from milk cheques and so forth where the 0.2% increase takes effect and the point at which they obtain the benefit. In certain cases last year, it was just followed up. We could make this minor adjustment in the finance Act. Perhaps the Minister will suggest it to the Minister for Finance.

The rest of the Minister's large tax package will cost €5.9 million in one year, which amounts to less than €50 per farmer. It is clearly targeted at a narrow tax base and will not affect the vast majority of farmers in any given year. The Minister was asked to take certain measures.

Deputy Simon Coveney

The annual tax package announced yesterday has an overall value of €340 million.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív

Is that for one year?

Deputy Simon Coveney

Yes.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív

That figure does not appear in the summary, which provides a figure of only €5.9 million. I have not had a chance to examine the other document provided but I will do so.

On the consanguinity rule that applies to leasing and so forth, it will be interesting to see if the deposit scheme and measures on leasing are included in the larger tax package. They were certainly not spelled out yesterday. If the Minister is ready to make an announcement, why was it not incorporated in the budget?

On water, I have always held the view - I expressed it many times in Cabinet - that fiddly little tax reliefs are a bad way of doing business. Great play is being made of the tax relief provided for water charges. Most people in rural areas will not be given relief on the cost of cleaning a septic tank. According to the Government's figures, the average water bill for rural dwellers will be half the average bill for town dwellers and those linked to main sewage schemes. If we allow that the average in rural areas will be €200 per annum, people will be able to claim tax relief of €40. As the Minister is probably aware, the vast majority of PAYE workers - most people in rural areas are PAYE workers rather than farmers - do not make an annual tax return because they are put off by the complexity of tax forms. If someone obtained professional advice on filling out a tax form, the €40 in tax relief would be long spent before it was issued.

I argued in government that the tax code should be simplified by removing the many minor reliefs and providing decent tax-free allowances. This would mean we would no longer cheat those who are put off by the prospect of filling out tax forms. The authorities know what income a PAYE worker or social welfare recipient receives because this information is provided automatically to the Revenue Commissioners. I do not like the tax relief introduced for water charges. At least social welfare recipients will receive a direct payment of €100 if they receive free fuel or the household benefits package and there will be no bureaucracy involved. I am not attempting to score political points but making a serious argument. I have always had this fetish because I know what ordinary people do.

I have only a few seconds of speaking time remaining. Perhaps the Ceann Comhairle will allow me to speak a little longer, given that the Minister interrupted me. The Minister knows that because of the complexity of the scheme half the farmers did not avail of the beef scheme this year. While a lot more gain was to be obtained - €40 per animal - half of them did not apply. This was cleverly done because they know that many people will not keep the receipts and make an individual tax return to get €40 or €50 back.

Deputy Martin Ferris

I thought when I came into the Chamber that I was going to speak on defence, as the Minister was talking about that topic. However, it is not my portfolio and I will leave that to Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

Overall, the budget was very disappointing for the public. The one sector that has come out of it with an element of credibility is the Minister's portfolio of agriculture. There is no point in saying otherwise. Sections of the farming community have come out of it well, which is to be acknowledged and commended.

I also wish to commend the farm safety aspect of the budget. Over the years, every county has experienced tragedies on farmland, in particular due to the type and size of modern machinery involved. Slurry pits also pose a hazard. Only last year, a father and two sons lost their lives on a farm in County Antrim. I welcome the fact that funding is being made available for farm safety measures but it takes more than funding. Sufficient safety awareness must also be created within the farming sector. Everyone involved must play a role, including the farming organisations in order to create safe practices and awareness of the dangers involved.

The Minister said there was a grant procedure for farm safety but how is it supposed to work?

Deputy Simon Coveney

It will be 40% grant-aided. I will send the Deputy the details. It will be a 40% grant aid for capital investment on farms. There will be a list of things that farmers can apply for. There will be €12 million for that.

Deputy Martin Ferris

Will that be circulated?

Deputy Simon Coveney

Correct. In the next few weeks.

Deputy Martin Ferris

It is very welcome that that type of awareness will be created and that there will be an opportunity for people to avail of it.

The Minister also mentioned an increase of €14 million in the horse and greyhound sector as a result of online betting. That must be welcomed also.

I come from an area where, like many small areas around the country, the greyhound sector is usually the small kid on the block. I would like to see funding being made available to promote that industry. So many people are involved in greyhound racing in many parts of the country, although there is no big money in it. There is a big social side to it, however, as well as having an income.

The agri-taxation aspect of the budget is another welcome package which can help to deliver the necessary supports for farming.

The Minister is saving €439 million on the rural development programme. However, some people in the farming community are coming off the REP scheme and have received no payment for this year or most of next year. Is any provision being made to bring payments forward so people can at least have some form of income?

The Minister for Social Protection has again blatantly ignored the fact that nothing has been done about the farm assist scheme. It was an escape valve for many people and kept them viable on the land. I know it is not the Minister's portfolio but that scheme should have been made available. The farm assist scheme contributed to people's survival on the land and enabled them to live in their own communities. Many such people are no longer actively involved in any type of farming as a consequence. Has any consideration been given to that? Has the Minister lobbied the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, to try to get that valuable scheme back? If one travels along the west coast, and the south-west coast in particular, one can see that farm incomes are at an all-time low. That is particularly the case for small beef farmers and those involved in sucklers. They are very dependant on some kind of support mechanism in order to survive and maintain their livelihoods.

There is more opportunity for future expansion in the dairy sector. We all accept that with the abolition of the quota, many people will revert to that sector. The Minister's own figures show a 30% increase in milk production, which will be quite substantial. There is a cost factor for those involved in improving their own farm holdings as well as for new entrants.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy's time is up.

Deputy Martin Ferris

Overall, I welcome most of the Minister's budgetary measures. However, I would like to see the Minister pushing for the re-introduction of the farm assist scheme in order to ensure the survival of small operators.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Most of my comments will be directed to the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection. I have a quick comment for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Hopefully he will be able to ensure that the Harold's Cross greyhound track will not be closed by Bord na gCon and sold off, as some people have suggested.

I also have a comment for the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh. Ba mhaith liom impí ar an Aire Stáit níos mó airgid a lorg d'Údarás na Gaeltachta chun déanamh cinnte go mbeidh siad in ann tabhairt faoi gnóthaí a tharraingt isteach i gceantair Gaeltachta. Tugadh ardú suntasach do Enterprise Ireland agus a leithéid, ach níor thugadh an méid céanna d'Údarás na Gaeltachta. B'fhéidir go mbeidh an tAire Stáit in ann impí ar an Aire sula dhéanann sé an buiséad a shíniú go hiomlán ins an Acht Airgeadais go ndéanfaidh sé cur leis an méid airgid atá ar fáil d'Údarás na Gaeltachta.

Deputy Joe McHugh

Tá an próiséas Meastúcháin ann, b'fhéidir go bhfuil deiseanna anseo-----

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Tá súil agam go bhfaighidh an tAire an pacáiste ceart don cheantar, mar níl sé ann le blianta anuas.

I want to focus on the social welfare aspect of the budget. However, since the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection spoke before the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the debate is a bit disjointed. As others have done, I want to highlight some of the failures and the unfairness of the budget to date. This Government has disdain for the unemployed and others on social welfare. One can see that from the fact that in the last three budgets the Tánaiste has cut jobseeker's benefit by three months, illness benefit by three days, the jobseeker's allowance for young people by €44, and the invalidity pension for 65 year olds. It has been easy for her to agree to give back €690 per year to a single person earning €120,000 but only €25 to the young, impoverished jobseeker.

I do not believe that the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection and Labour Party leader wants people on social welfare to have any comfort in their lives. She does not believe they deserve to have a proper Christmas because they will only get 25% of the Christmas bonus, which is a pittance for young jobseekers. All they will receive is €25. Despite the spin, almost 200,000 unemployed will not get that bonus or any support for their water bills.

In her press statement yesterday, the Tánaiste stated categorically that there would be no reductions to any social welfare scheme in 2015, but this is patently untrue. Next year, the one-parent family payment will be restricted to children under the age of seven. The income disregard, which the Government has already cut from €146.50 to €90, will be cut to €75. The effect will be that low-paid working lone parents, who have already lost €28 each week from these cuts, are set to lose a further €7.50 weekly.

Where is the fairness for lone parents and children? We have circulated and published our alternative budget. Where is the fairness for carers? Sinn Féin would have done things differently. In one of the Government's mean cuts in budget 2013 the respite grant was cut by €325 which affected 70,000 family carers, yet nothing was done to help them in this budget.

People have been forced to give up work to care for loved ones with disabilities. Their mortgages did not shrink when their families were hit by disability. Their utility bills did not shrink, in fact the opposite happened. Their weekly grocery bills did not shrink, but their entire worlds did. The restoration of the €325 grant for carers was at the top of our alternative budget. The measure should have been in this budget. It would have cost €29.6 million and would have been money well spent. Every last penny would have been spent in the local economy rather than being squirrelled away in bank accounts.

Where is the fairness in this budget for children? Sinn Féin would have done things differently. This Government cut child benefit by between €10 and €47 per child. When we discuss this issue, we also need to bear in mind that it cut maternity benefit by €32 per week and the annual back to school allowance for the poorest children by €100. What is the answer? It is a €5 a month increase in child benefit. That is some end to austerity. Sinn Féin's alternative budget recognised that growing numbers of children now live in a household headed by a person in employment and the actual cost of returning to school each September far exceeds the current payment level. We propose a 10% increase to the family income supplement which would have delivered an increase of €18.50 each week to poor working families, a €50 increase to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, and much more. It is a pity the Minister did not listen because the budget would have been fairer and one which we may have been able to support.

Minister for Health (Deputy Leo Varadkar)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to address the House on the budget and 2015 health Estimates. For the past seven years we have come into the Dáil on this day to debate the latest round of tax increases, pay cuts and cuts to public services. Today is very different. We have, for the first time since 2008, a budget that contains income tax reductions and more money for public services and investment in infrastructure. As a result of this budget, there will be more jobs, teachers, housing, investment and money for public services and welfare.

In January, people will see more take home pay in their pay slips and families will benefit from an increase in child benefit, but this is not a giveaway budget. Rather, it is a prudent one designed to secure the recovery. We have learned from the mistakes of other Governments and will not repeat them. The deficit target we are aiming for is 2.7% of GDP which is below the EU limit of 3%, and the measures in this budget will allow our national debt to be reduced next year, as a proportion of GDP. We do not find ourselves in this position by accident. We are here because of the sacrifices made by the Irish people and the tough decisions made by the Government, opposed by many on the Opposition benches, but which have now proven to be correct.

My first priority on coming into office as Minister for Health was to achieve a realistic budget for the health sector in 2015. I am pleased to announce that the Government is asking the Oireachtas to allocate additional Exchequer funding of €305 million for the health service in 2015. The gross budget for the health service for 2015 is €13.079 billion. This is equivalent to an increase of €305 million compared to the 2014 allocation of €12.774 million. When people examine the figures it is important that they bear in mind that €530 million was transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs last year. That has to be factored into any calculations which some people missed. There is a transfer of €530 million from the HSE to Tusla.

In addition, once-off revenue measures amounting to some €330 million have been identified which will support expenditure in 2015. Savings of €130 million have been identified in procurement, the cost of medicines and the cost of agency staff. These measures combined will allow us to develop a HSE service plan with in excess of €750 million more to spend on services than we had this time last year. It is, of course, correct to point out that this does not take account of service overruns of about €500 million this year, which will recur next year. However, no matter how one calculates it, it is an increase in funding for health services which will be reflected in the service plan.

Crucially, it will allow also us to progress commitments under the programme for Government in 2015, but we are not awash with cash. We still face major cost pressures arising from a rising population, more older people, more people being diagnosed with cancer and chronic diseases and new expensive medicines and treatments. The additional funding secured will ease the pressure on the health service and will allow it to provide safe services. However, next year will remain extremely challenging from a budgetary point of view and it is important that we continue with an unrelenting focus on cost containment and cost avoidance.

Most important, as our spending ceiling is now rising again any and all savings and efficiencies identified and achieved will be available to reinvest in improving health services. There is no longer a requirement to make savings to reduce the general Government deficit or pay down the debt. Savings will be made, but the money will remain within the system and will be reinvested efficiently. That is a key message I want all health service staff and managers to hear and understand. I am grateful to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy Howlin, both former Ministers for Health, for their support and understanding of the challenges we face in trying to deliver the kind of health services we want for the 21st century.

The funding in 2015 will be used to provide effective, safe, high quality personal and health services. The level of health services to be delivered within the available funding will be set out in the HSE service plan which will be published in three weeks or so. I am pleased to confirm that there will be no changes to hospital or prescription charges next year. The monthly DPS threshold remains unchanged and there will be no adjustments to income thresholds for eligibility for medical or GP visit cards. The health service will continue to deliver on important programme for Government measures with the allocation of a further €35 million for mental health services and the funding necessary to commence the first phase of universal GP services for children under 6 years of age and adults over 70 years of age. I am confident that it will be possible to come to an agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation soon. Nobody wants to see the money provided for primary care being sucked back into hospital services if there is no agreement, and we cannot allow that to happen.

Some 240,000 children aged six years and under and 10,000 senior citizens who do not currently have a GP visit card will benefit. At the end of the process 49% of the population will have access to a GP without having to pay fees, which is the highest level ever and a major step on the way to universal health care.

The budget provides an additional €35 million which is ring-fenced for mental health, bringing to €125 million the total investment by the Government in mental health in line with A Vision for Change. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, will speak about this in more detail in her contribution.

I am also pleased to announce the extension of the BreastCheck screening programme to women aged 65 to 69 years of age. It is expected that screening will be extended to this cohort by the end of 2015, with women aged 65 years being the first to receive an invitation. The age extension will be implemented on an incremental basis in line with the capacity of the system to manage the additional screening and follow-up workload. The number of women included in the age extension will be over 100,000. Breast cancer survival rates in Ireland have improved significantly in recent years through a combined approach of screening, symptomatic detection and improved treatment. I particularly want to acknowledge the contribution of Deputies and Senators on both sides of the Houses who campaigned on this issue. Their work impressed on us the importance of this matter.

There has been a continuing upward trend in delayed discharges since the beginning of the year, with 768 delayed discharges reported nationally as of last week. These are people who are well enough to leave hospital, but do not have a nursing home or home care package in place for them to do so. They are often elderly people and are citizens, not bed blockers. They should not be left in hospital, where they are at a higher risk of a fall or developing an infection. There will always be delayed discharges, but at its current level it is silting up the system resulting in more people on trollies and more people having elective admissions and surgery cancelled.

The HSE will take an integrated approach across the hospital and social care divisions to deal with this issue. It will involve a range of measures to provide an effective response, including the fair deal, short-term beds, home care packages and specific intensive packages for complex discharges. Funding will be targeted where the hospital and community services demonstrate that they can implement initiatives to address the specific needs of their delayed discharge patient profile in a way which will impact most positively on patient flow and, as a consequence, on waiting lists in scheduled and unscheduled care. Additional funding of €25 million is being provided for this.

Some €382 million is being provided for capital expenditure in 2015, compared to €390 million in 2014. The €8 million reduction relates to the fact that surplus assets have not occurred. More importantly, the capital budget for health will increase by €70 million from 2016 onwards, an increase of 18%, which will allow planning for more new primary care centres and community nursing units and new capital investments in the cancer facilities programme. It will also allow investments in ICT, where existing systems and the level of integration are not appropriate for a modern health service. The existing capital envelope already provides for the new children's hospital, new maternity hospital and the new Central Mental Hospital.

Although we have achieved a more realistic budget for the health sector in 2015, it remains a priority to focus on improving the way services are organised and delivered and to reduce costs in order to minimise any negative effect on service provision. The HSE service plan will make provision for the further development of hospital groups, among other things.

The budget was never about securing more money alone. When health spending peaked seven or eight years ago, under Fianna Fáil and the Green Party supported by Independents, waiting times were longer; there were more patients on trolleys and fewer people had medical cards. The health service needs more resources, but it is incorrect to argue or believe there is a direct correlation between resources and the quality of services. There is not. Much of it is down to best practice and good management, of which we need more. It is about being able to deliver meaningful change within a realistic budget. For that reason, I plan a robust efficiency and accountability framework to ensure resources are managed effectively.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the alternative budgets put forward by the main Opposition parties. The Fianna Fáil alternative budget provides only an extra €94 million for the health service, approximately €200 million less than what has been provided by the Government. It proposed only €10 million more for mental health services, as against the €35 million allocated by the Government. I have the documents which I can show to anyone who disputed these figures earlier or who has not read his or her party's policy document. Fianna Fáil, therefore, has no credibility when it comes to calling for more spending or resources for the health service. Between 2008 and 2011, it cut €1.5 billion from health spending, yet the Government has held health spending level for three years. Next year, if Fianna Fáil was in office, it would spend €200 million less. All of this information is contained in its document.

The Sinn Féin alternative budget is even harsher and has austerity written all over it for the health service. Sinn Féin proposes no increase in the Exchequer allocation for the health service, no provision for GP care for those over 70 years or children aged five and no mention at all of mental health. I have the document if Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin wishes to read it. For persons will private health insurance, Sinn Féin proposes that another €90 million be loaded on to their premiums - an extra €90 million of costs transferred from the public sector to the private health insurance sector and those who hold health insurance. The economy and the health service are safe with us. Under Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin, they would be in jeopardy again.

I thank my colleagues in government who have been willing to support me, despite circumstances remaining difficult in their Departments. I pay a particular tribute to health care staff who have been through some very difficult years. It is due to their hard work and dedication that the health service has survived the most difficult period in its history. We still face many difficulties, but I hope matters will become a little more manageable next year. The Government is united in wanting to deliver a major change in health care. We are committed not just to spending and investing more but to using moneys more effectively in order that we have a health service that works for the benefit of all.

Yesterday the poet Robert Frost was quoted extensively in this Chamber. My favourite lines are from a poem he recited at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. In "The Gift Outright" he spoke of his country "such as she was, such as she will become". With this budget, we have the opportunity to build on the recovery of the past three years and offer hope for a prosperous and healthy Ireland, "such as she was, such as she will become".

Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Deputy Joe McHugh)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an buiséad a fógraíodh inné. Ní cur chuige imscaoilte atá i gceist sa bhuiséad seo. Tá an buiséad seo ag díriú orthu siúd is mó a buaileadh le ciorraithe agus méaduithe ar cháin roimhe seo, ar nós gardaí, altraí, seirbhísí túslíne agus teaghlaigh ar ioncam íseal nó ar mheánioncam. Bhí na daoine sin ag croílár an téarnaimh agus buaileadh go holc iad mar gheall air sin. Tá sé ríthábhachtach go mbainfidh siad tairbhe as an téarnamh anois agus go mbeidh an tairbhe sin le feiceáil acu ina bpócaí féin.

In total, my Department will have almost €42 million to spend on the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the islands in 2015. In addition to this amount, a further €13.44 million will be provided for An Foras Teanga, the North-South language body that operates under the auspices of the Department and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the North. These are indicative figures, subject to the Estimates being approved and the agreement of the North South Ministerial Council, NSMC, in the case of An Foras Teanga.

Overall, it is welcome that the amount being allocated to these subheads remains largely unchanged from last year. In fact, in some cases, such as the 20 year strategy and the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga, additional moneys are being provided. This is particularly welcome when we consider the tight budgetary framework within which all Departments are required to operate in order to fulfil the Government’s commitment to continued economic growth through fiscal prudence.

I welcome the increased allocation which will enable the Department to continue various measures aimed at supporting the language planning process on the ground. This includes support for community organisations to assist them in preparing and implementing language plans under the Gaeltacht Act 2012. A number of other innovative projects will also be supported, particularly in the language technology sector. It is important to note that while there has been a specific budget line for the strategy since last year, most of the expenditure under subheads C and D of the Department’s Vote is related to the implementation of the strategy in one way or another.

Chomh maith leis an allúntas sonrach don straitéis, cuirim fáilte roimh an leithdháileadh de €6.1 milliún do scéimeanna tacaíochta Gaeltachta mo Roinne agus €3.6 milliún do scéimeanna tacaíochta Gaeilge mo Roinne taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht. Ligfidh na hallúntais seo dom leanúint ar aghaidh ag cosaint na seirbhísí túslíne sna réimsí seo, ar nós na teaghlaigh a chuireann lóistín ar fáil do na scoláirí a bhíonn ag freastal ar choláistí Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht.

I am also delighted to announce that a sum of €5.9 million will be available again in 2015 for transport services to the islands. This will enable the Department to continue to fund the provision of essential transport services to the offshore islands.

Maidir leis an allúntas caipitil a bheidh le caitheamh ag mo Roinn in 2015, beidh €1.422 milliún le caitheamh ar áiseanna pobail agus teanga sa Ghaeltacht. Beidh allúntas de €644,000 le caitheamh ar chothabháil infreastruchtúir ar na hoileáin.

With regard to the agencies which come under the Department, they will have adequate provision in 2015 to enable them to continue to carry out their statutory functions. In regard to Údarás na Gaeltachta, a current allocation of €11.798 million will be available to it from the Exchequer in 2015, in addition to its own sources of funding. Out of the current allocation from the Exchequer, €8.798 million will be available for its administration budget and €3 million for its current budget, from which its language based activities and organisations in the Gaeltacht are funded.

Beidh allúntas caipitil de €5.687 milliún ar fáil ag Údarás na Gaeltachta ón Státchiste in 2015, mar aon le foinsí maoinithe an údaráis féin ó dhíol sócmhainní agus infheistíochtaí. Idir allúntas an Státchiste agus acmhainní an údaráis féin, tá mé cinnte go mbeidh an t-údarás ag leanúint air ag cruthú poist nua sa Ghaeltacht agus ag cosaint na bpost atá ann faoi láthair.

A budget of €13.444 million will be available in 2015 for An Foras Teanga, subject to agreement by the NSMC. This is a modest reduction of just 1% on the amount allocated in 2014.

Beidh allúntas de €650,000 curtha ar fáil d'Oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga. Is léiriú é an méadú de €83,000, nó 15%, ar allúntas na bliana 2014 ar thiomantas an Rialtais a chinntiú go leanfaidh an oifig sin ar aghaidh ag cur a feidhmeanna reachtúla i gcrích le linn 2015.

The Government's commitment to the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the islands is clearly evident in the allocation proposed for my Department in 2015. This provision means that the Department is in a position to continue to prioritise implementation of the 20 year strategy, as well as providing support for the Irish language, Ulster-Scots, Gaeltacht and island communities through the wide range of activities funded by the Department and its agencies.

Ba mhaith liom a rá fosta go leanfaidh mise ar aghaidh ag déanamh cás láidir d'acmhainní breise sna seachtainí amach romhainn lena chinntiú go mbeidh na huirlisí uilig ar fáil ag an Roinn seo chun an obair atá ar siúl cheana féin a chaomhnú agus chun forbairtí eile a chur ar bun amach anseo. Tá deiseanna ar dóigh ag teacht chun cinn sa Ghaeltacht agus tá sé le feiceáil go soiléir go bhfuil an cumas ann poist a chruthú. Tá mé tiomanta go hiomlán ár gclár oibre a bhrú chun cinn i ndáil le tábhacht agus ábharthacht na Gaeilge a mhéadú agus daoine a spreagadh, idir óg agus aosta, chun an teanga a úsáid.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell

In the three minutes I have to speak it is not possible to comment in detail on any or all of the elements of the budget. However, having listened yesterday to the litany from the Opposition of all the spending measures that were not included in it, I thought it was important to say something about what it was actually about.

The saddest day for the country and me personally was the day it was revealed we had to seek a bailout from the IMF. That signalled the end of everything we had achieved as a nation on the economic front. The future looked utterly hopeless and it seemed impossible to believe we would ever see better times again. In 2011, when we went into government, the economy was still tumbling and, worse, we just did not know where the bottom was. The significance of this budget is not that it is party time again - it is certainly not a giveaway pre-election budget - but that, with the end of cuts, it is now possible to have some hope about our future economic fortunes. When I use the word "hope", it is not a hope we can return to the levels of Government spending on services we enjoyed in the Celtic tiger years; that is a truth to which we all have to face up. That level of spending, even with full employment and a booming economy, was unaffordable and it never will be. It was that overspending, far more than the banks, that plunged us so deeply into the abyss when the crash came. We will never return there, however much we may hanker after limitless spending, and this budget does not even pretend to do so. Neither is it a hope everyone who lost assets, a pension, an income, a home and a job will ever recover them because many will not. Many will never recover them, certainly older people, for example, those in their 50s who lost their jobs and will never work again. However, it is a hope our future and that of our children might be secure again; that we can again envisage economic certainty; that the cuts are at an end; that the new taxes and painful increases in taxes are over; that if we find a job, we will keep it; that if we have a home, we will not lose it; that if we have a pension, it will not vaporise; and that if we have none of these things, the State will be in a position to look after us.

Of itself, the budget will not dramatically change lifestyles for anyone, nor does it pretend to do so. It will take many years for us to grow out of our debt. Its significance as a budget is its vindication of the sacrifices of the people in the past seven years and the promise it offers of better times to come. None of this is happening by accident. The Ministers, Deputy Michael Noonan and Deputy Brendan Howlin, in the past three years imposed taxes and cuts that we know have hurt a lot of people, as both they and the Opposition have been telling us. However, the truth is that these are policies that have worked and are working, painful as they are, and they will probably be painful for some years to come. Nonetheless, the economy is growing, people are going back to work and, most of all, confidence is returning that we can have a secure future. The Government and the Ministers who have achieved this on our behalf deserve to be commended and lauded and I believe history will do so.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The next slot is being shared by Deputies Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Billy Kelleher and Colm Keaveney.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Missed opportunity after missed opportunity - that has been the reality of budget after budget for each of the past seven budgets and now we have yet another missed opportunity with budget 2015. It contains minimalist measures - tweaking here, tinkering there - yet, despite the Government’s efforts to sell the budget as a plus for those who have suffered so much during these years, there is a clear realisation among people, a sharp understanding, that they are going to be less well off and in even more straitened financial circumstances as and from January 2015, courtesy of the elephant in the room - the advent of water charges on top of the household tax. There is no getting away from this. That is what lies ahead in 2015 and no amount of Government spin will disguise that fact.

Health services have stumbled from one crisis to another for several years. They have been dealt blow after blow in a series of austerity budgets. They are management-heavy but front-line staff-light. The health budget has been cut year on year to an unsustainable level. A lack of funding has required a Supplementary Estimate each year and 2014 is no different. We are told that €13.1 billion will be the health budget in 2015. The Government suggests this represents an increase of €305 million. In reality, it is barely a neutral budget as in 2014 there is a projected overspend of €500 million and this sum and more will be required in 2015 to hold the current position.

The budget benefits the better-off, while it does nothing to improve the failing health service. In reality, the health service is being thrown a lifeline to help keep its head above water for another year, but it is not enough, as the Minister knows. It does nothing to address fundamental deficiencies in the health service. Furthermore, it does nothing to convince the population that the health policy of the Government is defendable. We have seen a backtracking on universal health insurance and all that was promised with it; it was an integral part of Fine Gael’s five point plan.

Once again, we are promised the roll-out of free GP coverage to the under-sixes and the over-70s, although this had already been promised for delivery this year. We are told by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, about an unspecified number of additional staff in the mental health services, including psychologists and counsellors in primary care settings. An additional €25 million has been signalled to deal with delayed discharges from hospitals. Will more nursing staff be recruited? Will more beds, including step-down beds, be provided?

We have seen that a packet of cigarettes will cost an extra 40 cent after budget 2015. In addition, the price of a 25g pouch of roll-your-own tobacco will increase by a further 20 cent. However, nowhere are these measures presented from a health perspective.

At best, budget 2015 seeks to meet only the current cost of the existing configuration of health delivery systems, with an additional €305 million provided for health expenditure in 2015, coupled with a hope and a prayer that a further €330 million will be realised from speeded-up payments due. There is, as yet, no indication of any intent to recruit the much-needed additional front-line health staff, including consultants, NCHDs and nurses, nor any practical investment in emergency services, including additional ambulance and first responder staff. We welcome the Minister’s announcement that BreastCheck will be extended to women in the 65 to 69 year age group, but this will, I suspect, only commence in 2015 at best and take a number of years to complete a full roll-out.

There is no commitment to reduce, let alone do away with, prescription charges for medical card holders, a charge the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, had previously railed against and promised to abolish.

Sinn Féin has laid out in its fully costed alternative budget measures showing how these gaps in services can be addressed. We had proposed increasing funding for disability services by €31.3 million for, among other things, the recruitment of community physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists and also putting in place an additional 1,000 nurse and midwife posts at a cost of €40 million. Sinn Féin had set aside an additional €18 million for suicide prevention and awareness measures and the roll-out of suicide crisis assessment nurses, counselling services in primary care and liaison nurses in accident and emergency departments. We had also recognised problems with ambulance response times, in rural areas in particular, and provided for increased emergency ambulance cover of two additional ambulances, including trained personnel in each of the four regions, at a cost of €6.67 million. We would also increase the budget for discretionary medical cards by €13 million.

We note that €35 million is to be ring-fenced for mental health services in budget 2015, but what about the €15 million shortfall in the current year? Surely this should be added to the 2015 commitment. The Oireachtas all-party group on mental health, of which I am a member, certainly believed it should and made it a key demand of its agreed all-party pre-budget submission. That said, we have seen in the past how ring-fenced funds can end up being swallowed up by the overall health budget, particularly so in the case of mental health services funding.

There is also the plan to recruit additional staff, including psychologists and counsellors, in primary care settings. Will the Minister, please, spell out exactly what is being committed to in this area?

We are told that free access to GP coverage will be extended to the under-sixes and the over-70s in 2015, but this was promised for delivery during the current year. We note that the Government promises this will happen "when negotiations conclude with the IMO". We need to see a clear timeline, given that the Government has already pushed back this commitment significantly. What about its roll-out across the rest of the population? What are the Minister’s plans for universal access to GP care free at the point of delivery?

The Government intends to spend €2.3 billion in prescription drugs in 2015. This is one of the areas in which real savings could be made, with improved efficiencies in prescribing. Has the Minister noted the proposals we have made in our alternative budget document? He suggests some knowledge, alleging that we have not included certain areas. Our proposals were based on the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan's challenge, his premise, of a neutral budget, demonstrating what could be done without additional resources overall.

However, like his predecessor, Deputy Reilly, the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, thinks he knows it all and heeds very little that the Opposition offers.

I am disappointed to note that the increased excise duty on cigarettes is viewed only as a revenue-generating measure. The Minister for Finance was salivating at the prospect of getting an additional €53 million from smokers. It would be better if such an increase led to a decrease in the level of smoking and not in an increased tax take. Regrettably, there is no mention of the illegal importation of tobacco products. In our alternative budget, we have provided for increased surveillance to ensure smuggling does not increase following an increase in excise duty on cigarettes. The black marketeers were likely dancing last evening at the prospect of more and more smokers being driven into their net.

Once again, there is no specific breakdown of the €3 billion for older people and disability services. It is not clear which part of this is new spending, if any. Will the Minister please advise? I note that nothing has been promised to target the increased waiting lists, including outpatient waiting lists that have been massaged by the HSE. There is also a great lack of specifics on preventative strategies in the sections relating to health. This is something we must invest in. The Government has decided against funding improved care for stroke patients, and there is little mention of health problems that will challenge our health service greatly in years to come, including obesity. This is something that will cost us in the long-term. Claims this week that childhood obesity has levelled out are premature in the extreme. I welcome the Government's suggestion that the recruitment embargo might be over. It remains to be seen whether more staff will actually be employed as a result. There is no clarity in the Minister's own contribution here this afternoon regarding this matter and there was very little detail in the contributions of the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform yesterday.

The Fine Gael-Labour Party Government is trying to sell this budget as something of a giveaway, but the vast majority of measures announced only go a little way towards reversing the deep cuts made earlier in the life of this Government and by the previous Government over the last seven austerity budgets. It is clear that the crisis in our health services is going to continue. We have a new face at the helm of the Department of Health, but the same old failed policies continue to hold sway. There has been much expectation with regard to the Minister taking up the reins at the Department of Health. I must say that there has been no substance whatsoever in either his utterances or, very particularly, his contribution to this budget. The Minister has not lived up to those expectations, and all we have heard is "It's not possible at this point in time," and "I can't do that at this moment in time." At the end of the day, we really do not know if the Minister represents anything other than what has been the case heretofore. The former Minister, Deputy Reilly, might as well be sitting there today. His contribution would have been no different from that of the current Minister. Cé go bhfuil an tAire Sláinte athraithe ní fheictear dom go bhfuil aon leigheas ag teacht ar ghalar chóras sláinte na hÉireann. Is mór an trua é sin.

Deputy Billy Kelleher

This week alone, I received representations in my office from a person whose child cannot get speech and language therapy, a family facing homelessness and a woman who was told that she had been placed on the urgent waiting list for an outpatient hospital appointment and that she would be called in two years' time. Those are just three cases. I am quite sure every Deputy in this House who has an office or holds clinics has received similar representations. This is not unusual. It is usual in this day and age to receive those representations on an ongoing basis.

The Minister says we cannot have it both ways. He cannot have it both ways either, because he has responsibilities as well, not only in the context of the health budget we will be debating when the service plan is published in a number of weeks' time, but in the principle of this budget. The Government has tried to emphasise that this is not about the next election. Quite clearly, it is about the next election. The focus groups and polling have come back with their results and they have informed the Government's thinking in this budget. Fine Gael has decided that it is going to go for tax reductions aimed at the higher earners. It is a decision that Fine Gael has made. It is throwing the dice in the hope that it will be rewarded whenever the election comes. I cannot see any reason as to why the Government would not have prioritised the three people who called to my office this week and the many more people who call to Deputies' offices on all sides of the House with problems they face on a continual basis. That is a decision the Government has made. Perhaps I should address these points to the Labour Party, because one would have hoped that it might have more of a social conscience, but that has long since evaporated in this Parliament.

I would have liked to speak about the substance of the actual budget, but reference has been made to the spending patterns in previous times. Before I came down to this Chamber, I had one quick look at the Fine Gael manifesto from 2007. I can assure the Minister that no matter how much he accused me of spending in 2007 to buy the electorate, Fine Gael was well ahead of the game and the Labour Party was in front of it again. The idea that my party was the only party in this House that was consistently trying to spend more and reduce taxes is simply not credible. I said here that we need an honest debate on many things but we simply have not received any honesty from the Government in terms of where we are as a country.

The Government parties opposed every single measure from this side of the House in the four-year plan. Yesterday, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform stood up in this Chamber and told the people that the policies were working. They are working. I do not want or expect any credit for it, but there must be an acknowledgement that for the three and a half to four years during which the Government has been in power, it has been implementing policies that it fundamentally opposed in every aspect of debate in the Chamber through the very difficult times of 2008, 2009, 2010 and up to the general election in 2011. The Government parties opposed them all. We are being accused of having the audacity to raise issues that we feel are deficient in this budget. I am not asking the Minister to spend an awful lot more money, but I am asking him to prioritise. An increase of €5 in child benefit to a family earning over €100,000 is almost meaningless, but I can assure the Minister that €5 per month would make a awful difference to a family facing homelessness and huge difficulties in terms of basic subsistence living.

It is about priorities, and the Government's priorities have been very focused. They have been focused on certain cohorts of the electorate: first, those who vote, and second, those who are more likely to vote for Fine Gael. The Labour Party has decided to go along with this again. That is what this budget is about, because I have looked through it to see where the element of fairness and the reconstruction of society to tip the balance in favour of those who most need it are found. It is regressive at every step when one measures it on fairness. The person on the minimum wage receives €3 per week extra in this budget. By the time January comes, he or she will have water charges and bills to face as well. For all those reasons, this budget is a regressive budget. I will dwell on this for longer when I come back to the HSE plan, whenever it is published.

Deputy Colm Keaveney

I am sure the Minister will disagree, but many commentators would have the view that this is a very political budget. It is a budget designed to secure votes in a general election using borrowed money. It is a budget that is designed to reward higher earners. The recent by-election in Dublin South-West saw an atrociously low turnout, particularly in certain electoral areas. The turnout was as low as 12% in some of the city's most deprived areas. The sad lesson for those communities from this budget is that the Government will no doubt knowingly attack such communities because they simply do not come out and vote against it. Fine Gael and the Labour Party have little fear in targeting the less well off, because their silence at the ballot box is well noted.

Similarly, it affects those who are silent because of stigma in society. They are the people who cannot publicly offer vocal opposition to this Government's targeted attacks on mental health services.

Fianna Fáil is deeply committed to the full implementation of A Vision for Change. However, I am concerned that progress on its implementation has slowed as a consequence of what I described as a crass cut in last year's budget. The programme for Government had a commitment to ring fence €35 million for recruitment of specialist staff but budget 2014 broke that commitment by reducing funding to €20 million. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, promised the House that the €15 million taken from the mental health budget in 2014 would be restored in 2015. To cut the budget by 40% last year was a disgrace which reflected poorly in this Government. I do not see any urgency on the part of the Minister of State in addressing the crisis. It is clear that she has betrayed her promise and she has shown a total weakness in defending the ring-fenced budget. It is not good enough that she made a promise last year to restore a ring-fenced commitment only to ignore it yesterday.

With regard to the prior years' budgets and expenditure, there was no significant increase in mental health service expenditure by the HSE during the lifetime of this Government. Despite two years' allocations of €35 million in the budgets for 2012 and 2013, expenditure has been flat because newly appointed staff were put into the system solely to replace those who were leaving. That has resulted in the roll out of A Vision for Change coming to a standstill.

The latest published information on staffing levels is from the end of June 2014. At that time, the HSE had recruited a total of 727 posts into the mental health services out of a total allocation to date of 1,171 posts. However, the net increase in staffing between 2012 and the end of June 2014 was just 80 posts. These staff only appear in the system as other staff leave through natural wastage, retirement or redundancy.

Doctors repeatedly questioned the safety of governance in the service and have accused the Minister of State of ignoring them. Those who criticise her are regularly accused of acting in bad faith. I pleaded with her on many occasions to listen to frontline staff. Given her failure to defend the mental health budget and her incapacity to engage honestly with those working on the front line, I ask her either to up her game to a significant degree or else make way for someone who wants to do the job. It appears that she does not have the heart to follow through on rolling out A Vision for Change, which this party would proudly support.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Jan O'Sullivan)

It is an honour to speak on the budget for the Department of Education and Skills for 2015. I believe my current role - this also holds true for whoever holds the post after me - is one of the most important portfolios in Government. The actions taken in education leave an indelible mark on society for generations. Education will play a vital role in the growing economic recovery that is evident. Having a highly educated and skilled workforce is a vital competitive advantage for Ireland. It is paying dividends at present as a key pull factor for both foreign and domestic investment. That will become even more important over the coming years. However, our vision of education has to be wider than the economic sphere. Education at all levels, from pre-school to adult education, imparts values of community, co-operation and citizenship. Through our experience of education we learn that as a society and a community we are stronger when we are together. In my relatively short time as Minister I have seen this philosophy in action in schools across the country. Innovation, teamwork and volunteering are an essential part of the fabric of each and every school. It is inspiring to see the dedication of students and teachers in creating and enhancing the school community. In all our actions in this House, and more importantly in my Department, we need to support this philosophy because it produces not just the next generation of workers or taxpayers, but the next generation of citizens.

Budget 2015 is a first step in that process. The budget has seen an €88 million investment in teachers, special needs assistants and expanded capitation contributions to ensure the 13,000 additional children who will enter the school system next year get the education they deserve. The budget will also fund important capital investment at third level, the first such development in recent years. The budget also supports the reform agenda with additional funding for the literacy and numeracy strategy and junior cycle reform. New funding streams have also been established to support music in schools, free high-speed broadband and a new initiative that will enhance the quality of education at pre-school level. These are positive, progressive reforms and they are backed by additional finance. They represent a new start in education investment after years of necessary but difficult funding reductions. I am determined to ensure that investment increases in the coming years.

This budget is set against the background of an improving economic situation. I fully appreciate the sacrifices that all education partners have made in recent years, as well as their commitment to providing quality education against a very difficult financial backdrop and continuing upward demographic pressures. With the assistance of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have more than reversed the planned situation which would have resulted in a reduction of €39 million on current spending. For the first time in recent years, budget 2015 includes a net increase of €60 million to the overall level of spending on education compared to the budget that was available in 2014. It is my intention that the improving economic situation will pay a very real dividend to education through an investment that has enormous economic and social benefits. Budget 2015 is a start in that process. Over the last three months since I was appointed Minister for Education and Skills, I have had a series of conversations with the education partners about where additional investment should be targeted as our economic recovery takes hold. At these meetings the partners have been setting out their views on priorities for future investment. I plan to continue this dialogue with partners to assist me in establishing a framework of priorities in the sector.

My priority in this budget was to secure additional funding to maintain class sizes and ensure that the education system can recruit more permanent teachers. Some 1,700 new classroom teachers, resource teachers and SNAs are provided for in 2015. These additional posts will provide the expanding numbers of children at school with the education they deserve. The investment in classroom teachers, resource teachers and SNAs to meet demographic growth will amount to an additional €88 million next year. This should not be taken for granted because the number of children in our schools will rise by 40,000 over the next three years, with about 13,000 of those enrolling next year. It has been my priority during this budget process, to secure the funding necessary to provide those children with a high quality education.

Although they are not here, I advise the spokespersons for Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil to take a note of those figures. In framing their pre-budget documents neither party realised that our school population was increasing and that public investment needs to accommodate that priority before other areas of investment are considered. Many Members on the other side are very good at rhetoric but they do not appear to be as good at sums and they have failed to show any credible approach to the 2015 education budget.

To address this growing demographic demand 900 additional mainstream teachers are being provided to preserve pupil-teacher ratios at existing levels. Some 480 additional resource teachers will also be provided in 2015 to meet the growth in demographics and diagnoses which continue to impact in this area. This will represent a 27% increase in the number of resource teachers in our schools over a three year period. The recruitment of these teachers comes at a time when I have committed to reforming the system of teacher recruitment. I recently received a report and recommendations from Mr. Peter Ward, SC, on behalf of the expert group on fixed term and part-time employment in teaching. The group’s recommendations will address the worrying level of casualisation, particularly at second level, that young teachers currently endure. I have committed to accepting the recommendation and detailed work will proceed over the coming months. These reforms will be good for teachers and good for our education system.

We are currently surveying schools to examine how a new model for allocating resource teachers could be implemented. While not all schools have returned their surveys, I am confident they will do so over the coming weeks. This will provide me with the information I need to assess the impact of a new model on individual schools. I am also announcing further increases in SNA numbers as part of the budget. Between now and the end of 2014, a further 145 SNAs will be available to the National Council for Special Education to allocate to schools. In 2015, a further 220 SNA posts will be made available to schools. In total, there will be an increase of 365 to the existing cap on SNA numbers, bringing the total number of SNAs in schools to 11,330.

My predecessor as Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, introduced a range of reforms to the education system over recent years. Some of those, including the creation of SOLAS, the amalgamation of 33 VECs to create 16 education and training boards and the implementation of the action plan on bullying, are complete or well under way. There are other reforms, however, which require continuing investment. I am delighted to have secured sufficient funding to implement them. This year, I am increasing the budget for the implementation of the national literacy and numeracy strategy by €6 million more than was available in 2014, bringing the annual budget to €13.8 million. I am fully funding the important reform of the junior cycle by increasing the budget by €5 million in 2015 over what was available this year to bring the annual budget to €9.3 million. We are providing €1 million in funding in 2015 to begin matching the philanthropic funding that has been given to promote music to our children through Music Generation. A total of €3 million is being made available to ensure that high-speed broadband, which has been installed in all post-primary schools, is available to them free of charge. I am also providing the second tranche of €5 million in a three-year additional investment in school book funding for our primary schools on top of the €15 million already invested each year.

I record in the House my respect and admiration for the work that Deputy Ruairí Quinn achieved in the Department between 2011 and 2014. The former Minister faced into the most challenging funding position that any Minister for Education has had to face. Despite this, he managed to radically reform the school building system, securing finance and bringing an unprecedented level of transparency to a system that was mired in secrecy. Deputy Ruairí Quinn had the vision to tackle new and emerging issues in education. He supported parents in tackling bullying and cyberbullying, brought forward a long overdue recognition of the challenges facing young gay people in our school system and took action to improve literacy. Deputy Quinn will be recognised as one of the finest Ministers for Education and Skills in the history of the State. Many of the opportunities I have to reform and renew our education system in the coming years rely on the work that my predecessor laid down despite the financial challenges he faced.

Since becoming Minister, I have emphasised the importance of improving the quality of early years education in Ireland. I am delighted to announce funding for next year to underpin that emphasis. In 2015, we will spend €600,000 on the immediate recruitment of the first ever team of early childhood education inspectors. This team will work with the early childhood sector to promote good educational practice. This initiative is being launched in partnership with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, and further details will be released later today.

In budget 2013 and budget 2014, the allocations to third-level institutions were reduced by €25 million. This was done on the basis that the institutions had some capacity to deal with reduced allocations on the basis of the cash balances available to them. Funding has been secured to restore €25 million to the allocations to universities and institutes of technology in 2015. Three major capital projects will be advanced in our universities next year. At NUI Galway, €7 million will be provided during 2015 to begin construction of a new human biology building. At the University of Limerick, €10 million will be made available for a major library project next year. Finally, in UCD, €3 million will be provided towards the construction of the Confucius Institute during 2015. A €10 million fund is also being provided to institutes of technology during 2015 to improve the equipment and facilities available to students.

The 2015 capital budget will also see €450 million spent on the school sector and €18 million on PPP projects. The school building programme will create an additional 16,000 permanent school places for primary students and 3,000 permanent school places for second level students during 2015. It will also see improved or replaced facilities for 2,000 primary school students and 4,000 second level students. The full details of the 2015 school building programme will be announced later this year. I am also closely monitoring the 2014 projected capital outturn. A minor works grant was paid to schools in November of last year, funded through savings and efficiencies in that year's capital budget. The same will apply this year, and in the coming weeks I will assess whether resources are available from the 2014 budget to provide a cash injection for minor works in primary and special schools. That money is always used well.

Budget 2015 sees an increase to the current funding of education for the first time in recent years. However, there were a number of measures introduced in previous budgets which have been phased in over a number of years. Next year is the final year in which these measures will have an impact. Further savings of €16 million will be realised as a result of the Haddington Road agreement, and those sums are being invested back into the education sector. The sum of €156 million is paid on behalf of grant holders to universities and institutes of technology by SUSI each year. Since the advent of greater efficiencies brought about by SUSI, this is paid in most cases before the end of December. With effect from the 2015-2016 academic year, this will be split into two instalments, with the second instalment being paid after Christmas. This arrangement will mirror the arrangement for payment to the higher education institutions under the free fees initiative and will provide one-off savings of €61 million in 2015. I stress, however, that there will be no change in the total amount of student contribution payments made in respect of that academic year, nor in any subsequent year.

From 2015, students will also receive four months' maintenance before the end of December and the balance of five months' payments in the following year. It was three up to now, which means students will get an extra month's payment in 2015. This should help to alleviate the pressures on these students earlier in the academic year. A further benefit of this proposal is that new students receiving student grants who discontinue their courses early will now have a chance to pick up on part of the student contribution if they register for another undergraduate course. Unfortunately, we all encounter students who drop out. This is an important access measure for students who decide to change courses.

This is my first budget as Minister for Education and Skills. It is not possible to accommodate all funding demands from the education sector in one budget, but this is a positive start. It has been possible, with the support of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to fully fund the growth of student numbers, which will rise by over 13,000 next year alone. I look forward to continuing a dialogue with education partners to assist me in establishing a framework of funding priorities for the education sector. It is my firm intention to see a growing economy return an educational dividend. It is the wisest investment a society can make.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Damien English)

I am grateful for the chance to say a few words on a very important budget. I thank my senior ministerial colleague, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, for making time available for me to deal with a few issues, particularly the further education and training aspect of our budget. This is a very important part of the Department's budget, representing a spend of nearly €810 million. It is great to confirm that the budget is intact this year and that the Department will have the same amount to spend to maintain approximately 270,000 training places over the year ahead.

We have been through a great deal of reform in the further education and training area over the last couple of years. While we might have liked reforms to happen quicker, they are now in place. We have SOLAS, which will drive the policy agenda in the area with its five-year strategy, and we have the education and training boards, which have resulted in the reduction of 33 VECs to 16 boards. We now have the infrastructure and key personnel to drive the reform agenda and deliver the training to provide people with the skills they need. We are helping people improve their skills, develop new skills and return to work. We have the right plans and format in place, and the key was ensuring we kept the budget intact, which we have. There will be €810 million to spend in this area in the year ahead, which I welcome.

Of the total budget, more than €640 million will be channelled through SOLAS to the education and training boards, while the remaining €170 million will be provided directly by the Department to fund the post-leaving certificate, PLC, programme. There is great demand for the PLC programme in all counties, which is great to see, and there is great success from it in terms of job placement. The Momentum programme, which targets the long-term unemployed, was launched in September 2014 and will be funded through 2015. The Momentum contract procedures provide for 2,000 places to be made available to individuals under 25 years of age in line with the commitments outlined in the implementation plan for the youth guarantee in Ireland. In addition, the Department is funding the Springboard and ICT skills conversion programmes for the National Training Fund. The level of funding for the programmes will be maintained at approximately €28 million for 2015. We are obtaining great value for money in these programmes and making a significant investment in helping people to get the skills they need to get back to work.

The ICT, information and communications technology plan, is working. When it started, we could only fill 40% of positions in this area. The target was to get to 60% but we have actually gone beyond that. By 2018, we will be able to fill 75% of places that come available in the ICT sector. It is important we have the skills to fill these places because all over Europe there is a serious demand for people with ICT skills. We must ensure our education system turns out enough ICT graduates to fill the jobs that become available here. We will never fill them all, so it is important to bring skills into the country. Accordingly, we have changed the permit system to allow for that.

The ICT plan is working and the Springboard programme is a major part of it. Four out of ten people who engage in Springboard courses get employment within six weeks while over six out of ten participants will get a job in six months. I compliment some of the educational institutions on how quickly they turn around these programmes. Many of them respond positively when industry approaches them with an idea.

SOLAS, with the assistance of relevant experts such as the ESRI, the Economic and Social Research Institute, employers, along with local and national organisations, has published its five-year strategy. This will involve service level agreements with training boards which can be adapted to reflect local needs. In my other role as enterprise Minister, I visit many companies which tell me they will be creating jobs in certain sectors. We want to be able to respond at local, as well as national, level to ensure we can adapt training board courses to match what industry needs. We are pushing collaboration between industry and education training boards, as well as third and fourth level institutions, to ensure they communicate and respond to each other’s needs. While great progress has been made in this area, we cannot be in a position a year from now where we have jobs to be filled but not the right skills to do so. The funding is in place to achieve this, as well as the reforms.

Another important part of these reforms is the formation of the apprenticeship council over the coming months. There were some delays in getting the various players together for this but each body has its representatives on it now. The Minister for Education and Skills will finalise the appointments soon and its first job will be to make a call to the various sectors for their ideas to develop new apprenticeships. Ireland has fewer than 30 apprenticeship courses. Germany, in comparison, has 400 different types of apprenticeship models. While we will never get to the 400 mark, we will certainly want to adapt our system to cover as many as possible. In some areas it makes sense to introduce new apprenticeship models to ensure the skills are coming through to fill future jobs vacancies. I hope industry will get involved in this process as most apprenticeships are industry driven anyway.

Like the Minister for Finance yesterday, I must confirm what we are not doing. There will be no increases in school transport charges, although there is serious pressure on that budget. The post-primary charge will remain at €350 per child with a maximum of €650 per family. At primary level, it will remain at €100 per child with a maximum of €220 per family. I know people have issues with the changes to charges over the past three years. Where we can, we are trying to apply common sense and address each need as we can. It must be borne in mind that the overall cost per child works out at €1,000 and that those on medical cards do not pay.

As part of my role as Minister of State with special responsibility for skills, research and innovation, I recognise the recovery and growth in the jobs sector is through companies involved in research and development and innovation, matching their money with taxpayer funding. We are seeing a major increase in spin-outs and start-ups from this area. There is much work going on through our research centres with Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, tapping into taxpayer funding and industry money, stretching the benefits for both. The capital allocation for the main research funding institutions, SFI, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, has gone up €13 million to €357 million. We hope to be able to increase that later in the year.

From this we hope to have an extra 100 potential start-up companies in the year ahead. SFI will announce another five large-scale research centres in the next several weeks. This will be a major player in providing 3,000 start-ups a year. We will bring together our educational institutions with their expertise and research communities, small and medium-sized enterprises and multinationals to innovate and create products which our companies can sell and export all over the world. This will drive recovery and change. We are concentrating on the commercialisation agenda of research. The Government has agreed priority areas and funding will be directed to them. I welcome the fact the budget for this sector has been increased this year as it is an important sector to drive our overall economic recovery.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I call Deputy Ruth Coppinger who is sharing time with Deputy Jonathan O'Brien. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

It is very difficult to know where to start with such a widespread budget. It can be summed up, however, as a transfer, again, of wealth to the rich and to the highest paid in society with little or nothing given to those most savagely hit by austerity over the past six years. There are many examples of this in the budget. In the Government’s information booklet on the budget’s measures, it has an example of John, a worker on the minimum wage, who is set to receive €173 a year with changes to the universal social charge. Unfortunately, John will have that benefit wiped out by a €178 water charge. In fact, John will be €5 less well off after this budget.

The gap between the rich and the poor has increased by €500 a year following this budget, a point Social Justice Ireland well publicised this afternoon. The Government has given to those at the top. Anyone earning over €70,000 will gain about €736 a year while the low paid, women and parents - three groups savagely hit since the crisis began in 2008 - have been given little or nothing. The most significant social crisis in our society, housing provision, will be aided in little or no way by this budget. Another group completely neglected is those in the rented sector which makes up 30.3% of all people.

The Government seems to believe that the low pay commission, announced when the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, took over as Tánaiste and repeated yesterday, is necessary. Who needs such a commission? Workers need a pay increase. Does the Government believe the idea of setting up such a commission will assuage the majority in our society, the 65% of people who earn less than €32,000 a year? Far from being a squeezed middle, it is actually a hard-pressed majority, thanks to the tax increases and pay cuts of the past six years. We do not need a low pay commission.

Another group which has taken a hammering under austerity, as pointed out by the National Women’s Council of Ireland, is women. Women tend to be in part-time jobs, in the low-paid sector and half as likely as men to earn €50,000. Yesterday, the Government handed back to women €5 a month in child benefit. While this amounts to €70 million, over €400 million has been taken in child benefit from people over the past six years.

Deputy Damien English

It is step one in a three-step process.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

The groups most savagely and disproportionately hit by austerity are the low paid, women - who tend to be in the former category - and single parents. None of them has been compensated by yesterday’s budget.

None of the cuts made by the Government in rent allowance over the past three years has been reversed. I will take the example of a family in Dublin renting and who are on a local authority housing waiting list.

I will use Dublin as an example as rents have gone up the furthest there. In the second quarter of this year, rents had risen by nearly 20% compared to the same quarter in 2010. On top of this, rent supplement limits have been cut by 12%. As an example, a family that will suffer even more since the budget is one with two children renting a home. They would have been paying rent of €1,110 in 2010 and receiving a maximum of €1,086 a month rent supplement. Today, the same couple is paying €1,300 in rent and receiving €935 in rent supplement. The family is €365 a month, or €85 a week, worse off. Nothing has been done for people like that and there are 100,000 families waiting on housing. They cannot afford to buy and they have been abandoned by the Government. The Government did nothing to reverse those costs.

One of the two Ministers speaking on the radio this morning said that this was the most significant social housing programme ever. It is not. In 1975, 8,500 council houses were built. Next year, the Government is proposing to build 2,500 houses in the midst of the greatest housing crisis in the history of the State. In the 1970s, there was a response to the housing crisis of the 1960s. A house building programme was undertaken through local authorities but there seems to be an ideological aversion to such a programme in this Government and the previous one. The programme will deliver 10,000 houses by 2018, over four years. It amounts to 10% of the current waiting list. Why is it so slow and why take such a softly softly approach? During the Celtic tiger years, 80,000 to 100,000 houses were built every year. The idea that we must wait ten years to solve the housing crisis is not the case. We could go back to funding councils and letting them build houses; instead, more money was thrown at landlords, developers and land speculators through a cut in the windfall tax instead of helping people who in danger of becoming homeless every day and who have no prospect of a home for many years if things carry on as they are.

Another group badly hit by the budget is workers. Those on the minimum wage gain €174 whereas the top 10% gain €736. What sort of response is that to six years of austerity? The Minister could have made tax changes and imposed an emergency 5% tax on millionaires and any income of €1 million, which would have brought in €3.3 billion. Instead, the Government decided to give them even more money. It could have given an increase in the effective income tax rate on the top 10% and this would have brought in €2.6 billion. The Government could have chosen the sacred cow, the 12.5% rate of corporation tax, and increased it to the average of the EU-27. This would bring in over €5 billion from multinational corporations. A financial transactions tax would bring in, depending on its level, a sum between €400 million and €600 million. The elephant in the room this year is that for every €5 collected in taxation, €1 will go to the bondholders. We are crippled by debt that should have been repudiated. Some €8 billion will be paid in interest and the same sum could solve the housing crisis by building 45,000 homes and putting 45,000 people back to work in real jobs, not through JobsPlus or JobBridge. People need real jobs to stimulate the economy and provide social and affordable housing.

The other group left out is the working poor. Through the Central Bank system, it was decided to make a 20% deposit a requirement to buy a house, which basically means only rich kids will be able to get a mortgage because they have Mammies and Daddies who will help them out. Other people stuck in the rental sector, where prices are rocketing, will be unable to save anything. Far from the Government solving its election prospects for next year, water charges overshadowed everything it has introduced such as any concessions on the universal social charge. The latter was a tax introduced to pay for the bailout. If we are in recovery, why was it not abolished? Why should any worker on €12,000 have to pay a universal social charge in the first place? The Government has continued and maintained a tax introduced to pay for the bondholders debt. It is a shame on the Government and it will not get it out of the crisis it is facing. From the by-elections and the 100,000 people who took to the streets, the Government should have seen that these people will not be assuaged by what was done yesterday.

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills in the Chamber. As education spokesman, the majority of my speech will focus on the education announcements. I will begin with the positive elements because the Minister will also get some negative elements. Th increased funding for literacy and numeracy is welcome. This is an integral part of our education system, particularly in the further education sector. We discussed the new apprenticeship council, which will be established, at the committee and there was universal agreement that it was welcome. The committee had some concerns but the important aspect in expanding the apprenticeship system is to ensure people gain secondary skills when they are trained. That came through from committee members on all sides. People engaging in apprenticeships must acquire secondary skills so that, if the economy takes off in a different direction and they find themselves out of work, they can find employment quickly and not end up among the long-term unemployed.

With regard to the five-year strategy of SOLAS, I agree with the Minister that the area has been radically reformed by the previous Minister. Some issues exist in respect of education and training boards. Correspondence in my inbox this morning suggests one board is facing a financial deficit and will write to the Minister to seek permission for an overdraft of €5 million. These financial difficulties are being faced by the education and training boards. Unless we remove the financial constraints, they will not achieve what they were established to do. They have the potential to transform the sector but we need to fund them properly.

I welcome the increased funding for literacy and numeracy. The 1,700 new teachers announced yesterday will be spun as a win for the Labour Party or the Government but it will not make any difference to class sizes. There will still be 33 primary students in classes in Kinsale. That will not change and the additional numbers are meeting demographic changes. The new proposal about allocating resources to children with special needs is dependent on a 15% cut being reversed. One of the parliamentary questions submitted before the budget concerned reversing the 15% cut and returning to where we were in 2011. This will take an additional 1,098 resource teachers at a cost of €44 million. Yesterday's announcement of 400 resource teachers, while welcome, will only meet the increased demand of 12,000 or 13,000 students next year.

As I mentioned, this budget will not do anything for class sizes or to alleviate overcrowding, which is unfortunate. If we are serious about education and giving students the best opportunities, we need to have smaller classes. It is internationally proven that the smaller the class, the better the educational outcomes. We have the second-highest class sizes in Europe, which must be addressed. I know the Minister cannot do everything in one year but I hope something could be done in that regard. Due to last year's cuts, career guidance counsellors have been affected, and I hoped that could have been addressed.

There is an issue omitted from yesterday's budget that is of great concern and a source of much disappointment in every school across the State. This was the 2012 budget announcement relating to capitation grants, which will see another 1% cut across the sector next year. That will have devastating consequences, not just for schools but also for parents, who will be asked by boards of management to fill the financial gap created by a decrease in funding. We already have voluntary contributions well in excess of €120 or €130 that are an attempt to meet the funding shortfalls faced by schools. That will increase next year.

During Question Time last week I stated that the ministerial brief for the Minister on taking office had a warning on the dangers of further cuts in capitation grants. Senior officials in the Department indicated that any further cuts in capitation grants for budgetary reasons would force many schools into a position in which they might not be able to pay basic utility bills such as those for lighting and heating. It has been further indicated that this creates a risk of some schools closing. I do not understand why the Minister would not try to reverse this process. There is €3.3 million involved in this, and even if we take into account demographic changes next year, we are probably looking at an addition of just under €2 million. For the sake of €5.3 million, the cuts in the capitation grant next year could have been done away with; that money would have been well spent and felt in the pockets of parents who, unfortunately, will have to meet a funding shortfall.

I raised the student contribution fee with the Minister opposite and the Minister for Finance, who indicated that this was a neutral budget and anything coming into effect in 2015 did not have to be accounted for. That was not the case and it did not turn out like that. Unfortunately, the student contribution fee will be increased by €250 next year to €3,000. The reality is that this will force more students out of education. The numbers may not be large but, unfortunately, some students will not be able to continue their higher education because of increased costs. There was no compensation on the other side through an increase in the student assistance fund. Two years ago, that fund had to be topped up by the then Minister, Deputy Quinn, and last year the fund ran out within weeks because of the demand. It is even worse this year, as there are increased rent costs and cost-of-living elements such as public transport. This has an adverse effect on students. Some students who come to my office are being asked to pay €90 or €100 per week in rent, which their grants are unable to cover. These people are working 15 or 16 hours per week while trying to study, and in the summer they are cramming in weeks of 40 or 45 hours just to keep their heads above water. They are living on beans on toast. I am not being dramatic, as this is the reality for many students. I ask the Minister to monitor this fund closely, as it will run out very quickly. Unfortunately, if students cannot access the student assistance fund, they will have no other option but to drop out of education. I know the Minister does not want to see any student leave education for any reason, but if there is an opportunity to keep people in higher education and give them the opportunity to reach their potential by increasing the fund, I ask her to examine the matter closely.

People in small schools will be disappointed that the summer works scheme and the minor works grants have not been reinstated. These have been vital sources of funding for many schools, which, as I mentioned, are already facing cuts in capitation grants and which will need boards of management and parent councils to raise funds and pay more in voluntary contributions. These schools may need to do some work to upgrade heating or fix a roof but have relied very heavily on those grants in the past.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan

We will be looking at the minor works scheme in November.

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien

That is fair enough, and I hope we can see a positive outcome in that regard. I think it is worth about €7,000 per school; is that correct?

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan

It is €5,500 plus a certain amount per child.

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien

For some schools that would be a critical source of funding that could allow them to keep students dry and warm. It is the least we can do. I will leave it at that because I am running out of time. I ask the Minister to keep in mind the minor works grant for November and consider the student assistance fund. The money is already gone from it and it will probably need a top-up. If it does not get it, students will end up dropping out of college.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Charles Flanagan, now has ten minutes in which to speak. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, has five minutes, the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy has two minutes, and Deputies Fitzpatrick and Patrick O'Donovan will have 90 seconds. I hope people will stick to their time slots.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Charles Flanagan)

In deference to the Deputies with just 90 seconds, I will start as quickly as possible. I am honoured to deliver my first budget speech as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. I begin my remarks by paying tribute to my predecessor, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, who as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade steered the Department through an unprecedented time of economic crisis with a skilful hand on a clearly directed tiller. In particular, the trade aspect of the Department was considerably strengthened during his tenure and the embassy network was reconfigured with a strategic emphasis on new markets. Along with the former Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, he helped to stabilise the overseas development aid budget, and the House is grateful for those efforts.

In 2011 the Government introduced a plan to repair the public finances and restore growth to the economy. The huge sacrifices made by the people of Ireland have been crucial in turning the economy around from ruin to growth. Now is the time to solidify the nascent economic recovery and ensure that the benefits of healthy growth in the economy are dispersed so that the recovery is widened, deepened and felt by all. That is what budget 2015 is all about.

In foreign affairs and trade, there is positive news. In 2011, part of the Government’s plan to repair the Irish economy involved a fresh approach to our embassy network and to the State agencies to ensure that these important State resources were positioned to take full advantage of new opportunities in key emerging and high-growth markets, while maintaining our focus on mature markets. As the recovery takes hold, we must continue to deliver maximum overall benefit for the economy, leading to good jobs for our people at home in Ireland. Consistent with this overriding priority, budget 2015 will enable my Department to complete the process of opening five new embassies and three new consulates general in key locations across south-east Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. These new missions – not least the new embassies in Bangkok and Jakarta – expand the global reach of our economic diplomacy efforts and strengthen our capacity to advance key national interests in trade, tourism, investment and education promotion. The expansion of the embassy network also takes full account of a new market approach, as provided for in the Review of the Government Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy published by my Department earlier this year. This provides a more strategic, up-to-date and nuanced direction for Ireland's international trade, tourism, investment and education promotion efforts. It incorporates for the first time markets that may deliver in the long term, while immediate sectoral opportunities exist in some cases. For example, there are food and drink opportunities in Nigeria and education opportunities in Vietnam, supported by our embassy footprint in these locations. Overall, the work of the embassy network is essential to efforts to enhance Ireland's international reputation and drive economic recovery through the promotion of trade, tourism and investment.

That activity makes a difference to Irish farmers, who export vast amounts of food, Irish companies, which depend on exporting to foreign market and all Irish taxpayers, who benefit from a growing economy with a strong export market. The Government has introduced important tax reforms in the budget and has protected our vital 12.5% corporate tax rate, which I know, from discussions I had with a wide range of business leaders I met recently in New York, Washington and Boston, is a significant factor – though not the only one – that makes Ireland such an attractive investment destination for foreign investors.

Our aid programme, the fight to end extreme hunger and poverty and the provision of humanitarian relief in the world are at the heart of our foreign policy. I emphasised the Government’s commitment in this regard at the United Nations in New York in September. I also underlined the importance of political will when I co-hosted the major international meeting on the zero hunger challenge at UN headquarters on 24 September. We have demonstrated our commitment in this budget by ensuring that there will be no reduction in Ireland’s overall official development assistance, ODA. For 2015, we have allocated just over €600 million for ODA. Some €476 million of this will be managed through Vote 27 and an estimated further €125 million will be provided through other Government Departments and Ireland’s share of the EU development co-operation budget. While this will entail a very slight reduction of €3 million - approximately 0.5% - in the allocation under Vote 27, there will be no reduction in Ireland’s overall ODA for 2015.

Ireland has been recognised internationally for successfully stabilising its development budget during the past three years in the aftermath of severe cuts, difficult times and a serious economic crisis. I am of the view that maintaining the budget through the provision of €601 million for Ireland’s aid programme will be seen as a very significant contribution in 2015. The Government’s development policy, One World, One Future, restates our commitment to the target of providing 0.7% of GNP for ODA when economic circumstances permit. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, will elaborate further on this matter during his contribution.

A very important part of my Department’s work is the support provided to Irish emigrants overseas. Funding of the emigrant support programme will be maintained at its 2014 level of almost €11.6 million, while an additional €1 million is being allocated in respect of new projects. This support, along with the appointment of my colleague, Deputy Deenihan, as Ireland's first ever Minister of State with responsibility for diaspora affairs, demonstrates our commitment to assist Irish people living abroad. Building and maintaining connections with the diaspora is a priority for the Government and the emigrant support programme is one of the key tools we have for this. It provides funding for community organisations around the world that work with Irish emigrants and their descendants. Since its establishment in 2004, the programme has disbursed more than €110 million to support emigrants and build connections with the diaspora. In 2013, the programme provided funding to 182 organisations in 15 countries. Almost €6.8 million of this went to organisations in Britain, €1.6 million to those in the US, €1.4 million to Ireland-based organisations and €400,000 to Australian community groups.

Since my appointment as Minister three months ago I have visited emigrant support centres in London, New York and Boston. I am impressed by the wide range of support services provided by these centres to many of the most weak and vulnerable in the communities in which they operate. I take this opportunity to place on the record my deep appreciation for the hard work done by the staff of these important centres. While we rightly celebrate the successes of many Irish people around the world, we must not lose sight of those who have not enjoyed that success and who are rendered vulnerable as a result of loneliness, dislocation or other factors. In that context, no one should underestimate the importance of our international welfare projects and programmes.

The House will be aware that very important work is being undertaken by the Government in respect of the peace process. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I have announced our intention to convene all-party talks involving both Governments. These are expected to begin tomorrow in Belfast. I am strongly of the view that the talks are required to overcome the current political impasse within the Northern Ireland Executive, including in the context of importance legacy issues such as parades, flags, identity and dealing with the past. These are commonly referred to as the Haass issues. The objective is to ensure that Northern Ireland's political institutions will not only function but will flourish to the benefit of all, as envisaged in the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998. While these developments are happening at political level, important work continues on the reconciliation agenda. On a recent visit to Belfast I saw, at first hand, the positive impact of the Government's reconciliation fund in communities across the city and also Northern Ireland. I had the pleasure of meeting many of the hardworking groups involved in reconciliation projects at the annual reconciliation networking forum held in Dublin Castle last month. I am very pleased, therefore, that the reconciliation fund's budget will be maintained at the 2014 level of €2.74 million, despite the ongoing budgetary pressures. This is a strong signal of the Government's commitment to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland, as is the allocation of responsibilities in the area of North-South co-operation to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock. In 2013 the reconciliation fund made grants to more than 150 projects supporting organisations across the community and voluntary sector. These groups are building meaningful links across communities and in Border areas, addressing issues, including sectarianism, and working to create better understanding between people and traditions on this island.

The budget contains much positive news for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I have focused on four areas of crucial importance which reflect the breadth of my Department’s activities and its current priorities. I will now hand over to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Sean Sherlock)

I reiterate what the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, said in respect of our ability to maintain our commitment in respect of ODA, namely, official development assistance or overseas development aid, as it is sometimes known. In the context of the partner organisations with which we work and which operate under the auspices of Irish Aid, the cumulative figure provided shows that we have been able to marginally increase the level of our financial commitment. This is the first occasion in quite a number of years that we have been in a position to do so. We have been able to maintain this commitment because of the work done by our partner organisations, of which there are many. There is no better example in this regard than the current crisis involving Ebola. Working on the ground and under the auspices of Irish Aid, partner organisations such as Concern and Goal are having a major impact in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance and helping to build capacity in the affected region. These organisations have the flexibility to react to this crisis and to become major stakeholders in the fight against Ebola in the countries most affected, such as Sierra Leone. The Ebola crisis is having an impact across transnational boundaries. However, the partner organisations - as a result of funding which is smartly divested to them through Irish Aid - are also making an impression in what one might term "a live setting". It is important that we have been able to maintain our financial commitment in this area and I am grateful to the Government for facilitating us in doing so.

As an island nation on the western periphery of Europe which does not have any military standing, it is important - in terms of what we do abroad - that part of our foreign policy relates to targeting funding towards nutrition, hunger and poverty alleviation. The funding provided will allow us to continue the work to which I refer and to deepen our engagement, particularly with partner countries - such as Sierra Leone - with which we have bilateral relationships and in which we have ambassadorial missions. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work being done by Ireland, through its mission and ambassador, in Sierra Leone in the context of influencing - in conjunction with international organisations such as the UN mission - the government there to pursue a policy of containing the crisis.

That is only one articulation or example of the impact our partner organisations, such as Goal and Concern, are having there. It is important to recognise the work they do and keep faith with this commitment, and I am pleased to say that we have done so.

We have demonstrated our commitment in the budget by ensuring there will be no reduction in Ireland's overall official development assistance for 2015. We have allocated €600 million for ODA. While there is a slight reduction in Vote 27, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, has said, there will be no reduction in Ireland's overall ODA commitment for 2015. We will increase it slightly, depending on the eventual outturn for 2014. Anyway, we anticipate there will be a slight increase.

We have been recognised internationally for successfully stabilising our development budget in the past three years after severe cuts and in the face of serious economic difficulty. Maintaining the budget by providing €601 million for Ireland's aid programme will be seen as a significant Irish contribution in 2015. Next year will be the international year of development and I expect Ireland will continue to play a leading role at the United Nations in negotiating a new set of global development goals to follow from the millennium development goals.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

I call Deputy Harrington, who is substituting for the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy.

Deputy Noel Harrington

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on the budget this afternoon. The implications of the budget on the various sectors and Departments have been well debated by now. I am keen to focus on how the budget will affect the constituency I represent, Cork South-West. It is mainly a rural constituency and depends on the coastal area and on tourism. It has a significant agrifood industry, including a significant artisan food industry. There is a thriving artistic community in west Cork as well. An examination of many of the budget proposals clearly shows all of these sectors will benefit, albeit modestly. The message is that we have turned a corner and, I hope, there will be better days to come.

Specifically, I welcome the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the tourism sector that has created hundreds of extra jobs in west Cork and thousands of jobs in the country. It is most welcome. The agricultural taxation measures are significant for rural constituencies and areas. Now, those who do not own land can enter the farming sector with the knowledge that they can have long-term leases and long-term finances. The home renovation scheme for rental properties will greatly benefit the construction sector. The investment in Garda vehicles will have a significant impact on combatting crime in rural areas.

The biggest problem we face in most rural communities is a lost generation. It is the generation that would have driven economic growth in rural communities. The greatest challenge this budget can offer is to attract that generation back to our rural communities. I offer one example, a matter on which the Minister for Education and Skills has spoken previously, that is, small schools. It is clear from the budget that the investment is in place. Small schools have not amalgamated, closed or changed because of lack of investment. They have closed simply because there is a lack of children. I welcome the provisions of the budget and I hope we can go on from here.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

The budget is a start to get Ireland working again, secure our recovery and bring to an end the recent era of austerity budgets. The decision to reduce the top rate of income tax from 41% to 40% and to increase the standard rate tax band, above which the top rate of tax is paid, by €1,000 to €33,800 will make a significant difference to entrepreneurs, the self-employed and working families. This reduction will also boost consumer confidence, help to create an estimated 15,000 additional jobs, help to attract foreign investment and reverse immigration. Following the creation of more than 70,000 jobs our unemployment rate is now below the European average.

The absence of cuts to the health budget offers an opportunity to stabilise the delivery of services and refocus reforms. There will be an increase of €635 million in current spending on health services. Extending BreastCheck to women up to the age of 69 years will save lives as will expanding mental health teams and investing further in suicide prevention. Funding has been set aside to improve timelines for admission to emergency departments and waiting times.

Significant additional funding to the education budget will ensure 900 new classroom teachers, 480 new resource teachers and 365 new special needs assistant posts. More than 150 new schools have been built since this Government came to power and over 100 schools have been refurbished. Further investment in education is needed but economic recovery is still fragile and this Government is committed to securing the recovery, maintaining the advances that we have achieved and avoiding the boom and bust of the previous Government.

Investment in new housing infrastructure has been given priority.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

Sorry, Deputy; your time is up.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

This will see €2.2 billion in capital investment in social housing and more than 7,500 new homes will be provided. An additional €10 million will be provided for accommodation and related services for homeless people.

Child benefit and the new back-to-work family living allowance will provide additional financial help to jobseekers.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

Deputy, you are eating into your colleague's time.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

The 9% VAT rate for tourism and the hospitality sector, which has created thousands of jobs and protected thousands of others, has been retained.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

Deputy Fitzpatrick, you have to stop now. You must bring your contribution to an end.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

The Government is absolutely determined that we will not allow this country to slip back to boom and bust. Growing a sustainable economy is what we promised when we entered government and the budget is another positive step towards that goal.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

Sorry, Deputy; you have eaten into the time of your colleague. Deputy O'Donovan had 90 seconds, but there are only 30 seconds left. Anyway, you can take your time, Deputy. Take 90 seconds.

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

There is no need for me to say that I will be brief. The Government's approach to budgetary measures in recent years has been on a sectoral basis. Let us consider the improvements that have been made in terms of the job creating measures. Predominantly, they have been in the sectors of agriculture and tourism. One aspect of the budget that I welcome in particular is that this sectoral approach is continuing into the construction industry. More than €2.2 billion over three years is being set aside to deal with the shortage in housing. Undoubtedly, this will have a major impact in constituencies throughout the country.

My constituency covers an area that is heavily dependent on agriculture. Therefore, I welcome the related measures that have been included by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. They will ensure that a €26 billion industry which employs more than 170,000 people will be sustained in future. From the point of view of the Limerick area this is of considerable significance.

I welcome the fact that there are no increases in class sizes and that additional resources are being made available in education. When we went into government first, this was one of the areas that generated the greatest level of concern among parents and teachers in rural constituencies. I welcome the provisions in place. Any budget where we are not taking money away from people and restoring some small amounts has to be welcomed. Like previous speakers, I welcome the provisions of the budget.

Deputy Thomas P. Broughan

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on budget 2015. Last night I voted against Financial Resolution No. 1 as the only means I had of showing total opposition to the many failures and missed opportunities of this budget. Budget 2015 should have been the perfect platform for turning away decisively from austerity and embarking on a new national path. Unfortunately, to echo the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, we did not take the road less travelled. In fact, that would have been the road of breaking free from cuts and decisively moving to a fairer distribution of taxation to benefit all our citizens. For the fifth budget in a row, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, as I expected, has continued on this well-travelled well-worn harsh road. It is the road travelled by so many other European countries at the behest of Chancellor Merkel and Germany. It is the harsh road of protecting great vested interests and keeping public services expenditure in a continuing straitjacket. A cursory glance at the comprehensive expenditure report of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, confirms this view. The social protection budget, including social insurance payments by workers, has been cut by 1%, or €200,000, in budget 2015. The education budget will rise by only 0.7%, or €60.4 million, and includes continuing cuts in the school capitation grant and other charges from past budgets.

Even the health budget will increase by just 2.3% to €13.46 billion, despite the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, arguing time and again in the media that the 2014 outturn had to be at least €13.6 billion just to maintain basic hospital and patient services this year. The ongoing scandal of hospital waiting lists and extreme pressures on emergency departments, such as in Beaumont Hospital in my constituency, cannot be addressed by the Estimates before us. Deputies have already said that the health budget is a once again a phoney budget which will impinge heavily on the most vulnerable of our citizens - the sick - and that is certainly borne out when one looks at the full expenditure review. There is also a projected €130 million in savings in the health budget through procurement, drugs costs, agency costs, clinical audit and special investigation, but will this be achieved? We know what happened last year to the so-called probity medical card savings.

There are also major cuts in the budget for the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, at over 5%, and in the budget for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, at 2.6%. These two Departments are, of course, led by very inexperienced Ministers who perhaps did not distinguish themselves in other roles. The belated 42% increase in the environment budget is welcome, but the increase of 1.2% or €638 million in overall gross capital and current expenditure is hardly the dramatic end to austerity that was being hailed by the usual media chorus this morning.

I note that Ministers have been suggesting that lower- and middle-income families will be slightly better off after this budget. That is not the case when one takes into account the impact of water charges on household finances. Even with the subsidy for social protection payment recipients of €100 per year and the tax relief for income tax payers to a maximum of €100 per year, the net impact of water charges on many lower and middle income families will be to make them worse off. Today, I again call for the abolition of Irish Water, this unnecessary incubus with its cosseted, highly paid and unnecessary staff which effectively places a barrier between the work of this House and ordinary households and local authorities. There is also the nonsense we go through at present whereby we contact a post office box in Cork to get some type of response. It then contacts Fingal County Council, in my case, which then contacts me and Irish Water. It is a circle of totally unnecessary bureaucracy. Let us get rid of Irish Water. I hope the Acting Chairman, Deputy Twomey, will put that point of view to his party, because that party, with the Labour Party, is heading for annihilation at the next general election. The Government will lose at least 50 or 60 seats, between both parties, if Irish Water survives. It is a most unnecessary and unjust tax. Irish people will simply not accept it.

In the run up to the budget, Fine Gael Ministers and lobby groups such as the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, IBEC, continually raised the impact of the 52% marginal tax rate on middle and higher income earners. The Minister's proposed income tax changes, including the cut to the 41% rate, a higher entry point to the higher rate of €33,800 and the USC changes, are said to reduce the tax burden, but many of us have considered what the impact would be of a 1% or 2% cut in VAT overall. It must be recognised that all citizens are taxpayers and there must be recognition of the very regressive nature of consumption taxes such as VAT.

Budget 2015 contains a significant amount of tax expenditures, particularly for agri-business - I estimate that expenditure of approximately €30 million was announced yesterday by the Minister, Deputy Noonan - and other big business interests, which amounted to perhaps another €80 million, including the new knowledge development or patent box. Yet, other than preliminary headline figures for the cost of each new tax expenditure, we do not know the cumulative impact of tax expenditures on the public finances. For the past two decades of my membership of this House, the Minister and his predecessors have come to the House with a huge finance Bill mainly concerned with these tax expenditures, but we do not have any information or cost-benefit analysis on the cumulative impact of all of those expenditures. In fact, would we have had a budget deficit at all this year or last year or in any year since the crisis developed if we had not had such expenditures?

I welcome the proposed abolition of the "double Irish" tax arrangement, basically for the sake of our country's reputation. I also acknowledge the Government's commitment to retaining the 12.5% corporation tax rate. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, told me a few months ago that the average effective corporation tax rate was 10.7% or 10.9% since 2008, but I do not know what that means. What does it mean when we know that some huge companies are paying only 1% or 2%? Most of the citizens we represent would expect us to deliver a 12.5% tax rate. They pay the PAYE standard rate or 40% rate and the VAT rate, and they would expect corporations to pay the tax rate that this House has designated. We have always dodged that issue.

In the budget submission I made last week to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, I advocated two solidarity taxes to raise approximately €900 million. These were a new 48% income tax rate on individual incomes above €100,000, something I and a number of other Independent Deputies have proposed over the last few years, and a bank levy of at least €500 million, to continue through the years until the national debt-to-GDP ratio falls below 60%. Of course, there was never a chance of such a solidarity tax being introduced by a Fine Gael-led Government, and neither Minister had much to say yesterday about banking.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to offer my comments. Yesterday, unfortunately, was not the end of austerity, but a missed opportunity by two Ministers who might well regret it when we are all on the hustings, perhaps next year.

Deputy Róisín Shortall

There are a number of measures in the budget that I welcome. They are small measures but welcome nonetheless. The main ones include: the extension of BreastCheck; the increase, however small, in the living alone allowance; a partial return of the Christmas bonus, which is very small at 25% but better than nothing; the proposed family dividend, which I look forward to being rolled out fully; and some USC relief for people earning between €10,000 and €12,000. I also welcome the ending of the "double Irish" mechanism. With the exception of the "double Irish" measure, the other measures are all quite small. They are welcome but, in the context of the overall budget, they are just crumbs and do not go anywhere near compensating for the very regressive nature of this budget. The overall thrust of the yesterday's budget is regressive. It is not in the best interests of the country and it certainly is not in the best interests of creating a fair and cohesive society.

The handling of the budget was done through the usual, secretive process, in spite of the fact that we were told the process would be opened up. There is no reason it should be kept under wraps. Indeed, if anything, the process has become more secretive and more exclusive over recent years with the establishment of the Economic Management Council, EMC. Essentially, the process is very undemocratic. Four people and their advisers decide the budget, and it is rubber-stamped by the Cabinet and then rammed through this House. There is no element of democratic input into it, and that should not be the case. It does not happen in other jurisdictions. The figures should be laid out and we should be able to have a full discussion about what we are trying to achieve with the budget, what the aims and objectives are and the outcomes of the decisions that are taken. However, there appears to be no room for that type of open discussion.

The other point about this process, of course, is that it takes a long time for individuals or agencies to carry out an analysis of the budget so we can know what impact it has on different sections of society. The poverty proofing that had previously taken place has been ended, which is also a regressive step. We have a right to know who will be affected negatively or positively by any budgetary measures.

This was the first budget in a number of years in which there was some leeway to do something creative. Unfortunately, however, it has been a missed opportunity. The opportunity that presented to undo some of the worst excesses of austerity, such as the damage that has been done to the health service and to the education system, the under-funding of community child care and the running down of community services, was missed completely. There was not even a recognition that those services have been cut to the bone and that we must try to reverse some of those appalling cuts. There was no reference to that by any Minister yesterday.

With regard to income, the evidence is clear that over the course of the recession the people who paid the highest price in terms of cuts to their income were people in the bottom 10% and people in the top 10%.

As the latter were comfortably off in any case, they were well cushioned against the impact of austerity. Those in the bottom 10%, on the other hand, bore the brunt of income cuts and were also most affected by cuts in services. Instead of tackling this issue, however, the Government chose to avoid it entirely.

The Taoiseach signalled from an early stage that his priority in this budget was to cut the top rate of tax. It is difficult to understand this approach as it completely ignores the evidence which shows who was damaged most in the recession. The Government appears to have chosen to ignore the fact that only 18% of income earners pay tax at the top rate. It seems it does not regard the other 82% of the population as a priority. Having had a two-tier recession, it will now have a two-tier recovery.

I propose to speak briefly about the presentation of the budget figures. The Department of Finance has produced a book on the budget that includes eight illustrative cases. These provide the usual breakdown of different family types and different income levels and how are they are affected by the budget measures. Of the eight examples provided, seven relate to people in the top 18% of income earners, while only one relates to those who could be described as ordinary people, namely, the 82% of the population who do not pay tax at the top rate. It is clear from where the Government is coming in its budget measures. What I object to is that a document produced by the Department of Finance should support the Government's distorted portrayal of the effects of the budget.

I was struck, in particular, by the eighth example in the Department's book, which relates to an individual, "Laura", who has an income of €120,000 per annum. In her fortunate position she benefits from the budget to the tune of €687 per annum. I will cite an example that does not feature in the Department's book. Let us take a woman, "Maura", who earns €10,000 per annum as a cleaner. She will not receive any benefit from the tax changes in the budget, whereas Laura, who earns 12 times as much, will receive a benefit of more than €600. How on earth can that be regarded in any way as fair? It should also be noted that Laura, with her salary of €120,000, will receive relief on her water charges, whereas Maura-----

Deputy Tom Hayes

How many hours per week does Maura work?

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

I ask the Minister of State to allow Deputy Shortall to continue without interruption.

Deputy Róisín Shortall

Eighty-two percent of the population are in the same income bracket as Maura. Unlike Laura, on a salary of €120,000, Maura, with an income of €10,000, cannot obtain any relief on her water charges.

Deputy Tom Hayes

How many hours does Maura work per week?

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

Members may not interrupt.

Deputy Róisín Shortall

This example points to the deep inequity in the budget announced yesterday. It is remarkable that this inequity has received little mention in the past two days. The only conclusion one can reach is that this is because people in the political and commentator classes belong, by and large, to the 18% of the population who pay tax at the top rate.

The budget was presented in a misleading manner. It represents what the Government considers to be its priorities which do not include taking care of society or trying to redress the damage done. Instead, we have a political budget which favours those who are better off.

Deputy Billy Timmins

I thank Deputies Thomas P. Broughan and Róisín Shortall for sharing time with me.

I have an important question to ask about the budget. What advantages do self-employed persons who earn more than €100,000 enjoy when compared with those in the PAYE sector who earn more than €100,000? The Minister for Finance, the Secretary General of the Department and the chief executive of Irish Water will all pay the universal social charge at a rate of 8%, whereas self-employed persons on salaries in excess of €100,000 will pay the charge at a rate of 11%. What advantage do self-employed persons have over PAYE earners? Is there a belief that the former can avail of tax avoidance schemes? While most of these schemes have been removed, they were open to everyone. Is the Minister sending the unhealthy message that those who are self-employed may be involved in tax evasion? It is easy for the Minister for Finance to try to paper over various issues when he has €500 million or €600 million to throw around.

Deputy Róisín Shortall referred to the spin associated with the budget. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform engaged in a classic example of spin yesterday when he announced that he was increasing the allocation to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to €221 million, a €4 million increase on the previous year's allocation. He then stated capital funding for the Department would be €61 million - the figure should have been €62 million, but there was a typographical error in the text - which constitutes a decrease of €4 million on the allocation for the previous year. While the overall budget for the Department remained the same, it was presented in a manner that gave the incorrect impression that funding for it had increased. It was not necessary to engage in this spin.

Deputy Róisín Shortall referred to the various examples provided in the book compiled by the Department, one of which was related to a family with three young children on an income of €55,000 per annum. The family had a medical card. I am not sure how many families with three children and an income of €55,000 have a medical card, but I will table a parliamentary question to the Minister to ascertain the correct figure is because I am not aware of many such cases. It is important that any example provided is practical and applies across the board.

The 2014 budget sent a message to elderly people that they were not valued, even if the measures it introduced did not save much money. The 2015 budget sends a message to the self-employed earning more than €100,000 per annum, a significant sum, I admit, and those who earn more than €70,000 that they are the go-to bank for compensating for the Government's failure to properly implement policy. Irish Water is a good example of this failure. The company has lost the confidence of the entire population, as opposed to any one group, because it is viewed as a bureaucratic monster that must be fed. The Government must address this issue.

The concept of water charges was sold on two premises. People were told that an adequate amount of water would be provided free of charge to meet their basic needs. This has not occurred. They were also told that they were paying for water already. If that is the case, how are they being reimbursed? Until such time as these two issues have been addressed, water charges will remain a major problem. Charging for water should not create problems because most people believe abuse of the system should attract additional charges and meters are needed to this end. However, members of the public do not have any confidence in the system that has been introduced.

While I welcome some of the measures included in the budget, I cannot overstate the importance of the message being sent to those who create wealth by taking risks. Despite having access to few protections, they are not valued to the same extent as others. Irish people are happy to see individuals who go out to work being rewarded and they want to provide for those who are vulnerable or suffer from illness. However, they do not want people to engage in scams. In its efforts to address populist issues the Government has forgotten those who do a hard day's work and appears to be facilitating those who do not pull their weight.

On the measures announced for the agriculture sector, I welcome the changes in capital gains tax and stamp duty as they will help the development of agriculture. I regret, however, that the investment incentive scheme has not been extended to County Wicklow. I call on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Richard Bruton, to review the position. He should also consider the inclusion of Bray in the scheme that applies to the refurbishment of Georgian houses, especially as the town has many more houses that qualify as Georgian than Kilkenny city, for example. I do not know the reason a differentiated approach has been taken to the scheme. I tabled an amendment on the issue last year and will do so again this year.

The Minister might explain what advantage self-employed persons who earn €100,000 have over and above the Secretary General of the Department of Finance and the Minister for Finance.

Deputy Róisín Shortall

On a point of information, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, asked about the number of people in Maura's position. Some 500,000 are actually in her position and gain no benefit from the budget.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

I thank the Deputy, although it was not really a point of order. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, is sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, and Deputy Michael McNamara.

My Department will continue to work closely with the board and management of the agency to monitor performance and governance issues. In this regard, internal efforts to improve cost control and achieve the full benefits of cost containment measures initiated in 2014 are expected to be seen in 2015, particularly in respect of legal costs. I do not want to spend taxpayers' money on legal services which do not advance the cause of children.

The agency is working to develop and implement a commissioning strategy which will be designed to ensure the services it funds are clearly focused on specific outcomes for children and families and demonstrably cost-effective and efficient.

As regards capital funding, the 2015 provision for the agency is €12.4 million, an increase of €5.6 million on the figure for 2014. Among the important projects that will be advanced, as part of the agency's capital programme, are the next phase of the roll-out of the national child care information system and the related upgrade of the agency's ICT infrastructure. The 2015 provision will allow for some upgrading of special care facilities. There will also be resources available to support minor capital development works during the course of 2015, including the maintenance of existing facilities.

Reform is a common thread running through all areas of my Department's Vote in 2015. In the Child and Family Agency the reform programme will continue. Good progress is being made in advancing a wide-ranging and necessary programme of reform of child welfare and protection services. Particular areas of reform which are receiving priority attention include a stronger focus on the alignment of resources and processes to ensure referrals are subject to initial assessment, prioritisation and response in line with national policies; further development of the in-take-assessment policies to support and respond to increasing numbers of reports and ensure a continuing focus on implementation of standardised business processes; finalisation of plans for the roll-out of a model of out-of-hours service throughout the country; the development of a quality assurance framework; and piloting and initial roll-out of the national child care information system.

When making orders in child care proceedings that best serve the welfare and well-being of children, the courts must carefully weigh up all considerations. To inform this process from the child's perspective, the court may appoint guardians ad litem to represent the child who provide a very valuable service in that regard. However, it is also an expensive service. To ensure we have a service that is both high quality and cost-effective, my Department is working on proposals for the reform of guardian ad litem services. These proposals cover a range of matters, including the basis on which the service is operated, for example, the status and role of guardians ad litem and their qualifications, as well as the financial sustainability of the service. I intend that legislative proposals for this reform will be available early in the coming year.

The 2015 Estimate provision contains a sum of €375 million that will allow my Department to deliver a significant level of public services, as well as a number of new policy measures which I will address in the remainder of my statement.

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures is the first national policy framework for all children and young people from birth to age 24 years. To maximise resources and achieve the best outcomes, it takes a cross-government approach to working for children and young people. To bring the commitments in this framework to fruition, my Department is developing an implementation plan through engagement with partners across a range of Departments and statutory agencies. We are also in the process of establishing an advisory council which will harness expertise and experience both within the NGO sector and academia, as well as from independent experts and individuals who have specific expertise in working with and for children and young people. I am confident that the advisory council will play a crucial role in realising the goals of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures.

The Children First Bill 2014 which will put elements of the Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children on a statutory footing was published in April this year. The core aim of this programme for Government commitment is to raise awareness of the issues of child abuse and neglect and to clarify the role we all have to play in addressing them in order to improve the care and protection of all children. The Children First Bill aims to make the best safeguarding practice the cultural norm for anyone and everyone who works with children. It has completed Second Stage in the Dáil and I anticipate Committee Stage will be scheduled shortly. I reassure the House that, in recognition of the fact that this legislation will create new statutory obligations, the commencement date will be scheduled to ensure the range of sectors involved have adequate time to prepare for implementation.

I am pleased to say there will be no reduction in funding for youth services in 2015, which was a key priority for youth organisations and my Department. The Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services for young people throughout the country, including those living in disadvantaged communities. I have recently had the opportunity to meet a number of the organisations involved and was most impressed by the range and diversity of their work. Funding from my Department supports youth work provision for some 380,000 young people, involving approximately 1,400 staff in 477 projects, with the vital support of 40,000 volunteers nationwide. I express my thanks to these generous and selfless volunteers, without whom we could not hope to reach so many young people. In recognition of this valuable contribution, I am pleased to say €50 million has been allocated to support youth services throughout the country in 2015.

Looking to the future for youth services in Ireland, our focus is on building on the many positive steps which have been taken, particularly in the area of quality standards in services for young people. In this regard, the development of a new national youth strategy for ten to 24 year olds is a priority for me. The new youth strategy will cover the period to 2020. It is one of a number of whole-of-government strategies under Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures which sets out what we want to achieve for young people during this important developmental period.

I will announce shortly the details of a consultation process to capture views on issues to be addressed in the national youth strategy and will provide key stakeholders, in particular young people, with the opportunity to reflect on the emerging priorities. The consultation will include discussion on the recently completed value for money and policy review of the youth programmes that target vulnerable young people who are at risk of disadvantage. The review makes recommendations for the future operation of the youth programmes that will shape their development in the years ahead to ensure quality, effective and value-for-money services that are evidence based and secure the best outcomes for young people. I am keen to ensure that youth organisations, youth officers and others who are involved in the provision of services for young people have the opportunity to consider the review's recommendations and how they may be actioned in the roll-out of the new youth strategy in the years ahead.

The past few years have been challenging for youth services and reduced resources have impacted on the plans of many communities for their young people. I want to ensure, notwithstanding the significant challenges we currently face, that all of us work together in order that youth development is embedded in our actions and in activities for young people and that all our young people have brighter futures.

The area based childhood programme is an area based approach which was developed to help to reduce child poverty by improving outcomes for children. The ABC programme is jointly funded by my Department and Atlantic Philanthropies. It runs over the period 2013-16, with total funding of €30 million. The programme for Government committed to adopting an area based approach to child poverty, drawing on best international practice and existing services, to break the cycle of child poverty where it is most deeply entrenched. The increase in funding to €4.7 million reflects our commitment in this regard.

This Government recognises the vital importance of investment in the early years of children's lives. We know that supporting parents is an important element of this and to that end a number of childcare programmes targeted at low and middle income parents in education or training and those returning to paid employment are provided. In 2015, my Department will provide €260 million to support the childcare sector to enable children and parents access high quality and affordable childcare. The community childcare subvention programme, involving a network of 900 community childcare services, has provided a major source of support to disadvantaged families in recent years.

The introduction of the free pre-school year, the ECCE programme, was a major milestone in the development of childcare services. It builds on the established evidence of the value of this type of investment, namely that high quality formal childcare is linked with cognitive and developmental gains, in particular for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds. This universal and free programme is accessible to all children and ensures that a significant number of children can avail of quality pre-school services who would not otherwise be in a position to do so. The total number of children benefitting from support under the childcare programmes is more than 100,000.

There have been five additional early years inspectors recruited to strengthen early years inspections and it is expected that there will be a total of 49 early years inspectors in place by the end of 2014. The new national quality standards for early years services will be published shortly. In addition, a national early years quality support service is being introduced to provide mentoring support to services.

I warmly welcome the fact that the budget has allocated a further €19 million in capital investment funding towards the completion of the national children's detention centre project currently underway in Oberstown, Lusk, County Dublin. Under the Children Act, 2001 children are defined as all people up to the age of 18 years. This project is meeting a commitment in the programme for Government on no longer detaining children in adult prisons. Extra money will be made available for the 20 new staff currently undergoing orientation and training.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Tom Hayes)

At the outset of the budgetary process the Government was determined to build on the progress achieved in recent years in developing the agrifood sector, in particular to further contribute to the growth and prosperity the sector has achieved in recent years. I welcome the allocation of €110 million for the 2015 forestry programme. There is an allocation of €13.6 million for Bord na gCon, €7.2 million for the commercial horticulture sector and more than €6 million allocated for organics and the provision of €81 million for food safety and animal and plant health.

I also welcome the commitment given by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to €74 million in funding for the beef sector. The allocation for forestry is the largest share of the public capital programme in the Department. I welcome that it includes the forestry programme, the provision of grants for the establishment of new forests and the continuation of other forest support schemes such as forest roads.

The provision of Government funding has been a major factor in the development of this industry over the past number of decades. I am pleased that the Government has been able to commit €110 million towards its continued development. It was one of the best achievements in recent years. The sector was under significant pressure to source funding and has been able to do so. Many jobs have been created by the sector. There are now more trucks carrying timber across Ireland than there are hauling cattle. That tells one the impact forestry has on the rural economy, in particular at a time when jobs are so scarce.

The Government will continue to support the greyhound racing industry through the horse and greyhound fund. Last July I announced a review of certain matters in regard to Bord na gCon. Indecon produced a report and I will visit Bord na gCon in the next few days to make sure it is implemented. I am glad to say it has accepted the recommendations to put it on a road which will create jobs in rural areas and enhance tourism possibilities in many towns throughout the country.

The commercial horticultural sector has been allocated €7.2 million. I am delighted that provision of €4.2 million has been provided to fund capital investment in the horticultural sector and €3 million in funding will be provided for the food and horticultural promotion fund. The scheme of investment aid for the development of the commercial horticultural sector represents the main source of State funding for horticulture producers and is vital for improving growth, competitiveness and quality of output, as well as allowing growers to innovate and diversify production in a sector where output per annum is in the region of €300 million at farm gate. Many jobs are being created across the horticulture sector. The Irish consumer wants food that is produced locally and we have the land and climate to meet that demand.

My Department has allocated €81.5 million for food safety, animal health and welfare and plant health. This includes a broad array of measures, including meat inspection and brucellosis and TB testing. Such measures are important, given that we export what is probably the best food in the world and markets all over the world are opening up. We need to make sure we have high standards of food safety regulation which guarantees consumers that they are buying a quality product.

Some €6 million in extra funding has been allocated to the organic sector. When we launched the plan this year we wanted to encourage people into the sector. I travelled all over Europe and the market for the organic sector is significant. Only yesterday I attended a function in Bord Bia and saw the figures. There is a need for the sector to grow and I encourage farmers with suitable land to enter the sector.

All in all agriculture has benefitted from the budget. The Government is committed to developing the sector.

Deputy Michael McNamara

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, on the measures he has outlined, in particular those regarding forestry and horticulture. They are vital to our continued economic recovery.

It is important not to spend money providing incentives for organic produce while continuing to introduce regulations which make it more difficult to produce the product. I think in particular of non-pasteurised cheeses. While there is a valuable market for these cheeses, the level of testing being introduced makes it more difficult for producers to access markets. There is a balance to be struck in this regard.

In the brief time I have left, I will concentrate on water support measures. Yesterday, a number of water support measures were announced, including additional payments on the welfare side and tax credits on the taxation side. On the water support programme, a payment of €100 will be paid to all who qualify for the household benefits package. In addition, €100 per annum will be provided to all fuel allowance recipients who do not already receive the household benefits package. I have received confirmation from the Minister for Social Protection that this will apply to customers of Irish Water, but also to members of group water schemes, who have been paying for water for some time, and to people who incur the cost of their own supply. In regard to the tax credit, will this credit apply only to customers of Irish Water, or will it apply to members of group water schemes or people who incur the cost of maintaining their own supply in a given year? I would urge the Minister to ensure that in the interest of equity it applies to everybody. It would be quite unfair if customers of Irish Water obtained tax credits but people on group water schemes did not. I would question whether this would contravene EU law on state aid in the case of Irish Water, which is an off-balance-sheet company.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Liam Twomey)

I now call Deputy Robert Troy, who is sharing time with Deputy Tom Fleming.

Deputy Robert Troy

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate or, as referred to by the Mullingar Chamber of Commerce this morning, the launch pad for the 2016 general election.

Last Sunday morning, as I flicked through the Sunday papers, three stories caught my eye. They were about the Cabinet budget leaks, the by-election results and the water charges protest march. In regard to the Cabinet budget leaks, I could not help thinking that the only body with more leaks than the Cabinet is Irish Water. In regard to the by-election results, I asked myself why the people of Ireland - particularly the people I represent, most commonly known as the squeezed middle - have turned so much against the Government parties and political parties generally. Lest anyone does not know, the squeezed middle are the PAYE-, PRSI- and USC-paying workers of Ireland, small and medium-sized business owners, public and private employees, nurses, teachers, gardaí, soldiers and small farmers who have borne the brunt of the austerity cuts for the past seven years. Through their sacrifices they have carried this country through the recession and financed the civil protection measures for the poor and less fortunate of society.

If our hard-pressed people did not take to the streets in 2008, 2009 and 2010, when the bulk of the heavy lifting arising from the economic collapse was done by the then Fianna Fáil Government - the 2010 budget was described by Christine Lagarde as the most austere budget in the history of the State - why are they taking to the streets in such numbers now? They are taking to the streets because they see that the water charges, as introduced by the Government through the aegis of Irish Water, are fundamentally unfair and unjust. They see themselves once again shouldering an unreasonable portion of the burden.

Everybody knows that clean water does not come free, that dirty water cannot be treated for nothing and that we cannot preside over a situation in which there is continuous leakage. However, the cost of dealing with this situation must be distributed fairly and not piled onto the shoulders of the God-fearing, taxpaying citizens of the country while anarchists and their fellow travellers refuse to pay for anything. People are disgusted that these charges are being introduced before we have the proper infrastructure in place and before people in some parts of the country have an adequate, safe and clean supply of drinking water. They are disgusted that €180 million of their funds have been used to set up another quango. Will the drug dealers, the mobsters who control the illegal tobacco trade, the petrol stretchers, the diesel launderers and all the other parasites in the black economy be brought to book for their water charges, or will these charges all fall on the backs of the squeezed middle?

Irish Water has a director of communications who is perfectly clear on how staff bonuses will be paid, but cannot tell the hard-pressed taxpayers of this country how the water charges will be collected. The CEO of Irish Water is nearly as invisible as the Taoiseach at the time of an election debate. Now we have the farcical situation in which the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government said at lunchtime today that he had been personally working on easing the water burden for months. However, he was unable to say what support would be given to those people who cannot avail of the household benefits package and who do not pay tax. Does the Minister think the electorate is that gullible? The reliefs were cooked up over the weekend as a result of people protesting on the streets.

The Taoiseach often comes into the House and tells my party leader that he has a brass neck. The Taoiseach himself has a brass neck to come into the House and cast aspersions on members of my party - his predecessors - who had the courage of their convictions and put the national interest before party interest and self-preservation at a time when the current Government in opposition opposed everything. Now the Government, whose leaders cannot agree on an economic policy between them, have followed the Fianna Fáil strategy, and this has led to the satisfactory position the Minister for Finance finds himself in today.

It is worth noting that Christine Lagarde, an independent observer, stated that the 2010 budget, a budget so many people in this House opposed, was fundamental to the economic recovery we see today. However, the Taoiseach, like every other bully, tries to pick a ball of mud and hurl it at the nearest target. If Members do not believe me, let them ask Deputy Conlan or Deputy Shatter or one of the many others whom the Taoiseach has disposed of lately.

I have time for the Minister for Finance, who is gregarious and humorous at times. I recall a budget day when he likened the Irish economy to a stalled old car, with the Fianna Fáil Taoiseach of the day behind the wheel urging the then Minister for Finance to do a bit more tinkering with the economy with a view to buying the next election. I am disappointed that the wheel has gone full circle and that the moralist Deputy of those days is reduced to attempting to buy the next general election. He has reverted to the politics of old and is using borrowed money to buy votes at a time when we are currently spending the same amount on servicing our national debt as on our education budget.

This budget is about the choices that will shape the nature of society for many years. We believe it should emphasise the urgent need to improve services for citizens. After years of cuts, many of our core public services lie in tatters. We believe the focus of additional resources should be on the improvement of public services and the reversal of some of the most damaging cuts. At the same time, the budget should outline a pathway to reformed taxation over the next three years. We believe that spending on public resources such as education, health, social protection and child care is progressive in nature and benefits everyone, particularly those on lower incomes. In thinking of core services, I think of Tusla. It is a pity the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Reilly, is not in the Chamber. I find it amazing that Ministers expect everybody to remain in the Chamber to listen to them, but they do not want to listen to the comments or feedback of the Opposition. In its first year of existence, Tusla has had a budget overrun of €25 million.

The CEO of that new organisation, Gordon Jeyes, said it needed an additional €45 million just to stand still and a further €60 million to fill the vacant posts and finance essential new developments. What did the Minister, Deputy Reilly, come up with? He came up with just €26 million, which is 25% of what is needed.

What we are talking about here is the protection and welfare of children. There are social workers out there who are put to the pin of their collar. There are cases of family neglect and child neglect where social workers cannot intervene. Yet 160 posts are lying vacant and services are currently operating at 70% of their staffing level. I am bitterly disappointed that Deputy Reilly has failed in his first test as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in regard to the provision of an adequate budget for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

We have listened to report after report talking about the issue of affordability of child care. While I welcome the proposed family dividend of €29.80 per week through the Minister for Social Protection, it is a far cry from the Scandinavian model she promised when she changed the eligibility criteria for the one-parent family allowance. We now have a situation in which parents are prevented from going to work because of the cost of child care. We made a costed budget submission which would have seen the extension of the second preschool year to all children with special educational needs, the extension of the community child care subvention scheme to all service providers and the provision of support to working families earning more than the family income supplement threshold but less than the average industrial wage.

I will finish with a story. I recently attended a performance of "Les Misérables" in Mullingar. When I saw the water charges protest on Saturday last, I could not help comparing the squeezed middle of Ireland today to "les misérables" depicted in the Victor Hugo novel of 19th century France, who were driven to revolt by the tyranny imposed on them by the French Government. Two numbers from the show resonated with me, "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables". My thoughts were with all the young men and women, some friends and colleagues of my own and no doubt of people across the political divide, who, over the last three years, have seen their dreams of living, working and rearing a family in Ireland shattered. They have gone to the four corners of the world and have left their parents looking at empty chairs and empty tables.

Deputy Tom Fleming

In the build-up to this budget we had higher than expected economic growth, higher than anticipated tax revenue and a lower debt interest payment. However, the benefits of this have not crept down to the greater population and society, unfortunately. While there is some give in the budget, there is still a huge burden on our citizens, who are trying to cope after six years of crippling austerity budgets where €30 billion was taken out of the economy.

It is ironic that we are still one of the fastest-growing economies in the eurozone. This is mainly due to our high level of export trade, particularly with Britain and the USA, which are currently experiencing buoyancy and slow growth in their economies. Our economy probably turned the corner over 12 months ago, and the Central Statistics Office has recorded four quarters of solid, sustained growth. It is the first time in many years that the domestic economy has improved along with the very strong export trade.

It is encouraging to see that over the past two years, the numbers at work have increased by 65,000. These are full-time jobs, by and large, but over a third of the increase is among the self-employed and business start-ups, and, unfortunately, many of these will not survive, mainly due to difficulties with accessing credit and State supports. These businesses have had a very volatile time, with many obstacles in their way in trying to maintain their viability. Overall, the scale of unemployment is actually greater than the headline figure. In addition to the 250,000 who are actively seeking work, there are approximately 45,000 in short-term Government schemes who are counted as fully employed, although this is not the case, approximately 50,000 who have given up looking for work but who want a job and over 130,000 part-time workers who want full-time work. That brings the figure up to 500,000 people, and I am not taking into account the thousands who have emigrated in recent years and would like to return. It is a frightening scenario, to put it mildly.

The Minister, Deputy Noonan, rightly stated that small and medium-sized enterprises are the lifeblood of our economy. I welcome the budget initiatives and, if they are belated and too little in some ways, they represent some support to the SME sector in regard to access to finance through loans and the seed capital scheme. However, we must be mindful of the fact that over 99% of Irish firms are SMEs and 69% of private sector employees work for an SME. It is evident, therefore, that growth in employment will be dependent on the growth of smaller businesses. To take the current employment boom in the UK as an example, this upsurge has its roots in people becoming self-employed and starting businesses and, more broadly, in the growth of SMEs due to appropriate state supports in that country.

Ireland reveals its antipathy towards small businesses via the tax system. There is absolutely nothing in this budget to address the historical anomaly that sees us bend over backwards to accommodate the tax desires of larger non-Irish companies while we design domestic taxes to penalise the self-employed. Very obvious in this regard is the fact that the top marginal rate is 55% for the self-employed rather than the 52% which applies to the general workforce, when there is no rational explanation for this difference. There is also discrimination against low-income enterprises, stemming from having tax credits for all workers except the self-employed, which has the bizarre effect of penalising the lower-paid self-employed worker. There was an opportunity to signal a change in attitude towards the self-employed with a drastic simplification of the tax code. There was huge scope to act in this budget to alleviate the problems that exist but, unfortunately, this opportunity was missed.

On foreign direct investment, IDA Ireland has failed with regard to regional development and attracting investment for job creation outside Dublin and the industrial zones of Cork and Galway. There has been progression of the industrial clusters, particularly along the east coast and centring on the Dublin region. The statistics show that unemployment rates are up to 40% higher outside the capital, which is a serious indictment of our policy of attracting foreign direct investment. It clearly shows there is a need for a more focused regional enterprise strategy, and this needs to be acted on in the immediate future.

I recently tabled a parliamentary question for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton. It was very revealing that my own county of Kerry has had only one visit in the past nine months from IDA Ireland accompanied by an investor.

I think this is reflective of what is happening throughout rural Ireland. There are several other counties in the same situation. The three Ministers here should take note of that and convey the message to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in particular that this must be looked at. I welcome the fact that broadband is being extended. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has visited Kerry recently and has made good announcements. It is very positive. In tandem with that, we need to get employment opportunities for our people to keep them at home, particularly our young people.

Youth unemployment stands at over 26% when the standard is in the region of 12% or 13%. In the 18 to 25 age group, the rate is 26% while the rate for those over 35 is about 10%. This is not good enough. I welcomed the announcements by the former Minister of State, Brian Hayes, and all the positive things that have happened in the budget but we are dependent on vibrant agricultural and tourism industries. Both these sectors are vital to our economic revival.

The agri-taxation measures are positive and will lead to the promotion of activity in farming through facilitating active farmer participation and helping young farmers get established and acquire a more practical, long-term lease of land. Up to 55,000 farmers are leasing land and there is now a greater incentive for longer leases as well as the introduction of measures to hand over land to the next generation. The incentive for the 15-year leasing scheme is very attractive for both landowners and the proactive farmer. However, the fact that inter-family leases are not catered for is a serious omission and the exclusion of inter-family long-term land leases from the higher income tax exemption should be amended. It should be treated as a business venture even within a family, recognised and accepted. I believe there is a need to reverse and amend this provision immediately when the Finance Bill comes before the House. A farmer who leases land to a family member does not benefit from this higher income tax exemption while they would benefit from it if they leased to someone outside the family. This leaves the family member at a disadvantage.

The increase from three to five in income averaging is also very welcome because farming is a volatile business due to global markets. All these outside influences are having an effect. I welcome this strategy and the other announcements here, including the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality industry.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The next speaking slot is shared by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Deputy Alex White)

How much time do I have?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Fifteen minutes.

Deputy Alex White

Budget 2015 is the first recovery budget. The era of tax rises affecting low and middle-income earners and cuts in public services is now over. Budget 2015 will help secure employment and a sustainable economic and social recovery for Ireland and our people. Its reliefs are targeted at low and middle-income earners, especially families who have borne such a heavy financial burden over the last number of years. We said that austerity would not last forever and that our collective effort would not be in vain. It is a testament to the resilience of the Irish people and the sacrifices they have made that we are now entering a period of progress and recovery.

No budget cuts were announced yesterday. The spending announcements of budget 2015 have been designed to be sustainable, to assist low and middle-income families and to invest strategically in rebuilding our society. There will be an €800 million investment in social housing for 2015, beginning with 2,500 social housing units being built next year. Funding from budget 2015 will result in 900 new classroom teachers, 480 new resource teachers and 365 new special needs assistants.

The tax cuts of budget 2015 are progressive measures that target low and middle-income earners. An increase in the threshold at which USC becomes payable will take 80,000 out of the charge altogether. In total, this means that 410,000 people will have been taken out of the USC since 2012. Middle-income earners who continue to pay USC will pay less. The first rate of USC will fall from 2% to 1.5% and the second rate of USC will fall from 4% to 3.5%. Proportionately, the benefits of tax relief are far greater for low and middle-income earners than for those earning more than €70,000 a year. Therefore, contrary to the charges made by the Opposition, the income tax changes are clearly progressive. Lower paid workers get a bigger percentage reduction in their tax. Deputy Martin stated earlier that the largest benefit is being given to the highest earners. This is manifestly not so. The largest benefit - proportionate to income - is being given to lower and middle-income workers. That is something that perhaps Deputy Adams needs to understand as well with his empty charges of tax breaks for the wealthy and a suggestion that the budget was rewarding the highest earners first and foremost. Of course, this is manifestly not so.

Budget 2015 strikes the right balance between boosting growth, stimulating employment, protecting low and middle-income earners and reducing our deficit and debt levels. The very parameters of this budget debate reflect the progress our economy has made. Tax revenue is ahead of profile. The CSO figures in September showed that the Irish economy grew by 7.7% in real GDP terms and by 9% in GNP terms year on year. Most important, employment numbers have increased and unemployment is dropping consistently and steadily. The latest CSO figures released in September showed that unemployment now stands at 11.1%, down from the 2012 peak of 15.1%. There is every prospect that unemployment will soon be below 10% signifying that a strong recovery is in place.

The work of my Department is central to putting the economy back on a sustainable path. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is committed to ensuring that the infrastructure exists for families, businesses, our society and our economy to thrive and reach their full potential. Delivering high-speed, high-quality and future-proofed broadband to all parts of Ireland is a top priority for the Government. This will provide jobs and improve social inclusion, including in the rural communities referenced by Deputy Tom Fleming a few moments ago, by creating the infrastructure that allows businesses and communities to thrive. To this end, we are in the process of ensuring that high-speed broadband becomes available to every citizen and business in the country irrespective of their location.

We are facilitating the expansion of commercial provision and actively preparing a State intervention to provide high-speed broadband infrastructure to approximately 700,000 homes and businesses which are otherwise unlikely to be served by commercial providers. Over the coming weeks, we will publish detailed maps which will show the areas where commercial providers are or will soon be in place and those where State intervention is required. A full public consultation on these maps will follow allowing operators, consumers and citizens to share their views. Intensive design work is progressing in my Department, including the preparation of a comprehensive intervention strategy to be published in mid-2015 with a view to launching a major public procurement process to identify a preferred company or companies to implement this phase of the national broadband plan.

While 2015 will be a crucial year for the advancement of the national broadband plan, the introduction of a national post code system will also be significant. A unique seven-character code will be allocated to every letter box in the State by the middle of 2015. This will become a vital part of the national infrastructure with improved efficiencies for postal delivery and other public and private services.

As Minister with responsibility for energy, it is my task to ensure a safe, sustainable, economic and cost-effective energy sector irrespective of whether the consumer is a householder, small start-up business, multinational or one of our younger citizens needing access to a warm, comfortable room for play, study or rest. Consultation is now advancing on the Green Paper published by my predecessor, Deputy Rabbitte, so that the drafting of our definitive energy policy white paper will follow in the first half of 2015 and publication by the summer of next year.

The ultimate goal is an energy policy that steers an appropriate course between sustainability, security and competitiveness for the ultimate benefit of society. For the fourth year in a row we will deliver better energy programmes across the country. These programmes have successfully delivered significant energy savings, created jobs, tackled fuel poverty and helped to reduce carbon emissions. The allocation for the better energy programme will total €47 million in 2015 and will assist in achieving energy savings of more than 460 GWh next year, which will make a significant contribution towards our 2020 energy efficiency targets. It will also support an estimated 2,900 jobs and significantly reduce carbon emissions. The better energy warmer homes scheme will continue to receive substantial funding in 2015. That programme provides free energy efficiency measures to low-income households. More than 10,000 homes are expected to benefit from an energy efficiency upgrade in 2015, bringing to 118,000 the total number of households that have benefitted under this programme.

My Department is also responsible for the national digital strategy, which is a progressive programme of investment and intervention that will strengthen Ireland's digital economy so that it supports further job creation. The trading online voucher scheme introduced in 2014 is being continued in 2015 with funding of €3 million. I welcome the co-operation we have received from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to ensure this scheme was a success. The scheme gives small enterprises up to €2,500 towards the cost of online trading investment and aims to get 2,000 small businesses trading online. Ensuring that citizens are equipped to participate in an increasingly digital world is another objective of the national digital strategy. In 2014, we passed a milestone of 100,000 people trained in the use of basic online technologies. In 2015 we will continue to fund this programme, which is delivered nationwide through a network of approximately 700 community-based organisations. In the last three years, the Government has delivered 100 MBps connectivity to every second level school in Ireland, allowing teachers and students to use technology to enhance educational outcomes. A series of workshops to support schools was also organised, and we will continue to support this initiative in 2015. We will also continue our support of the Digital Hub Development Agency based in Dublin 8, which supports over 70 digital enterprises employing almost 800 people. The National Digital Research Agency, NDRA, based at the Digital Hub, will continue to be Exchequer-supported in 2015. Spending in 2015 for the NDRA and the Digital Hub will be €5.5 million.

Public service broadcasting is an indispensable element of our democracy and helps facilitate our national conversation by informing, educating and entertaining. Over €242.47 million in TV licence revenues will flow through my Department's Vote next year to fund the delivery of public service broadcasting by RTE and TG4.

The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will continue its strategic role in ensuring that infrastructure development continues at a strong pace in order to advance a balanced and sustainable economic and social recovery. As Ireland moves beyond the painful era of economic crisis and into a recovery phase, it is vital that we do not repeat the boom-and-bust economics of Fianna Fáil or adopt the reckless and populist policies of Sinn Féin. The people of Ireland have worked too hard to reach this tentative recovery for it to be scuppered now. The decisions the Government has made in budget 2015 herald a new phase in the process of economic and social recovery for all of our citizens. We still face significant challenges, but I am glad to say that our country's darkest days are behind us.

Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Deputy Gerald Nash)

This is a budget for working people, for families, for vulnerable groups and for those on low and middle incomes. It marks a turning point for our people, who, after seven years of economic hardship, tough decisions and sacrifices, can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. This budget aims to cement the hard-fought recovery, but it also aims to repair our society and ensure that everybody gets to share in the new prosperity. As a result of the combined measures announced yesterday by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, people will have a modest amount of additional money in their pockets. Increases in child benefit, the partial restoration of the Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients, changes to the universal social charge, assistance with water charge payments and targeted changes to income tax mean that people will have a little extra.

As the chair of the retail consultation forum in my Department, I am aware that shop owners in every town and village across the country welcome these measures. They mean that more money should flow through retailers to stimulate the economy and, in turn, create additional jobs in a sector which already employs 10% of our entire workforce. Retail has taken an almighty hammering since the economic collapse in 2007, as incomes crashed and consumption and demand declined dramatically.

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, announced that we will be establishing a low pay commission. This will take the politics out of low pay by establishing an independent body to advise the Government on the appropriate level for the national minimum wage based on the evidence it gathers. We want to ensure that people who are on the lowest wages, who have borne the brunt of this recession, share in the recovery we are now enjoying. It is critical that the jobs created provide decent employment with adequate pay and fair conditions. I intend to finalise the terms of reference for the commission's work and appoint commissioners shortly with a view to ensuring that the work can commence before the end of this year.

This Government's priority continues to be job creation. As Minister of State with responsibility for the SME sector, I am pleased with the measures announced yesterday aimed at boosting job creation and assisting SMEs, which are the lifeblood of employment in this nation. SMEs account for 99% of all businesses and they employ 70% of the workforce. They are vital to our economy. We are protecting the funding for local enterprise offices, which are the first stop for small business supports, at €18.5 million. We are also renewing our focus on creating jobs in the regions, with new funding for Enterprise Ireland. A new start-up relief for entrepreneurs, SURE, scheme will help people, including the long-term unemployed, to start their own businesses. This is in many ways a revised seed capital scheme. We are also dealing with the issue of finance for growth in order to provide non-bank funding for SMEs, including an improved employment and investment incentive scheme which will see the amount of finance that can be raised by a company rise to €5 million annually, subject to a lifetime maximum of €15 million. We will also extend the capital gains tax exemption for three years to start-ups which are employing people. In the area of access to credit for SMEs, we are improving the credit guarantee scheme and making improvements to the microfinance approach. My colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, has already noted that the Government has secured an additional €3 million in funding to get an additional 1,000 small businesses trading online. Irish companies are losing fortunes because of their inadequate online trading presence. These online trading vouchers will be made available through the local enterprise offices, as was the case last year. The local enterprise offices have already developed a strong presence in this area and they are strongly committed to encouraging SMEs to trade online.

My Department has secured an increase of 2% to fund agencies such as IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, which have a focus on increasing the number of jobs and supporting SMEs and start-ups in various sectors of the economy. More than 50,000 new jobs are expected to be supported next year as a result of our continued investment in these critical agencies. Our goal remains firmly fixed on ensuring that the economic recovery is cemented and shared by the people of this country. This budget marks a turning point for all of us. Families, older people and low and middle income earners will all benefit from the measures introduced yesterday. Businesses will remain competitive and, through shared prosperity, all Irish people will begin to feel the recovery in their everyday lives and their standards of living.

Deputy Michael Colreavy

The Minister, Deputy White, spoke about the largest beneficiaries in proportion to income and suggested that low wage earners were proportionately getting more than those on large incomes.

I do not profess to be a mathematician, but if I am on €200 per week and get a 5% increase, I make it out to come to €210 per week. If I was lucky enough to be on €1,000 per week and got a 2% increase, it would raise me to €1,020 per week. It would be a €20 rather than a €10 increase. The €210 a week guy will not be raising a glass to the Government on the budget, but the guy on €1,020 might go so far as to raise a small glass of sherry to say "Thank you very much, Government." That is as far as my knowledge of mathematics extends.

The Government had choices in the budget. According to its own figures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is falling, allowing greater leeway in determining fiscal policy. However, the Government did not make fair choices that would have assisted the most disadvantaged people in our society. The budget could and should have been a great deal better for low and middle income earners, and Sinn Féin's alternative budget demonstrated that this could be done. The Government should have abolished the property tax and water charges. Sinn Féin has demonstrated that the Government could have ended both taxes and put €800 million back into the economy and the pockets of struggling families. Austerity has severely damaged many communities throughout Ireland. Emigration, coupled with a failure to invest, has ensured that communities, particularly those in rural areas such as the one I represent, have been left in the wilderness. Choices could have been made by Government to develop communities and attempt to bring a new lease of life to these areas.

On my own brief, I was perturbed somewhat by the statement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, yesterday that money being used for the development of social housing was coming from the sale of Bord Gáis Energy. While I welcome the fact that the Government is finally waking up and addressing the crisis in social housing, two wrongs do not make a right. The sale of State assets should not be considered by the Government to be an appropriate means to fund public goods and services. State assets are of themselves a benefit to the State and they can and should be used as an efficient and effective means of job creation. Will the Government attempt to sell Irish Water as a means to raise funds for another project as a result of the failure to raise funds through progressive taxation?

Sinn Féin outlined a number of progressive tax measures in its alternative budget. I am disappointed that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, is not including petroleum in his review of taxation on marine wealth. Therein lies a progressive tax option that the Government could have studied and adopted. A State oil and gas company and a progressive tax system surrounding our offshore petroleum wealth could reap benefits for the State.

I note the cut in funding for TG4 in this year's budget. Not only is TG4 essential to the development and promotion of the Irish language, it is an important element of an alternative and diverse media environment.

Sustainable energy is essential not only for the environment but for our economy. The development of renewable sources of energy must be a priority for the Government. I note a cut to the sustainable energy programme, which is down from €49 million to €40 million, according to the budget papers. This does not fit with the statement that we are going to increase our work on renewable energy.

Overall, I found it a tad unnerving to see Government backbenchers clap and cheer during yesterday's budget debate. Was the noise an attempt to smother unpalatable facts, or have Deputies on the Government benches become so punch-drunk in the face of austerity that it took them longer than the general public to understand what is happening here? The so-called neutral budget does nothing to reverse the damage to public services, does little to support real job creation, gives most financial relief to the already wealthy and will not give back even a fraction of what has been taken by stealth from our poor and our low and middle income earners. The only aspect of the budget that the general public is pleased about is that there will be an election by early 2016 at the latest. For some people, it cannot come early enough.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

Yesterday, the Minister Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation issued a statement claiming that capital expenditure for his Department had been increased by €50 million and that the Government would create 50,000 new jobs in 2015. When I looked at the actual figures, I could not get over it. There was actually a reduction in capital of €4 million, not an increase. As for creating 50,000 jobs in 2015, I note that the Government has created only 47,100 net new jobs in three and a half years. There were 5,000 new jobs in the first six months of this year, while 28,000 young people have left the labour market since the Government took office. That puts the promise of 50,000 jobs into perspective.

The previous Minister spoke about some of the actions the Government is going to get involved in. One of my major arguments concerns the mismatch between the Government's ambition and the country's needs. The Minister said 118,000 houses would be insulated during the Government's term of office. There are 1.8 million houses in the State, which means the Government will not even touch 10% of that. There is funding available to do it if the Government had enough ambition. On a yearly basis, billions of euro migrate from normal retail to online sales. Most of that goes outside the State, but the Government intends to train up only 2,000 businesses. The Government speaks about stimulus on a regular basis, but I cannot get over the fact that the total capital increase in yesterday's budget was €210 million, €180 million of which will be spent on new social housing in 2015. That represents 2,000 houses, when there are 89,000 households on the housing waiting lists. If the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, does the maths, he will see that at 2,000 houses a year, it will take over 40 years to get to the bottom of the current housing crisis.

There has been a great deal of back and forth on budgetary holes in various parties' budget alternatives, but if there is a hole it is the gaping stimulus hole in the Government's budget with regard to capital spend. Even the Government's friends in the International Monetary Fund, who are hardly champions of Keynesian policy, have stated that there is a necessity in these times for stimulus and that there is an investment efficiency in stimulus in recessionary times as it is cheaper. Yet the extra €210 million that the Government, in its infinite wisdom, has provided on a bright sunny day when the country is just turning around will create 833 new long-term jobs. That represents just 0.02% of the live register.

The low pay commission is one of the issues that is seemingly very important to the Labour Party. We are told it will happen by the end of 2015, but 300,000 workers today are working for less than the living wage, which is €11.45. The OECD has already done the research for the Government and said that Ireland is the second worst country with regard to poverty in work in the whole of the OECD. Ireland is just behind the USA, which is infamous for inequality. Given the urgency of the issue, why is the Government back-ending the commission right up against a possible general election next year?

Most of the SME measures announced in the budget are simply resuscitated existing measures which have flopped so far. It is too late for the credit guarantee scheme, which involves approximately €15 million and just 110 companies creating or maintaining just 870 jobs. The scheme was intended to create €450 million in credit and to assist 4,000 separate businesses. Again, it is an issue of ambition versus reality. Just 186 companies benefitted from the employment and investment incentive scheme last year, which is nowhere near what it should have been. The strategic banking corporation of Ireland has yet to be put in place. That one in four SMEs and one quarter of the loan balance are in arrears points again to the issue of reality versus ambition.

Tá cúrsaí sna Gaeltachtaí go huafásach faoi láthair. Le cúig bliana anuas, tá buiséad Údarás na Gaeltachta scriosta ag Fine Gael, Páirtí an Lucht Oibre agus Fianna Fáil. Sa bhliain 2007, fuair Údarás na Gaeltachta €22 milliún sa bhuiséid caipitil. Tá laghdú 74% tar éis teacht ar sin. Anois ní fhaigheann sé ach €5.6 milliún in aghaidh na bliana. Níl slad cosúil le seo feicthe againn in aon cheann de na heagraíochtaí fiontar eile, Fiontar Éireann nó an IDA. Ní féidir leis an údarás feidhmiú I gceart níos mó. Ní féidir leis a chuid dualgas a fhorlíonadh ar chor ar bith nó na scéimeanna teanga a chur i bhfeidhm. Caithfidh an Rialtas dul ar ais go dtí an Bille Airgeadais agus, ar a laghad, €3 milliún a chur leis an mbuiséad don údarás chomh tapaidh agus is féidir.

Deputy Dara Calleary

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, on his appointment and wish him every success in his new role. He is certainly getting a baptism of fire.

Government Deputies getting carried away on the back of yesterday’s budget pronouncements should keep an eye on today’s international markets, which show the weakness of the world economy. So many of the promises and expenditure commitments made yesterday were based on the assumption of a strong world economy. Ireland is still the most open global economy and depends very much on exports. The US trade figures released several days ago suggest a weakening US economy, however. As we are entering a period of considerable uncertainty in the Middle East, as well as uncertainty over global health issues, I wish there were more prudence on the part of Members opposite, as well as respect for some of the different arguments made on this side.

Yesterday, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation published a statement announcing that IDA Ireland would invest in creating 13,000 new jobs in 2015. This is what the agency has done for the past two years. As Deputy Tóibín said, this shows a complete lack of ambition and willingness in the Department to push the job creation agencies. We have the best development agency in the world in IDA Ireland, but it has to be pushed. Net losses for IDA jobs last year came to 6,296. When taken from the new net jobs created, 13,367, the total number of jobs created actually came to 7,071. It will look more or less the same for 2014.

Similarly, the Minister said Enterprise Ireland would create 13,000 new jobs this year, as it did last year. After everyone has cheered, when one takes the losses out one can see that only 5,542 net jobs were created. Between the two agencies, they created only one set of the promised 13,000 jobs. That again shows the predominance of spin over substance and announcements over actual jobs which characterises the Minister’s tenure in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

For this reason, we must focus and put an emphasis on local entrepreneurs and local enterprises. Initially, I welcomed the establishment of the LEOs, local enterprise offices. Four months on, however, I am sceptical as to their impact on the ground and their consistency across the country. I am concerned that Enterprise Ireland, as the lead and parent organisation of LEOs, did not and could never understand the role of the local entrepreneur who is not interested in being an exporter or flying around the world and for whom tax breaks for spending time out of country mean nothing. I see nothing in this budget that will assist the local entrepreneur.

I welcome the extension of the trading online scheme, but only €5 million will be spent on it this year and only €3 million next year. We should be putting more money into this scheme to get more people to trade online. For retail, online is the future. No matter how small a retail outlet is, if it is not online it does not have a future, because the generation coming after us - the generation of the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris - will do everything online. The notion of fluttering around shops will be utterly alien to them. Again, this measure shows there is no ambition or absolute hunger within the Department to pursue new avenues when it comes to enterprise.

Last week during the Roscommon-South Leitrim by-election, I met a gentleman who will soon employ six people in Carrick-on-Shannon and is hoping to expand his business in Athlone. The first communication he got from a State agency was from Roscommon County Council informing him that he owed €6,500 in rates on the building in which his business was based. There was no mention of the contact details for the LEO, the employment incentive scheme or the various other enterprise schemes that the Government trumpets. Essentially, before he opens his door to do business, he is told to give the local authority €6,000, and never mind his potential to create jobs. That culture that pervades the permanent government came across yesterday too. The support of entrepreneurship was just words. The Minister for Finance said small and medium-sized enterprises were the lifeblood of the economy, but then slapped a 3% tax increase on entrepreneurs who earn over €100,000 as opposed to a PAYE earner on the same. At the same time, he introduced a welcome scheme to encourage more executives in multinational companies to relocate here. For an executive in a multinational company with all the backup that provides, we will roll out the red carpet and change the tax code. However, we will hammer a local entrepreneur who puts his or her neck on the line every day of the week for an extra 3% if their earnings go over €100,000. That is not the culture we need. We need a culture that says to someone who has the guts and courage to put their neck on the line to start up a business that we will support them. We also need to say that if it is not successful, we will support them in getting back on track. There is nothing in the budget in this regard, however.

I have lost count of the number of promises made by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation about the launch of the new regional enterprise strategy. He promised it would be before the end of December, but IDA Ireland has said it will be in the first quarter of next year. While IDA Ireland continues to pump investment into the big cities at the regions’ loss, we are recreating all the problems of pressure on property and rental values. We cannot continue to ignore the regions.

Dúirt an Teachta Tóibín nach bhfuil aon toradh ann don údarás. Tá buiséad an údaráis scriosta agus níl tuiscint ar bith ag an Rialtas do na fadhbanna atá ag gnóthaí sna Gaeltachtaí. Tá sin soiléir ón mbuiséad a d'fhoilsigh an tAire Stáit, an Teachta McHugh, inniu, mar níl toradh ar bith ann do na daoine atá ag iarraidh gnóthaí a bhunadh sna Gaeltachtaí nó sna réigiúin. Regardless of whether it is a Gaeltacht or a region, there is little interest in supporting those economies.

We in County Mayo were expecting an announcement on the long-term support of Ireland West Airport Knock. Up to 700,000 passengers will go through the airport this year. It employs 110 people, contributing more to the State in PAYE and PRSI than the State contributes in its subvention. It needs support. I make no apology for laying this on the table of my constituency colleague, the Taoiseach. It is time for him to put up or shut up. It is time to remember that this airport is not just for Mayo but for the region. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, had no problem in putting on the Limerick and Munster jerseys when it came to bailing out Shannon Airport. It is time the Taoiseach put on the jersey for the west and supported Ireland West Airport Knock. We are not looking for a handout but for an investment that will repay itself many times over.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, earlier spoke about the budget being the right balance. Many Labour Party Ministers have patted themselves on the back about this budget, claiming we are on the road to recovery. For the past 20 months I have been working on the case of a smashing young fellow with Down’s syndrome. It is incredible what the system has made his parents go through just to get a GP card - not the medical card for which they originally applied - and the LTI, long-term illness, book. The boy’s mother informed me this morning that while they are grateful for both, they have been turned down for the child’s standing equipment, walking aids and back and harness supports.

She received a letter recently stating that the LTI scheme does not cover these items. The e-mail goes through the prices, and the woman says that her husband is handy at fixing things. The physio has been helping by ringing around to see if anyone is finished with aids. Her husband has welded a few pieces on and the physio is happy enough, but would prefer one that was not broken. The physio also told the woman that the child would not walk until he was three years old and that it would take longer if he did not get the equipment he needs. We cannot talk about recovery and a fair budget while we allow that to happen - while we allow the parent of a child with Down's syndrome or any disability to be put through the wringer by this system, or while we delay a child's being able to walk because we do not provide him with aids. The Government should not talk about recovery, getting the right balance or fairness while this happens on the Government's watch.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Deputy Simon Harris)

I propose to share time with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and Deputy Dominic Hannigan.

I thank Deputy Dara Calleary for his good wishes. With regard to his point about the difficulties faced by the family he mentioned, we all have similarly difficult examples in our constituency offices and tangible examples of what we must get right in the health budget and by moving beyond a blanket moratorium.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget, which I view as the first post-crisis budget. That is not to engage in what some Opposition Members accused the Government of doing - that is, self-congratulation, patting ourselves on the back, or popping Champagne corks. It is still a difficult time for people and unemployment is too high. There are too many people in mortgage arrears and struggling to make ends meet. We still have high debt levels. However, the firefighting of the Irish economy is truly over and we have choices about what to do with economic growth. We have choices about the kind of economy we want to create. Yesterday, the Government made an honest attempt to outline where it wants to go. One of the two things it did was to invest in crucial public services that Deputies on all sides agree have been under massive pressure over the past eight years. We will look at lifting the blanket moratorium on recruitment, empowering public service managers to make better decisions on recruitment, investing in health and providing a realistic budget, and providing teachers and SNAs to deal with demographic change. We will also look after social protection issues and begin to acknowledge the role played by older people, carers and people with disabilities in regard to the difficulties they have faced over the past number of years.

On the tax side, we have begun the process of trying to reduce the burden on working people. I feel aggrieved at the misinformation about what the Government has done with regard to tax and low-paid workers. Some Opposition Members have attempted to engage in misinformation about low-paid workers. It does not stand up to scrutiny and I wish to put statistics on the record in that regard. Every worker who pays income tax, the USC or both will see a reduction in income tax or USC in this budget. After the budget, single PAYE workers earning €25,000 will have their tax bills cut by 4.6%, whereas the tax bill of someone earning €70,000 is cut by only 2.9%. That is progressive. After the budget, 80% of Ireland's taxes will be paid by the top 24% of earners, an increase as a result of the budget. Yesterday, before the budget, the top 1% of earners paid 19% of the total income tax and USC take in the country. After the budget, that 1% will pay 21%, another increase in the proportion it pays. After the budget, 80,000 more low earners will no longer have to pay any USC, in addition to the 330,000 workers already taken out of USC net. After the budget, 410,000 real live people will not be paying the USC who were paying it when this Government came into office. After the budget, low-paid workers will have more money in their pockets. The Tánaiste outlined that we will also establish a low pay commission in 2015.

Low-paid workers have been prioritised in yesterday's budget and we have given every child an additional €5 in child benefit in order to make life easier for families. Vulnerable households will be supported in paying for water services and all taxpayers will benefit from a tax credit in this regard. All long-term welfare recipients will receive a Christmas bonus of 25% of the weekly payment, and one of the first budgetary acts of the Government was to increase the minimum wage by €1 per hour and restore it to its previous rate. Members should feel free to criticise this budget for not going far enough and for not doing as much as we would like to, because we would all like to invest more in our health service and schools and to give more back to people. Members should be honest in their critique of yesterday's tax arrangements, because they favour and benefit low- and middle-income workers. There is nothing wrong with introducing income tax changes that benefit every worker in the State, because we must incentivise work. People should not try to portray this budget as something it is not, something targeting taxes on lower earners. The statistics do not show that. As a result of yesterday's budget, higher earners will pay a greater proportion of the total income tax take and 410,000 low-paid workers will no longer pay the USC.

I hope to announce a new financial services strategy in 2015. There was much talk yesterday about corporation tax reform, and the Minister for Finance has published a roadmap on it. The key element will be ensuring our financial services are fit for purpose. The last strategy was put in place at a time when the country was in crisis. Some 33,000 people work in the financial services sector and I look forward to putting in place a new financial services strategy that the country, including private and public stakeholders, can sell when we present Ireland as a destination for investment and international banking and as a destination for more jobs in Dublin and, potentially, every town and village in the country.

Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Frances Fitzgerald)

The budget announced yesterday marks a significant step forward for Ireland. It is a budget that is fair, progressive - as just outlined by the Minister of State - responsible and forward-looking. It is fair in respect of the 80,000 people taken out of the USC net and it provides for thousands of much-needed social housing units to be built over coming years. It supports families in which the parents return to work and makes support for those people a priority. It provides more opportunity for people to move into the workplace, get education and get training. The best way out of poverty is through job opportunities.

It is progressive in that the changes announced to income tax and USC will benefit low- and middle-income workers earning up to €70,000. It is responsible in that it avoids the reckless mistakes of the past - mistakes of tax and spend, boom and bust - that got us into the crisis in the first place. It is forward-looking in that it seeks to consolidate the recovery and support yet more job creation. Our income tax changes alone are estimated to support 15,000 new jobs. We know the number of new jobs created. We know how unemployment has fallen for 27 months in a row. The budget kick-starts sustainable plans for tax reform, housing development, and the further and ongoing development of the public service. Witness the announcements in the education budget on special needs assistants, support for schools, the schools building programme and new teachers. The important point is that because of decisions taken by the Government, the way the Minister for Finance has negotiated interest rate changes, increased confidence in the country, our reputation regained, the negotiations with the IMF and the promissory note changes, we have choices.

Instead of cutting back, there is the opportunity to build on the progress made, refrain from implementing expenditure cuts and give something back to our hard-pressed citizens. As a result of decisions taken by this Government, we are in a position to do so. That is not to say challenges do not lie ahead or that it is now easy for people. It has been a difficult period and it remains difficult, but this is a very significant inroad into the recovery that we need for our citizens, that individuals and families need and that we need as a society.

I will speak about the justice and equality element of the budget. It is a forward-looking budget for the justice area, which will secure better policing across the country and underpin the major reforms we are undertaking in that sector. It is a breakthrough budget for the justice sector, with yesterday's allocation representing the first year-on-year budget increase since 2008. That is significant, and it is why I call this the beginning of a breakthrough for this sectoral budget. Relative to the expenditure ceilings for 2015 published this time last year, the current allocation has increased by €96 million, or 4.6%, to €2.156 billion. The capital envelope has increased, which is important, as three new divisional headquarters will be built for An Garda Síochána. That will help local economies, with construction jobs in those areas. We will also continue to deal with the very poor estate we had in the Irish Prison Service, which is changing in Mountjoy and Cork. It will happen in Limerick as we proceed, and such a process is important for a range of reasons.

A total of €1.42 billion has been allocated to the Garda Vote and €368 million has been allocated to the justice and equality Vote, with the only change being the €6 million allocated for current expenditure for the new Irish Human Rights Commission. It is important that the organisation now has an independent Vote separate from the justice Vote. A total of €325 million has been allocated to the prisons Vote, €107 million has been allocated to the courts Vote, and so on. The budget for the Vote group can be broken down as follows: 73% pay- and pensions-related expenditure, 22% non-pay expenditure and 5% capital. As I have indicated, the overall allocation on the current side is up by €96 million and the capital side has increased by €45 million.

Given what I mentioned about the experience of the past six years, it is important to note that these increases have not come about because of reductions in other areas of the Vote group. That is a key point. In areas where no increases have taken place, services for the most part will continue on the basis of 2014 funding. This is a good place to be for the justice Vote after six very long, lean and difficult years. We can now go forward and make a difference. This is not an increase just for the sake of it but rather to further reforms and give better delivery in policing, our courts and our prisons. This is a much more positive backdrop than we have had in any year since 2008.

This gives me the scope to address a number of key priorities in the justice area. The increase of €40 million in the budget for Garda pay for 2015 will allow me to proceed with my objective of recruiting new gardaí. I am pleased to confirm to the House that, as announced yesterday, there will be further intakes of recruits to the Garda College in Templemore over the next couple of months. There will be 100 Garda recruits starting in December and another 100 in January 2015; that is in addition to the 100 recruits who have started already. As part of the reform of An Garda Síochána, there will be increasing civilianisation. This will be not just for the sake of it but rather in areas where we know it can work. The issue has been carefully worked through, discussed and delivered. For example, in Dublin Airport there are 75 civilian staff in areas previously manned by gardaí, although gardaí will continue to be in Dublin Airport and do the priority work on which they should focus. There will be another 75 gardaí freed up for front-line duty who at this stage do visa or board of management work throughout the country. Effectively, this amounts to 450 more gardaí available in the course of 2015 for front-line work and policing in the communities. They will take up duty in our cities, towns and communities and get on with the task of fighting and preventing crime.

Throughout 2015 I will continue to monitor Garda levels and consider retirement numbers. This process can be somewhat unpredictable as it involves individual decisions. I will examine staffing levels during the year with a view to agreeing further intakes to the Garda College as required.

Deputy Dominic Hannigan

Will the Minister ensure there is a gender balance? The last intake comprised 80% males and 20% females.

Deputy Frances Fitzgerald

Absolutely. Many thousands of people have applied to join the Garda and it is great to see that despite the difficulties faced by the force, there is such interest in becoming part of An Garda Síochána.

Deputy Simon Harris

Hear, hear.

Deputy Frances Fitzgerald

People are motivated to be part of the force.

There is an allocation of a further €10 million to support the purchase and fit-out of over 400 new vehicles. That is a key priority, as we need a modern and efficient Garda fleet for both urban and rural policing. I want to see a particular focus on the provision of marked Garda vehicles so as to provide for enhanced visibility of the policing presence in our urban and rural communities. We must support gardaí in their efforts to prevent and reduce crime. I also want to see a focus on supporting an increased capacity by gardaí to respond to burglaries, including rural burglaries, which are often committed by highly mobile gangs. It is important that gardaí have the resources they need in this respect. This Government will provide a capital budget far in excess of anything that has been provided by previous Governments for this area over several years.

The Government is committed to reforming the justice area and we want to enhance the administration and oversight of Ireland’s policing services. We will strengthen the role and remit of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, with strong and important legislation coming before the House in the next few weeks in that regard. There will also be legislation in the House this term to establish the new independent policing authority, which will provide another important point of accountability for the policing service in this country. It is part of the process of moving from a police force to a police service with ensuing proper democratic accountability. I have provided €500,000 for the establishment of the planned policing authority, as well as an additional €1 million so that GSOC can do the work entrusted to it. Confidence-building measures must be taken with GSOC, and there are inevitable tensions between the force and the commission. I am confident that there will be oversight of policing in this country on an ongoing basis that we can be proud of. The Garda will feel confident reporting to that commission, and it is important that the public will also have confidence in it.

There are other planned reforms. The new charities regulatory authority will be formally established tomorrow. We all remember the debate concerning proper oversight and administration of charities, as well as the various scandals that undermined charities which have done excellent work. The authority is a major new reform, as it will be an independent regulatory agency for the first time in the sector. That demonstrates a clear commitment on the part of the Government to reform and to having the right services in place. The Legal Services Regulation Bill will return to the Dáil to complete Report Stage, and the allocation for the authority was indicated in the budget.

One of my Department’s core priorities is to facilitate access to justice for all citizens. The new Court of Appeal has been established and judges will be appointed in the next few weeks. It will deal with virtually all appeals from the High Court. It will also deal with the current backlog. In that context, it can take up to four years for a case to be heard and that is unacceptable. The decision on the Government's part to establish the Court of Appeal will give rise to a significant change in that the Supreme Court will be freed up and not obliged to deal with certain cases.

There is much work to be done in the area of criminal justice. The budget marks the beginning of a breakthrough in enabling us to pursue the reforms I have outlined and develop a more effective policing service. It also provides some of the building blocks necessary to allow important progress to be made. I am confident that in the coming year we will, as a result of the impact of the budget, make the progress necessary to ensure the country will become a safer and fairer place.

Deputy Dominic Hannigan

As the Minister stated, the budget will put money into the pockets of lower and middle income families throughout the country. It is the first budget introduced during our term of office, during the past six years, which has done this. That to which I refer has only been made possible because of the very tough decisions the Government has taken since it came to power and as a result of the sacrifices the people have made. The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform have made it clear that this will be the first of three budgets which will put money back into people's pockets and which, in the process, will help to stimulate spending in local economies.

I wish to focus on the increase in child benefit, that is, the extra €5 per child per month being granted next year - a similar increase is foreseen in the following year's budget - which will help families to cover their everyday living costs. Telephone calls I have received from constituents in places such as Duleek and Kells indicate that this €5 will prove to be of benefit. The decision to increase child benefit is a positive one and I am surprised that members of the Opposition are critiquing it so strongly and claiming that it will benefit high income families over their low and middle income counterparts. I do not believe that will prove to be the case. The increase in child benefit will reach at least 94% of low and middle income earners with children. These are the people the budget is intended to help and support. The increase in child benefit is a sign that this will happen, that we are listening and that we are aware of people's concerns. We know how difficult it is for some. We are going to make changes and give money back to people as the economy recovers.

We will not wreck the economy in the way in which our predecessors did. We will be prudent, but we will also ensure that, as funding becomes available, money will be given back. In that context, I would like consideration to be given to introducing a further budget in the spring of next year. As the national economy recovers and income increases, we must ensure we get money into the real economy. We must also get it into people's pockets to assist them in covering their everyday expenses.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The next speaking slot will be shared by Deputies Lucinda Creighton, Peter Mathews and Michael Healy-Rae.

Deputy Lucinda Creighton

At long last workers who have sacrificed so much in recent years should have slightly more money in their pockets at the end of each week. This is a step in the right direction and I, for one, am happy to welcome it. However, what is completely absent from the budget is any new vision for sustainable economic growth. In fact, the economic plan for Ireland appears to be to simply mimic the precise formula used by Fianna Fáil in the early 2000s. This development is extremely regrettable. The plan is to boost revenue for developers and push up property prices, ignore the domestic economy and hope we will continue to attract inward investment in the face of huge scrutiny from abroad of our tax arrangements.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, quoted from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". The reality is, however, that the Minister has actually chosen to follow the beaten path, which is regrettable. Last week the Irish Independent announced that this would be a budget for builders. It is nothing more than a dig-out for them. The abolition of the 80% windfall tax on rezoning is the result of months of lobbying on the part of the Construction Industry Federation. This is one of the powerful lobby groups which had an enormous impact on Government policy when Fianna Fáil was in power. We have also become aware that the Taoiseach has attended private dinners for bankers and developers held at locations not too far from this House. The original purpose of the windfall tax was to prevent a recurrence of happened in the boom times, when councillors were lobbied to rezone agricultural land for commercial or residential development or rezone residential land for commercial development. Once rezoning had occurred, the land would be flipped over for a huge profit. In essence, councillors' votes could make landowners millionaires overnight. It seems that the Government is happy to ramp up this behaviour once more, without any spatial strategy or national development plan - in fact, in the absence of any plan at all.

There is no doubt that houses must be built. However, this must not happen in a haphazard, frenzied fashion, whereby developers and bankers will once again circle the wagons and place politicians under pressure. It is no surprise that both NAMA and the banks favour a return to mass rezoning because this could generate huge returns for both of them. Similarly, in many instances, it would result in a large bailout for some of the very developers responsible for the dysfunction in the market. Until that issue is resolved and a clear spatial strategy put in place, returning to the bad old days of windfall profits from rezoning will be a recipe for economic disaster. It is extraordinary that there has been so little focus on this matter in the media in the past 24 hours. The Government is laying the foundations for another boom-bust cycle for the future. This is precisely the economic vicious circle from which the independent Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is trying to protect us. Obviously, that body's advice has fallen on deaf ears.

The budget is anti-business and anti the self-employed. In a radio interview broadcast this morning the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, blamed a hike in the level of PRSI paid by public sector workers, introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil Administration in 2010, for the unfair targeting of self-employed persons in the context of the rate of the universal social charge, USC, which applies to them. The Government had ample opportunity to address this issue in recent years and there was certainly no onus on it to increase the rate of USC for self-employed persons by 1%, as happened yesterday. It is worth noting that the rate of USC which applies to the people concerned is almost the same as the headline rate of corporate tax. In reality, it is the same as the effective rate of that tax. To tax individual self-employed persons on top of the income tax they pay at a rate of 11%, the same as the effective rate of corporate tax, is grotesque. Again, this matter appears to have been largely ignored by the media.

It is difficult to believe the Government values business people and employers when they are continually singled out for the harshest treatment under the tax code. What is being done in this regard is short-sighted, as is the failure to address the issue of capital gains tax as it relates to business investment. There are zero incentives available for wealthy people, angel investors, etc., who want to find ways to gain a return on their wealth by investing in it business. Every tax incentive and loophole is available if one wants to invest one's money in commercial or residential property. If, however, one wishes to invest in innovation or entrepreneurialism, there are virtually no incentives of which one can avail. This really proves the point that the Government has not shown any real commitment to small and medium-sized businesses in the indigenous sector. Again, this Administration is more interested in supporting influential banks and big developers. Sadly, this is the same formula which was used by Fianna Fáil and which, in the first instance, got us into the mess from which we are trying to extricate ourselves. We are not on the road less travelled; we are on precisely the same road on which we travelled previously and with disastrous consequences.

The Ireland emerging from the EU-IMF bailout is the same one that was engulfed by the economic crisis which erupted six years ago. We have learned very little; we are less well off; incomes have been decimated and hundreds of thousands of young people have been forced to emigrate. Have we actually learned anything at all? We have not changed the culture in Ireland, nor have we changed, in fundamental terms, the way we engage with the planning, policy-making or decision-making processes. We have not reformed politics or developed a new economic or social vision for the country. We remain excessively reliant on foreign direct investment, property bubbles and boom-bust cycles.

We have not addressed the failings in our political system. Unfortunately, it is beginning to look more like business as usual. It is very difficult now to distinguish the path or the vision - if one could call it that - of this Government from that of Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fáil-led coalitions.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Two big tomes with coloured covers were distributed to the House yesterday by the respective Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. I really had to fight my way through them. In the case of the finance budget, headline figures that should have been in the introduction were buried deep down. These are headline figures about what the amount of GDP and GNP will be. These should be the starting figures because they show the scale of what is ahead economically in this country. Referring to percentages and suggesting that this is up and that is down and so on is like talking about the children growing by 3%. What was the starting figure? It is a bad and confusing place to be.

I call this budget illusion budgeting based on delusion economics, because the setting in the introduction of the budget was one whereby the cock believed the sun rose because he crowed. In other words, the members of the Government believe everything is right because of what they did. In fact, they did little. In fact, they made life very difficult for a great number of families - I estimate approximately 1.5 million citizens. It has been decidedly tough for them, their lives have been ripped apart and no ointment or bandages of any sort will help.

The budget shows that the Government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party clearly favours Ireland's better-off. The people were not fooled in the two recent by-elections, the European elections or, for that matter, the local elections in May. That is why they voted for authentic straight-talking Independents who will fight for hard-pressed citizens, the vulnerable and the less well-off. There has been no fight from the Government, zero fight.

The revenue that the Government dedicates to meeting the expenditure every year is raised from taxation. Taxation can only come from two reservoirs: the income of individuals or people and the income of corporations or companies. That is all. Introducing taxes like property taxes to broaden the tax base is bunkum. Introducing water charges to broaden the tax base is bunkum. Those charges or tax bills should be met out of income. Those in government did not have the guts to address the multinational companies, MNCs, which come in under the umbrella of foreign direct investment. MNCs may employ 160,000 people but indigenous businesses, honourable business people and farmers, employ far more. MNCs have had a profit surge since 2008. When those in the current Government came to power in March 2011 they did not have the courage to explain why it would be right, fitting and proper for those incomes to contribute a levy for three years for national recovery. That would have produced €2 billion per year and it would have contributed greatly to the costs of providing a health service, a police service, nurses' pay, Garda pay, the pay of doctors who have since gone abroad and the cost of the education system, which needs more teachers. Emigrants have gone off. This is why there was no vision, only cowardliness.

Financial Resolution No. 3 sounds like perhaps a nice wine to drink or perfume, but for 1.5 million people it is no such thing. Rather, it is acid and pain because their position has not changed. Let us consider the figures on housing and people without houses. How many people slept rough on Grafton Street last Wednesday? Michael, the vendor of the newspapers, who starts work early, could tell me because he counted them: there were 40. These are the realities.

The worthwhile studies by economists and financial people who understand these things show that distributive economics works. I am unsure where the Government gets it from. The ESRI maintains we are not getting more unequal, but we are and it is obvious. The ownership of capital is in narrower hands and capital is the only thing that has grown. Has the Government not noticed? Incomes have gone backwards, including the incomes of those in the House, the staff of the House and everyone else, but those of corporates have not.

The greatest embarrassment to me is that the Government was gutless when it came to the debt. This day last year the German Minister, Mr. Schäuble, had the audacity and temerity, on the day that our Minister for Finance was introducing a budget, to say that there would not be sharing of losses, neutralisation or, as the Government terms it, retrospective bank capitalisation - that is a rubbishy term. We should call it the elimination of losses in one bank at €32 billion which has been put on the people. That is wrong. I salute people like Diarmaid O'Flynn, who nearly got a European Parliament seat on a shoestring budget, for their honesty, persistence and clarity of thought. He understands better than the people in the opposite benches what the promissory note was and what the promissory bonds mean. They should be torn up. They are odious losses, not even debt. I call on the Government to think again. This is the opportunity to address the problem but the Government did not even mention it in the budget. What a shame.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae

I thank the Technical Group for allowing me some speaking time. I like to call a spade a spade. This budget clearly is an election budget. It was created because of the local and European elections back in May. The Fine Gael and Labour Party backbenchers who have been in a coma in the House for the past three and half years woke up. The members of the Government have woken up in recent days because of the results of the by-elections. They woke up when they saw hundreds of thousands of people marching over water charges. They decided finally that we are shoving near an election and that this may be their last budget so they tried to buy the electorate. I put it to those in government that this budget is not going to buy the electorate. If they think they can fool people by headlining items such as €5 per month increase in the children's allowance, they are wrong. This is emerging at a time when struggling families are going to be faced with an additional tax, the Government's water tax. The one thing the Government missed with this water tax was not making an allowance for inability to pay. The last-minute changes that the Government has made in recent days on the water charges only came about because of the results of elections and the protests. That is the only language this Government understands. I am glad that the people are giving those in government what they deserve, that is, a good hammering and a good kicking.

I saw backbenchers standing up in the House earlier talking about how they welcomed some elements of this budget.

They are in a coma and completely miss the point. Every family in this country will be worse off after this week because of the water charges. The Government could not even get that right. It still cannot tell people how much they will have to pay. The amount is changing every day.

With regard to what backbenchers do in this Government, they must be very careful. It appears that if they speak out against the Taoiseach, they can find themselves the victims of a witch hunt. It happened recently to one of the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey's, colleagues. It is not very nice to think that we are living in such a dictatorship that if somebody dares to speak out against the Taoiseach of the day and if the Taoiseach has some information about that person, he will use it. That is what happened in the past few days to one of Deputy Coffey's colleagues. That was disgraceful. It was raised in the House today by Deputy Martin, and rightly so. If that happened under some other leader or in some other country, we would call it disgraceful. Just because it is the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, who creates a leak and tries to put the boot into one of his own party members, it is still disgraceful. However, that is what we are living with at present.

What is in this budget for the tens of thousands of young people who had to leave this country in search of work? Unfortunately, one of the Ministers said on the local radio in my native county a number of weeks ago that, in his opinion, no person left this country because they had to but because they wanted to do so. It was a choice. That is absolute rubbish and bunkum. The people I know who left this country did not want to go. They would have preferred to have stayed in their own country with their families if they could have secured gainful employment, but they could not. That a Minister would say they left out of choice is also disgraceful.

There are incentives in the budget for farming, in the hope of getting young people interested in expanding and acquiring more land through long-term leases and so forth. However, the Government has neglected one matter, and the Minister of State should be more aware of this than others. It is that land is of no use unless one can make money from it. Consider the price of beef at present and how owners of suckler herds are struggling and holding on by their fingertips. That is a crisis but, again, the Government is doing nothing about it.

With regard to the housing crisis, I have studied the budget figures for the housing the Government hopes to build. It is a drop in the ocean. In Killarney, County Kerry, there are more than 1,000 people on the housing waiting list. If the Government were to decide tomorrow morning that every incentive in the budget with regard to housing would all be focused on County Kerry, it still would not address that county's housing problem. It is ridiculous. The Government did not deal with this problem in the past number of years but now, because of the election, it thinks it will cod the people by saying it will do something about it.

I listened carefully to the remarks about the proposed ending of the embargo on public sector recruitment. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said the Government will do this in a targeted and focused way. I will decode that and put it in plain English. The Government will use it as an election tool. It will decide where it thinks it should focus recruitment and where it will be most beneficial to its parties when they are facing the next general election. I have no doubt that is correct. That is what the Minister meant when he said it would be in a targeted and focused way. The Government will target it to win votes for its respective parties.

Where is the good in this budget for nurses who are struggling in our hospitals at present, doing the work of two and three people every day? There is no light at the end of the tunnel for such people. There is also no light at the end of the tunnel for members of An Garda Síochána, who are really struggling. These are people who have what would be considered good, full-time jobs but they are struggling every week because they cannot make ends meet.

There is also the issue of the carer's allowance. When people apply for carer's allowance to take care of an elderly person, friend or relative, they must wait months to have the allowance paid. There is nothing in this budget for those categories of people.

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (Deputy Alan Kelly)

This is a milestone budget. It shows that we are slowly becoming a normal economy again, where we are neither throwing money around for the sake of short-term popularity nor squeezing savings out of already pressured public services. It is as progressive as it is prudent and realistic. Lower and middle income earners are gaining proportionately more than the better off. Many sections of the Opposition might wish this was not the case, but it is. People will see this in their pay packets next January, from which point it will become real for them. It is a small step, but a significant one. It will represent the start of recovery to many people and the start of an era of sustainable growth, where Government gives to the people it serves.

This was made possible only by the sacrifices of the Irish people. Unpopular decisions were taken, but they were taken in order to get us to this point. This is a country with record IDA Ireland investment and the highest growth projections in Europe. It is taking people out of unemployment and it has one of the most progressive tax systems in the world. Again, the misery merchants in the Opposition wish this was not the case. They have not yet adjusted to an era of economic recovery, but their shouts will now ring hollow.

I have always maintained that spending money one does not have is not an economic policy; it is deceitful and dishonest. To focus on one specific area by way of example, let us consider some specifics from Sinn Féin, whose members are not even present in the House. Its pre-budget submission on housing demonstrates this dishonesty. Sinn Féin did not propose any increase in spending for homelessness services next year. This Government will increase it by 20%. Sinn Féin did not propose any increase in local authority leasing, the quickest way to put a roof over a person's head. It did not have any proposals for the refurbishment of vacant social housing units and there was no specific reference to funding to improve housing conditions for people with disabilities. In fact, there was no proposal to increase any current housing spending by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, yet the Government decided to increase current spending by €52 million.

Sinn Féin's only proposal was to use the strategic investment fund to build 6,000 houses. There was no detail and no timelines. We have surpassed that. We will build 7,500 units next year. While that proposal by Sinn Féin has some merit, it would be unlikely to have any impact on the social housing waiting lists in 2015. In fact, its proposal, if implemented, would have zero impact on housing waiting lists in 2015. With that type of thinking, I can conclude only one thing, that Sinn Féin is only pretending to care for the sake of political posturing and is not intent on delivering anything.

We have gone very quickly from having the problems of a broken economy, with unfinished estates, to having the problems of a growing economy, including rising house prices. This is creating all kinds of pressures, especially in the private rented sector. There is no single or easy solution. The solution lies in having a comprehensive, detailed and action orientated plan and implementing it vigorously. That is what I intend to do.

In his speech yesterday, my colleague, the Minister for Public Enterprise and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, underpinned the Government's clear commitment to supporting the work of my Department in delivering on its wide and diverse business agenda in 2015 and beyond, with a particular focus on delivering a vibrant, sustainable public housing sector. In addition to delivering on the housing agenda, the provision made in budget 2015 will enable my Department to deliver far reaching policies and programmes that will promote and support strong and vibrant communities, enhance the role of local government, protect and enhance our environment and deliver reform of the electoral system.

My Department's Vote for 2015 is €1.157 billion - €578 million capital and €579 million current. This compares with a total of €817 million in 2014 , an increase of €340 million or nearly 42%. More than €230 million of the increase will go to housing programmes. The Government's commitment to housing is substantial by any objective assessment.

A sum of €2.2 billion is to be invested in social housing in the next three years, of which €1.5 billion is to be directly invested by the Exchequer. A further €300 million will be invested as a result of public private partnerships and off-balance sheet funding of €400 million will enable approved housing bodies in the voluntary sector to increase the supply of social housing. More details of this will emerge when the Government announces a comprehensive social housing strategy in the next two weeks for the period from 2015 until 2020.

That in excess of €800 million, or more than 70% of Department's Vote of €1.157 billion for 2015, is to be devoted to housing is testimony to the Government's commitment to meeting housing needs. The Department will work with key stakeholders, including the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency, local authorities and approved housing bodies to secure maximum benefit from these substantial resources.

I very much welcome that investment in new housing infrastructure has been given priority in budget 2015. As a consequence, my Department's expenditure on housing will increase by more than 40% on 2014, rising from €576 million to more than €800 million. In excess of 7,500 new homes will be provided under a range of housing initiatives in 2015. In addition to providing much needed homes, the multiplier effect associated with this investment package will consolidate growth rates being experienced as the economy moves into robust recovery and sustain jobs in the construction sector.

Every Government since the foundation of the State has been asked to increase the provision of social housing. There is no single solution to the housing problem and the task will not be completed overnight. We are, however, facing increased housing need and it continues to be my Department's objective to maximise the delivery of social housing using all of the resources available. Almost 70% of my Department's 2015 budget will go directly to support a range of housing programmes.

The housing capital spend will increase from €273 million this year to €453 million in 2015. This increase of €180 million in capital spending alone will result in the acceleration of local authority direct build and acquisition of properties. The expanded housing construction and acquisition programme will meet the twin objectives of tackling rising housing need and supporting jobs in the construction sector. The number of housing units delivered through this mechanism will more than quadruple in 2015, increasing from 200 to 946 units. There will also be significant increases in the direct delivery of housing units by both local authorities and approved housing bodies combined, rising from a total of 475 in 2014 to almost 1,400 in 2015.

From a cost-effectiveness point of view, it makes sense to bring viable existing properties back into use as quickly as possible. The stimulus package included with budget 2014 provided €15 million for a targeted measure to refurbish vacant houses and flats. In response to a call for proposals, authorities identified more than 1,900 properties for refurbishment at a cost of €36 million. Using the available €15 million for 2014, it was possible to approve works on some 952 properties across all 34 local authorities. Properties were selected on the basis of local housing need and the cost-effectiveness of the proposals. The additional capital programme in this year's budget will build on this success and allow 1,000 extra vacant housing units to be brought back into use.

We also continue to address the legacy problems of unfinished estates and substandard homes and buildings through the Priory Hall resolution framework, the pyrite resolution board and significant investment in unfinished estates.

Current spending on housing will increase by €52 million to €345 million, funding that will be used to finance increased local authority housing services, including through the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the new housing assistance payment, HAP. The core objectives of the RAS were to reform the approach towards providing accommodation in the private rented sector for long-term dependants under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, while contributing to the attainment of better value for money for the State in the provision of long-term accommodation options. Until the end of May 2014, almost 49,500 households had been transferred by local authorities from rent supplement and housed directly under the RAS and other social housing options. The rental accommodation scheme continues to be a successful programme. It has achieved considerable output levels to date and delivered quality housing to a large number of households. The figures speak for themselves.

In total, 7,536 additional housing units will be delivered from a range of measures which, combined with a target of 8,000 for transfers from rent supplement to the housing assistance payment, will deliver a total of 16,000 housing units in 2015. Moreover, 400 new housing units will be provided for people with specific needs in 2015 and up to 150 new homes in the community will be provided for people with disabilities leaving institutional care. Some 7,600 housing adaptation grants will assist older people and people with disabilities to continue living in their own homes.

As the economy starts to recover, the people who suffered most in the downturn must achieve some respite. I am conscious of the need for immediate action to address the scourge of homelessness. My Department recoups up to 90% of housing authorities' expenditure on the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons. A significant proportion of funding utilised by housing authorities is in respect of services that are provided by non-governmental organisations. I pay tribute to the vital work done by the housing NGOs. I am increasing the money provided for homelessness by 20%. By allocating a further €10.5 million for this purpose, I will bring the total provision to €55.5 million in 2015.

The availability and supply of secure, affordable and adequate housing is essential in ensuring sustainable tenancies and ending long-term homelessness. In addition to the measures I have outlined, I intend to direct local authorities to revise their allocation policies for local authority housing to ensure they will be geared significantly more towards people who are homeless. This is a positive development.

Significant resources are also being made available through the Department's Vote to support the development of strong and vibrant local communities, environmental protection and local government services. Some €133 million will be invested in community programmes in 2015, including €46 million for the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, and €45 million for Leader. Funding will continue to be made available to support a range of initiatives in the community and voluntary sector, including support to strengthen and foster volunteerism and philanthropy, as well as funding for seniors alert, which supports the provision of monitored alarms, to enable older persons of limited means to continue to live securely in their homes with confidence. Overall, funding for community and voluntary supports will increase by €1.5 million to €12.3 million in 2015.

I remain committed to supporting the local and community development programme, LCDP, and its successor, SICAP. It is critically important that I do so. Some 10,000 people who are distanced from the labour market will receive direct one-to-one labour market training and supports through the LCDP, which will draw to a close in the first quarter of 2015. Its successor, SICAP, which will take account of the newly aligned local authority and local development structures, will support in excess of 30,000 people in 2015. As the economy emerges from recession, SICAP will create opportunities and provide supports to ease the transition into meaningful employment for the harder to reach in the most disadvantaged areas. A sum of €46 million will be invested in 2015 to increase access to formal and informal educational activities and resources and increase people's work readiness and employment prospects.

The Leader elements of the rural development programme, which will receive €45 million in 2015, will assist projects that improve quality of life and promote growth and diversification of the rural economy. Leader is addressing many of the challenges facing rural communities, including through increasing economic activity and generating employment. It is a key multi-annual programme, which will continue to be supported in 2015 as the present programme draws to a close and is replaced by a new Leader programme.

An additional €10 million is being made available to recoup investment made by local authorities following damage caused by severe storms earlier this year. A sum of €71 million will be paid to the local government fund in respect of Irish Water subvention. Other areas of Department spend in 2015 will include €28 million for water services; €10 million for the North-South PEACE programme; €8.5 million for landfill remediation; and €8 million for fire services capital investment.

My Department will continue to prioritise the delivery of good quality social housing, including mainstream local authority housing construction this year, enhancing the role of the not-for-profit sector in the provision of social homes, and continuing to work with the National Asset Management Agency, the local authorities and approved housing bodies to maximise delivery of units owned by NAMA or its debtors for social housing over the lifetime of the Government. What is more, we are committed to real actions and plans that will deliver for communities and I intend working vigorously with the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, to aggressively tackle this country's various challenges in housing.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Deputy Paudie Coffey)

There is no doubt that the last number of years have been tough and difficult for our society. Since taking office just over three years ago, the Government has worked to stabilise our economy, restore our businesses' international reputation and, more important, restore the public finances.

Due to the public's sacrifices great strides have been made in this regard. As we move now from the stability phase to the recovery and growth phase in our economy, our people who have sacrificed so much will now have to share in the country's recovery.

Yesterday's budget is a positive step in the right direction and this momentum must continue. We must restore hope, certainty and optimism for our people so that they can look forward with confidence to the next generation.

Within my special area of responsibility for Construction 2020, I welcome the delivery of one of the Government's key priorities - an ambitious housing programme. In the coming year, provision has been made for the delivery of 7,500 extra housing units. We will not hear the Opposition commending that, even though the Sinn Féin budget proposal makes an allowance for just over 6,000 homes. I commend the Minister and his team on exceeding that figure. I have worked assiduously with the Minister, Deputy Kelly, as well as with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure an Reform, Deputy Howlin, to deliver a capital project that will address the real housing challenges we face.

The construction sector has been under-performing for the last number of years. It is contributing just over 6% of GNP. An economist would say that in any normalised market the construction sector should contribute in excess of 12% of GNP. At one stage we were building unsustainable levels of housing when the property bubble existed. We were building 90,000 houses per annum and selling them to ourselves. When the crash came that output fell to just over 4,000 houses per annum. We can see now why the deficits exist and why the challenge is there.

We need to ramp up construction and get back to building 25,000 to 30,000 houses per year. The measure in yesterday's budget to address capital investment and stimulus around the country will help in that respect. It will have a direct impact on the creation of jobs in the construction sector, which has been hardest hit. The €453 million of capital investment equates conservatively to 4,500 to 5,000 new jobs. When the private sector kicks in with further capital investments yet to be announced, we will see the construction sector getting back to where it belongs.

I also welcome the budgetary measures concerning tax incentives for the extension of the home innovation scheme to include landlords and improve rental accommodation. Much existing housing stock and rental accommodation in our cities and large towns are sub-standard and in urgent need of investment. This measure will enhance that stock which can be turned around quite quickly to help us meet the housing challenge.

In addition, I welcome the provision of a DIRT rebate for first-time buyers. Provision is also being made for public private partnerships to deliver essential infrastructure. The Living City initiative, now being formalised with the approval of the EU Commission, will offer owner-occupiers in our large urban centres the opportunities to invest in homes of a certain age. This will regenerate and revitalise such areas bringing life back to city centres.

The removal of the windfall tax was a necessary measure. There was literally zero income from this tax, which has been acting as a barrier for the release of existing lands that are serviced and zoned in many areas of high demand.

I look forward to working in conjunction with the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and our colleagues in government to bring planning Bills before the Oireachtas that will reform the planning process. That will create a national planning framework, reviewing how planning legislation is implemented. It will also assist in restoring the construction sector, thus bringing it back to sustainable, normalised levels that will contribute to the economy.

I will finish by highlighting another black hole in the Sinn Féin budget proposals. In that party's proposals last year, it wished to maintain the 9% VAT rate for the tourism sector. It was a measure that Sinn Féin opposed when the Government originally introduced it. However, the Sinn Féin figures never made provision for the €340 million. This year they forgot to mention the 9% VAT rate anywhere in their budget submission, which means there is a further €340 million deficit in those proposals.

These parties are being populist in opposing good Government initiatives, yet their budgetary figures do not stack up. They are vacuous and have nothing to offer an economy in recovery.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Catherine Byrne)

I now call Deputy Cowen who is sharing time with Deputy Stanley. He has ten minutes.

Deputy Barry Cowen

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the Government's budget and in particular to the contribution by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government concerning his financial Vote.

It is a good thing that this budget was delivered against a background of changed circumstances compared to many previous budgets. I recognise that many indicators both from the Government and independent sources are positive. They offer hope for the immediate future. It is only right and proper to acknowledge, from our perspective, Fianna Fáil's handling of the initial crisis. The budgets it brought forward meant that two thirds of the savings that had to be achieved were done under a Fianna Fáil-led Government. Yet they were opposed tooth and nail by the current Government parties.

Having played a role in consolidating the country's finances, it is only right and proper that we should also seek to play a part in the recovery that might ensue. Many Government Deputies talk of the existing recovery but fail to acknowledge that initially, and by virtue of what was brought forward yesterday, we may well have a two-tier recovery. This does not only relate to the different sectors of society that are affected by yesterday's budget. Unfortunately, that budget was regressive as economic commentators have consistently said about this Government's budgets.

There is also a geographical element to the two-tier society. I can see evidence of the recovery in Dublin but I do not see it in rural areas. I cannot see the recovery in towns and villages in my constituency and beyond. In my town, half of the main street has closed in the last 12 months. The closures include four pubs, a grocery shop, a restaurant and a shoe shop. There is nothing in this budget or from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that seeks to address the dilapidation in rural towns and villages. There are no innovative measures to regenerate such places.

I note the commitment to incentives to live in cities, but it is high time the Government took ownership of the dilapidation and the retail crisis. It is high time the Minister put forward a means to address those issues. I forwarded a document entitled Streets Ahead to the previous Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. It was acknowledged but there was no effort to adopt any of its suggestions or to propose alternative suggestions. We have an archaic commercial rates system, for example, that bears no resemblance to the realities that exist on the ground.

Another indication that rural areas such as my constituency do not see the benefit of the creation of thousands of jobs is the fact that the IDA Ireland created 21 jobs in Offaly in 2014. Does the Government know how many IDA Ireland sponsored visits were paid to Offaly last year? There was one. Does it know how many we have had this year? We have had none. The idea that a reduction in the marginal rate of tax will mean that families will be better off is a misnomer. It is just not true. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, said today that he is of the belief that the measure will contribute to the regeneration of towns and villages by virtue of the capacity of people to spend in local retailers. The real fact of the matter is that because of the water charges and property tax people will be worse off next year than they were this year. How can that measure improve the retail vibrancy of towns and villages in my constituency and many others?

I had hoped the Government would have addressed those issues, but it did not. I had hoped it would examine the deficiencies which have been exacerbated in health and education because of the measures which had to be taken in recent years, but it failed to do so. Today the mother of a 12 year old boy who is suffering from blackouts contacted me. He was referred to a cardiologist in Crumlin by his GP but he and his mother were told it would be two years before he sees a specialist. That is not progress.

The Government announced funding for 1,700 new teachers, which I welcome. How many of those teachers will be appointed as a result of the numbers attending schools? Has any effort been made to attempt to achieve the pupil-teacher ratios to which we aspired, and in some cases achieved, many years ago? No, there has not. There should be and there has to be. The figures on small two, three and four teacher schools in rural Ireland were rigged to encourage amalgamation and closures. The Government will probably get them, but it will tear the hearts out of communities by doing so and will take what is a great sense of pride and place from them.

I want to deal with housing and water. I welcome the housing package. It is €2.2 billion over three years, which is a return to 2009 levels. The waiting list in 2009 was 60,000 and in 2014 it is 100,000. I do not doubt the bona fides of the Government and I wish it well with the housing programme. I will scrutinise it very carefully when the details start to emerge in the coming weeks. I will examine examples of the waiting lists in Dublin and other counties throughout the country. I heard the Minister, Deputy Kelly, say he will hold local authorities to account. He should inform them sooner rather than later what inroads will be made by the funding he is making available in counties in the coming years.

I need to consider how the housing programme announced yesterday might benefit my constituency. I know of 70 different people who have made representations to me in regard to housing adaptation grants for the elderly. They have been told by the local authority that their applications will not be fully assessed, adjudicated, approved and funding made available for at least three to five years. That is not a recovery. I have said before that it is quite possible that the people to which I refer will be in a cemetery when funding might be available. That is not alarmist; it is fact. When I say I will scrutinise what was announced today and the fanfare associated with it, I will examine issues and instances like that to determine whether the programme will do what it says on the tin. I have my doubts.

In regard to water, thankfully many members of the Government are beginning to acknowledge the unmitigated disaster that has been the creation of Irish Water. It goes back to a Fine Gael manifesto in 2009. I do not have enough time to say what I have said consistently over the past 12 or 18 months on this issue. Yesterday, there was an effort eventually to own up and acknowledge the error of its ways in regard to the abnormal costs associated with this debacle since day one, when all the charges were loaded onto citizens. The charges are far removed from the €240 indictor we got consistently from the Taoiseach on this issue.

It is obvious the Government met over the weekend, having assessed the by-election results and what was said by those on the march. It may be a tipping point for a lot of things. At least we got some consistency because there was another monumental cock-up. When one drills down into what was announced yesterday one finds it does not do what it says on the tin. Some 12.5% of the people the Government thought it was appeasing got no relief. I heard the Minister on the radio today. He took ownership of the issue and said he worked very hard in the background over the past number of months to address the issue and announce a package yesterday. He did not work too hard if he left 12.5% of families out of the equation.

As a result of that, sooner rather than later we should know how many families have been left out and why. Will the Minister acknowledge the cock-up and rectify it? All he has to do is put his hands up and admit another mistake in the sorry debacle that is Irish Water and maybe then he might be seen as credible. Yesterday we were told the problem had been solved, but today it is far from solved. There has been cock-up after cock-up. The Government has failed to grasp the nettle, and when it eventually tried it could not do it with a pair of gloves on.

I hope to see vast improvements. As I said, the real opinion on this budget will only be evident once it has been analysed critically, properly and effectively. We will then see whether it will do what it says on the tin.

Deputy Brian Stanley

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this budget. It is welcome and is the first budget in many years which gives some money back to people. We are moving away from austerity. Unfortunately, when one does the sums one finds it is regressive. I heard spokespersons refer to percentages, but when one does the sums on how people will benefit one finds high earners will benefit more than lower earners.

The maximum relief for PAYE workers paying water charges is €100, but there are hundreds of thousands of low paid workers who will be ineligible. Those in receipt of social welfare will benefit from the measure through the household benefits package, but low paid workers who are barely in or not in the tax net will not benefit or will only see a small benefit. The figure of €240 per annum provided by the Taoiseach is incorrect, as the charge for many households will be above it. However, if we take it as an example, such a household would benefit by less than €1 a week, with the relief set at 20%.

I am concerned that this is a short-term measure. In the 1990s a waiver scheme was introduced for refuse collection charges in Dublin, but it dissolved after a couple of years. This scheme is due to be reviewed in 2016 and my concern is that it will then disappear. What has been presented in the budget is clearly a reaction to the by-election results and the huge protest march on Saturday in Dublin when tens of thousands of people protested against water charges and austerity. This proposal is a gimmick to try to deal with them and save the bacon of the Labour Party.

It is a pity the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is not present, but the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is. As this is the first time in the Chamber I have had the opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment, I do so now. We all pay road tax in good faith and do so in order to maintain the road network. Huge improvements have been made to the roads, but rural roads and local authorities throughout the country are under serious pressure, particularly in terms of staff shortages. The road taxes we pay were supposed to be diverted to local government funds, but in 2013 some €150 million was diverted elsewhere. This past year, a total of €600 million has been diverted. It finished up in Uisce Éireann, rather than with local authorities. I draw attention to this.

In the Estimates, some €200 million was earmarked for capital expenditure for Irish Water. Can anybody tell me what exactly that money is for, particularly in the light of all the money spent on consultancy fees and call centres and the waste of money elsewhere in establishing Irish Water? Another €71 million referred to in the expenditure report is marked down as "related costs", but no further information is given on these costs. It is difficult for Opposition spokespersons like us to understand this type of documentation as no explanation is provided. I suggest we receive a better explanation of such figures in future years. I hope some Minister will get back to me and provide an explanation of these figures.

I highlight the issue of the moratorium on employment in the public service. It is welcome that new nurses and gardaí are to be employed. Sinn Féin included such a measure in its budget also. The local authority sector has been hit harder than most. While there has been a 10% drop in overall employment in the public sector, the reduction in the local government sector is in excess of 20%. In some areas it has been as high as 25%, particularly in the case of outdoor staff whose numbers show a significant drop. I suggest that in such a situation we are losing money, particularly in the area covered by the Minister's brief. The moratorium is costing us money because preventive maintenance works are not being carried out. Last winter, I saw gullies and culverts blocked. Had they been maintained, we would not have had as much flood damage as we did during the extreme weather. I realise some damage cannot be prevented, but much of it could have been alleviated or avoided. I ask the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe and, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who while not at the Cabinet table has influence at it, to highlight the need to employ local authority staff, not as directors of services, senior executive officers or executive engineers but as front-line workers to maintain the roads.

An issue has arisen in regard to Irish Water. It is telling owners of rented property that if tenants do not return the forms, the landlord is liable for the charges. How will this work in practice? Will landlords charge the next tenant for the outstanding bill or how will this issue be resolved?

I listened to the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Paudie Coffey, talk about Sinn Féin's budget, but it is obvious that he did not read it. Not alone did he not read our budget, he did not listen to what the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, said about the retention of the 9% tax rate in the hospitality sector, a measure we support. The Minister said we could retain the tax rate as it stood and maintain things as they were without raising new revenue. It was he rather than Sinn Féin who said that, as things stood, we could fund the 9% rate. We set out our budget in good faith and put forward proposals we felt were important.

On the issue of energy upgrades, I would like to mention County Laois where some great work has been done in the upgrade of local authority housing to make them warmer and bring them up to specification. However, there is an issue with older houses which are not being upgraded because they do not have cavity walls. I have been looking into this issue for the past three years, both here and outside the House. County managers have told me - I agree - that what is happening is that these houses are not being upgraded because departmental officials are advising local authority officials to do the easy jobs first, the houses with cavity walls. As a result, estates like O'Moore Place in Portlaoise and St. John's Square, local authority housing built with 8 in solid blocks in the 1930s, remain without insulation. I ask the Minister to ensure these houses are upgraded. I have talked to builders and architects and been informed they could be insulated internally. I ask for the small number of houses involved to be upgraded. I congratulate everybody involved in upgrading those houses that have been upgraded through this excellent scheme. However, the houses built in the 1930s and 1940s have been left behind because they have solid walls. This issue needs to be addressed to try to make these houses energy efficient.

I would like to comment on the issue of the housing waiting list in County Laois where there are over 1,400 people on the waiting list, despite the fact that there are few voids in the county because of local authority efficiency in turning over property quickly. Only three houses were built in the county last year and only six are planned for construction this year, but they have not yet gone through Part VIII of the planning process. We need to accelerate the house building programme, under which County Laois must receive its fair share.

I welcome the new measures on housing. The Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, misrepresented Sinn Féin's position in saying we proposed building 6,800 new houses, but our proposal concerned new builds within 18 months, not over three years. We proposed them as local authority builds, in addition to the other measures proposed. Let us not distort that proposal. County Laois must have a new house building programme to try to meet the needs of those on the waiting list and the persons who are showing up homeless daily at local council offices. We must try to address this issue. I issue a word of warning on PPPs which have a bad track record in housing, including in Dublin. One need only look at O'Devaney Gardens or Dominick Street to see that they have not lived up to their promise. We need to be careful about them. We must try to move forward to ensure people are housed. This is the most significant function of local authorities which they must retain. We have got over the collapse of the house building programme and are now in a position to start rebuilding. We need to put our foot on the pedal and accelerate the programme. I would like to see a more ambitious programme than that put forward by the Government, although I welcome what has been proposed. Let us look at other sources of funding to accelerate the programme, address the appalling homelessness problem and the issue of housing waiting lists.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (Deputy Paschal Donohoe)

Budget 2015 has one objective - to secure our economic recovery. This recovery is under way because of the choices were made by the Government and the extraordinary resilience and stamina the people have displayed during the traumas of the past seven years. I have listened attentively to what Members have said and the particular points they have made about issues of concern about what the Government is or is not doing.

Deputy Cowen made the point that what we need to do is drill down. What we also need to do is step back and look at where the country stands at the moment. When the Government came into office, our country was in a bailout programme. It is no longer in a bailout programme. It was the first member of the eurozone to exit a bailout programme successfully, having been the second country into a programme. This was a prospect that many people doubted was possible to achieve but it has been achieved. When we came into government, over 200,000 jobs had been lost over the previous two to three years. Since the Action Plan for Jobs has been created and launched, over 70,000 jobs have been created. When we came into office, no bank or other country in the world would lend to our country - nobody would lend to us. We now find ourselves in the situation where our country is able to fund itself independently to deliver as many of the needs of our citizens as we can at the moment, and this will give us the ability to do a better job in the future.

There is one question we have to address amidst the legitimate areas of concern that Deputies raise, and it is as follows. Are the prospects for our country better now than they were when the Government came into office in 2011? Do we find ourselves with a brighter horizon? Do we find ourselves with the ability to chart a better way forward? While we all know the horrendous difficulties that people still have, and the huge problems they face in their daily lives, as we stand now, do we find ourselves in a place where we have a better chance of alleviating those difficulties and rising to those challenges than we did when we brought in our first budget in 2011? I do not need to tell anybody who has the privilege of being an elected representative that the only people who will make their minds up on that question are the people we serve. Therefore, the only question we have to answer is this: have we done our best with the choices that were available to us at each point and with the resources that were available to our country then? I contend that, in this and previous budgets, we made the best choices we could at that time and we made the best use of the resources that were available to us. However, these were choices and decisions that were opposed at all times by the Deputies of the Opposition.

Let us look in some detail at the sectors which I have the privilege of representing. For example, let us look at the contribution tourism has made to the recovery of our country. The Minister of State, Deputy Coffey's point about the Sinn Féin proposal is absolutely correct. Deputy Stanley quoted what the Minister, Deputy Noonan, said on budget day but the Minister spoke after Sinn Féin had made its budgetary proposals available to the public. The reality is that Sinn Féin forgot about the 9% VAT rate, just as it opposed the measures that were needed to fund its creation, which have directly enabled the creation of 30,000 jobs.

My Department's budget puts us in the fortunate position that we will be able to invest €954 million in capital projects next year. When we take away the one-off sources of funding that came into my Department last year, due to stimulus funding and due to the consequences of flooding and the bad weather of last year, that represents an increase of €50 million against the funding my Department had when it began its work last year.

Deputy Stanley raised an important point in regard to the status and quality of our local, regional and national roads. Next year, we will have funding of €598 million to deal with these difficulties. These hundreds of millions of euro are sums we should never take for granted. The fact we now have the ability to invest this in our roads is a consequence of the decisions that were made by the Government and the bravery and stamina of Irish people across a horrendous period. It shows how far we have come. We need to remember, as we do, that Fianna Fáil ruined our economy. We need to remember that Sinn Féin said it would never recover. Moreover, with a few honourable exceptions, the Independent Members of the House either do not have any economic policies at all or the economic policies they have contradict each other.

Let us look at what this budget will deliver in the area of public transport. As I said yesterday, I will be able to honour the commitment I made to public transport companies during the summer to maintain the level of PSO funding to them at €210 million after many periods in which that funding was cut. We will have the funding to proceed with projects such as Luas cross-city, a project which is on track and under budget, the opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel and the roll-out of the Leap card system across cities and throughout our country to allow new people to participate in integrated public transport.

With regard to road transport, Deputy Cowen made a fair point about the need for balanced regional development, which Deputies and Ministers in government understand very well. Given the funding this budget has in place for roads development, we will be able to proceed with projects on the N7 and N11 from Arklow to Rathnew and we will deliver and complete the Newlands Cross project. Additional PPP projects such as the Gorey bypass are included in our funding and construction work will commence on 57 km of motorway and dual carriageway on the N17 and N18 from Gort to Tuam.

With regard to tourism, a point I have already touched on, budget 2015 saw the retention of the 9% VAT measure, which has directly fed through to the creation of over 30,000 jobs. This increase in employment has resulted in an additional €165 million of return to the Exchequer between the reduction in social welfare payments and associated and higher income tax returns due to more people being at work. I concur with the Minister, Deputy Noonan, that the reason for the lower rate of VAT is to ensure we offer tourists value for money and that more jobs are created. If hotels and restaurants stop doing this, the usefulness and role of the lower of VAT rate will be called into question. I want to recognise what those industries have done in making use of this rate to offer better pricing to tourists and to people who have taken the decision to stay at home to holiday, and also to ensure that this is fed directly into more jobs. Alongside this, we will have the ability to fund capital investment in 2015 in projects all over the country, including the Wild Atlantic Way, the Kilkenny Medieval Mile, Killarney House and the Dublin heritage trail.

We also have within our budget the need to respond to the needs of the aviation sector. We have the funding in place. We are in discussion with the European Commission regarding the next multi-annual programme for regional airports. We have the funding in place for the maritime transport sector, where very important work by the Irish Coast Guard can be maintained. The Government continues to have a very strong commitment to the development and deployment of our national ports policy.

I was very pleased yesterday to be able to announce, along with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, the deployment of another round of sports capital programme funding, which will allow our voluntary athletes, and the people who give their time so generously to them all over the country, to have access to the facilities they deserve. This is the third round of sports capital funding we have announced since we came into government.

This is a budget that is fair and is focused on jobs. I have listened to what the Opposition Members have said. In the past, this Government has been criticised for being austerity fetishists - people who are rolling out austerity for its own good.

The reason we did that is because we were seeking to bring the public finances under control. Now as we take steps to encourage investment and nurture our recovery, we are accused by the Opposition of being wasteful and populist. The Opposition cannot have it both ways. It criticises our tax measures in this budget because it points out that they do not give back what people have lost since 2008. That is true because if we had done that, we would have endangered the very recovery the Opposition denies is under way. The Opposition then criticises what we are doing in spending arguing that we are not spending enough. In some cases, this is true.

I will end on this note. This is the first of a series of budgets that the Government is committed to bringing in. We are making progress and the work and contribution of my Department and the budget for this Department show the progress we have made and our commitment to make more in the future.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Deputy Heather Humphreys)

While the precise detail of my Department's Vote for next year will be announced shortly, I am pleased to have this opportunity to outline to the Dáil the main features of the 2015 Estimates for my Department. My Department's total funding allocation in 2015 at €274 million has remained at the same level as in 2014. This is an achievement in itself. It is noteworthy that this is the first time since my Department was established that we have not been faced with a reduction in the level of current resources available.

In broad terms, the 2015 allocations to my Vote group are as follows - almost €154 million for arts, culture and film, including approximately €57 million for the Arts Council; over €40 million for the conservation and protection of Ireland's built and natural heritage; almost €42 million for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the islands; and over €38 million for North-South co-operation, including support for two North-South implementation bodies - Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga. I will now talk about each of these areas in more detail.

As many Ministers have already outlined, budget 2015 is about securing the recovery. It is thanks to our economic recovery that I am standing here as the first Minister for Arts in six years who does not have to talk about severe cutbacks to the arts. A total of €154 million has been allocated to arts, culture and film, including the National Gallery, this year. For the first time in six years, our national cultural institutions have had their budgets protected. Financial support is fundamental in respecting the intrinsic value of the arts and how they contribute positively to our society, to creativity and to protecting jobs across the country. Ireland's cultural and creative industries play a major role in defining a positive image for Ireland abroad and their contribution to improving cultural tourism should not be underestimated. In 2013, over 2.4 million tickets were sold for arts venues throughout the country. There were more than 14,800 arts events in 2013. On top of that, there were more than 3.6 million visitors to the cultural institutions funded by my Department. That is why it is essential that as our economy improves, the arts and culture sectors and our artists benefit as well.

The valuable work of the Arts Council in supporting the arts throughout the country has been recognised and this is reflected in the 2015 current allocation of almost €57 million. This will enable the council to continue to support arts organisations of varying sizes - from national bodies such as the Abbey Theatre to small, locally-based groups. Culture Ireland will continue to promote Irish artists worldwide with the aim of showcasing our world-class strengths in culture and creativity. I have also maintained the budget for the Irish Film Board at 2014 levels at just under €14 million.

The film and TV sector received a positive boost in this year's budget with a firm commitment from the Minister for Finance that he will look at the new arrangements for section 481 due to come into force into January and specifically that he will examine raising the film cap beyond its current level of €50 million. This would be a major win for the sector and would help to attract further big budget productions to Ireland, which in turn would have a very positive economic spin off. I will work closely with the Minister on delivering for this sector over the coming months.

I am also pleased to have secured a 25% increase in the artists' tax exemption. This important measure recognises the invaluable contribution which arts and culture practitioners make here at home and in representing us with such great distinction abroad. On the arts capital side, a further €9 million in funding is being provided to fund the refurbishment and modernisation of the National Gallery's historic wings. This project will enable the gallery to host international exhibitions in a world-class environment.

Securing specific funding for the 2016 commemorations was a key priority for me in budget 2015 so I am delighted to have secured an additional €4 million in funding, which will allow for an integrated plan to be rolled out over 2015 to lead up to the commemorations in 2016. This will be done in partnership with Departments, State agencies, local authorities and other key stakeholders. It will allow me to extend the commemorations far beyond Dublin to inspire and empower local communities to have their say and put their own shape on how 1916 will be remembered because the impact of 1916 was felt by the entire country. I want to reach out to local communities, to relatives' groups, to young people, to artists and to educators to give them ownership of this important national event. The €4 million in funding is in addition to the €22 million capital plan for the commemorations announced earlier this year, which includes the development of a cultural-interpretative centre within the GPO, the refurbishment of Richmond Barracks and the development of 14 Henrietta Street as a centre for the exploration of tenement life in north inner-city Dublin.

Funding of some €40 million has been made available in the context of the Department's heritage programme. Funding in the area of the built heritage will support the work of the Heritage Council and its engagement with local government and communities. With regard to our natural heritage, the key outputs in 2015 will focus on the maintenance, development, management and operation of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and meeting obligations under EU directives. Turf-cutting and the protection of designated raised bogs remains a key concern for my Department and I remain determined to address this issue in a way that is fair, balanced and supportive of those affected. The Department and the Peatlands Council will continue to work closely with turf cutters who are required to cease cutting turf on Ireland's 53 special area of conservation raised bogs so as to ensure that their needs are met through compensation or through relocation to a new bog where possible.

With regard to Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the islands, a total of €41.9 million has been allocated in 2015. This includes an allocation of more than €17 million for Udarás na Gaeltachta to enable it to continue its vital work. I know my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, addressed the House earlier about the Gaeltacht Estimate.

I am committed to developing North-South co-operation within the broader arts, heritage and commemorative activities of my Department as well as through the funding of North-South bodies. A provision of more than €38 million is made available to support the two North-South implementation bodies - An Foras Teanga and Waterways Ireland. These budgets will be subject to the approval of the North South Ministerial Council in due course. The provision will enable Waterways Ireland to keep the waterways open for navigation during the main boating season and promote increased use for recreational purposes while developing and promoting our waterways to attract increased numbers of overseas visitors. The 2015 provision will also allow Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster Scots Agency to continue to support language and cultural organisations and schemes throughout the island.

Our arts, culture, heritage and language say so much about us as a people and our place in the world. Our culture venues bring life to our towns and cities and our festivals enliven our summer. It is worth mentioning that more than 400,000 people took part in Culture Night despite the fact that it poured rain. Our built heritage gives us a unique character, our landscapes are among the most stunning in the world and our language is a source of great pride. I am privileged to be the Minister who has stemmed the cuts in these areas. We can grow from here and I am determined to see that happen.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

In Ireland in 1952, over 8,000 homes were built for what is today known as social housing. This was not some brief period of socialist revolution or extreme affluence. People needed homes and the State saw that it had a duty. In three years, the Government has not delivered 8,000 homes and yet it claims it will now take another three years to deliver 6,700 homes. I have news for it. Even if it was still in government in three years, which it probably will not be, that is far too little and far too late.

We needed 6,700 homes three years ago instead of in 2017. Nearly 90,000 households are on waiting lists for social housing, 30,000 more than when the Government decided to ignore the issue. We have 2,500 people in emergency accommodation, hotels and hostels around Dublin, never mind all of the rough sleepers and the hundreds of others who cannot be counted. They cannot wait three years. They have waited too long, enduring sleeping in cars, cardboard boxes, out in the open, in hostels or hotels and on sofas. Families have been torn apart and young lives derailed.

Yesterday's announcement was spin as usual. The Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, wanted us to believe he was allocating a further €450 million for housing this year, when in reality the increase is just €180 million. This will deliver just over 1,000 additional homes on what was delivered last year. Like much of the budget, this is simply a crumb from the table. I grant that 1,000 homes are more than the total built by the Government in its first two years, but it is not enough. In the early 2000s we already had a housing crisis, but we were building nearly 5,000 council homes each year. Now we have a housing catastrophe because all of that work ground to a halt. In the first year the Labour Party held the housing portfolio the number of local authority builds dropped by two thirds. Another Labour Party Minister cut the young person's dole, child benefit, single family payments, the back-to-school allowance and rent supplement, leaving many families and young single people at risk of homelessness. Some hung on and some managed to survive by paying illegal top-ups to landlords, but in the long run thousands became homeless and had to rely on family, friends or emergency accommodation. The Government has been a catastrophe for the low-paid and unemployed. Instead of a return to major housing investment, it has returned to the worst public private partnerships of the early 2000s. This is the model that left standing some of the worst most dilapidated housing in Dublin when profit margins went against the developers' favour. PPPs are universally accepted as an utter failure and have left thousands without decent accommodation or in uninhabitable flats which should have been replaced long ago.

I welcome the planned establishment of a vehicle to deliver off-the-books funding for the construction of social housing. This has been a policy that Sinn Féin has articulated for several years and I am glad that the Government has listened, even if it pretended at the time that it was a fairy tale. It is also welcome that homelessness funding has been increased. Emergency accommodation is at full capacity and we need to invest in follow-up accommodation to ensure nobody will be in emergency accommodation for longer than an emergency period. The Government has lost all credibility in providing emergency accommodation which it has turned into long-term housing without the necessary standards. I ask the Minister to commit to meeting 90% of funding needed in the major urban areas experiencing the worst levels of homelessness. This was the case in Dublin previously, but as spending has had to rise in dealing with homelessness, the Government's contribution to the city has decreased in percentage terms. Funding for Traveller accommodation remains paltry and hopelessly inadequate. It is also unfortunate that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has not taken the opportunity to introduce measures to encourage the full draw down of this funding, which has been a major problem in the past. The funding promised for mortgage to rent schemes needs to be clarified and this initiative should be fast-tracked to enable families to start the process and protect themselves from homelessness.

I call on the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to clarify the funding position of each CIE company and how he sees this aiding the future sustainability of these companies. After years of cuts we need an investment package which will get the companies, especially Irish Rail, on a surer footing. I also call on the Minister to meet representatives of the deferred members committee of the IASS. Recently he showed a lack of understanding of their exclusion from previous deliberations on the pension deficit in IASS companies. The previous Minister passed legislation to interfere with this process and undermine the terms and conditions for members of the IASS. This issue needs to be addressed immediately.

I want to raise a very disturbing issue. I have in my possession a letter from Wicklow County Council to RAS tenants which states that if they do not pay water charges, they will be in breach of and could jeopardise their tenancies. Is the Minister aware that local authorities are threatening RAS tenants with eviction if they do not pay water charges? New families are becoming homeless every week. RAS tenancies are already insecure owing to rent rises and repossessions without the council threatening to throw people out on the street if they do not pay this unfair charge. The Minister must respond because it is an absolute disgrace and makes a mockery of the claims that the Government wants to end the hardship imposed on the low-paid and the unemployed who will not be paying water charges simply because they cannot afford them.

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

I welcome the opportunity to speak about the budget. For two parties that prided themselves on their commitment to reform, the lack of detail provided for the Opposition on the budget is surprising. We received little more than a three year projection for expenditure, alongside the tax measures announced by the Minister for Finance. The relevant Departments have not given details of what is happening under each heading or subheading, other than headline figures. The Minister for Education and Skills had the audacity to challenge my party's figures for the education budget. I assure her that the education measures we brought forward had been fully costed and were based in reality. It was rich to hear these claims from her, given the lack of detail provided on the education budget.

The Government has taken an unfortunate approach to framing next year's budget. I welcome the departure from previous budgets allowed by the fact that the economy has grown and that thankfully there is now space to look upwards again. Unfortunately, the Government has decided not to invest in much needed services and has instead opted for headline grabbing and vote winning measures. It was clear from the leaks to the media that the headline for the budget would be a reduction in the 41% rate. Fianna Fáil has taken a different approach, however, because we believe that at a time when people cannot get into hospitals or have to wait two years to see an orthopaedic consultant, never mind have an operation, when class sizes are the highest in Europe and when people are merely scraping by, it is the wrong choice to cut the higher rate of tax instead of trying to improve the services on which people rely. We heard a lot from the Minister about how she values education as a key platform for our future. The reality of what we see in the budget bears no resemblance to public relations. The budget provides for no additional spending to improve education services. It merely provides for additional spending to meet demographic changes. There will be an additional 13,000 students at primary and secondary level next year. As one would expect as a minimum, funding has been provided for extra teachers and special needs assistants to allow these children to start school in September.

That will in no way improve the situation in classes where many children are taught in groups of more than 30 and in some cases 35 children. Nor will it improve the situation in schools which are chronically underfunded and require the help of parents and the local community on a month-to-month basis to make ends meet.

In particular with regard to education, the budget is one of more cuts in the same vein as we have seen under the previous Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. At third level, the registration fee students must pay has increased by a further €250 bringing it to €3,000. We all know what commitment was given when the Government took office and was running for election. The parties opposite seemed to understand then the difficulties many families faced in sending young people to college and it gave a commitment not to increase fees. In fact, it gave a commitment to reduce them by €500 yet the budget sees a further €250 increase for students starting college next September. It sees a further 1% reduction in the capitation fees paid to primary schools for each student. It also sees a 1% reduction in the capitation fee paid to secondary schools. Those, unfortunately, are the key measures and changes in the budget and they consist of cuts. There has been no additional investment over what was in the budget presented last year. The PR we will see trying to give the impression that the additional teachers will somehow help the situation faced by students does not wash with schools.

In setting out its budget submission, Fianna Fáil put a very strong emphasis on a few key public service areas putting education to the fore with health, including mental health and disability services. In our submission, we made other sacrifices and did not go for the headline grabbing and vote winning exercises prioritised by the Government such as cutting the 41% rate of tax. Instead, we provided for a reduction in the size of classes with €50 million to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio from 28:1 to 27:1. We provided in our pre-budget submission for €20 million to roll back the cuts the Government has made over the last three years to smaller schools of four, three and one teachers. These make up half of all primary schools in the country. We provided the funding to reverse the teacher losses in those schools.

We also provided for a guaranteed minor works grant of €28 million, which the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan has not done. My colleagues in Sinn Féin did not provide for it either. As a result of the Minister failing to make provision for a minor works grant in the budget, the average primary school will have a €9,500 hole in its finances. It will be a minimum of €5,500 regardless of the size of the school and will increase depending on the number of students. That €9,500 is essential to the running of schools and the hard-pressed families the Government pretends to try to support will be asked by schools to pony up through cake sales, charity runs or Strictly Come Dancing fund-raisers. I note that the Minister said today she hoped that if there was a bit of spare cash, she might be able to pay it. On behalf of primary schools and the communities across the country that value those schools, I suggest the payment of essential funding should not be an afterthought. It should be central funding provided for in the budget but the Minister has not done it.

Fianna Fáil also provided for an increase in the number of resource teachers over and above what was required to maintain the demographic dividend. We allocated €30 million to employ 500 additional resource teachers to bring the amount of teaching to qualified students up from 85% to 92.5% with a view to extending it further in the following year. We also provided for €30 million for guidance counselling in schools. It is essential given the particular qualifications of guidance counsellors to work with young people. Unfortunately, the Government has gone down an entirely different route which places no weight on additional investment in education. In fact, it is on a backwards rather than a forwards path and has continued with the cuts of previous years to pile pressure onto schools, which means pressure on families in turn. Those families with young children are among the most hard pressed in what continues to be a financially strained society.

I emphasise that the Government is on the wrong path and must change its approach. We must see measures and efforts from the Government which improve educational services rather than undermine them as is happening on foot of the budget.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Catherine Byrne)

Does Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice want to come in? No.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Kathleen Lynch)

Deputy Kathleen Lynch

The Deputy should not accuse anyone else of spin unless he can take it back. I would love to see him come in here without notes to give an unscripted speech that is not detail free.

Before I go on to my particular area, I must point out that when I examined the health element of the Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission, I found no reference to either the further €35 million or the extra €15 million it sought in a recent Private Members’ motion for mental health services.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

We did refer to mental health services.

Deputy Kathleen Lynch

It contained no reference to older people, which is amazing when one considers our increasing age demographic. Disability funding was not cut last year, but Sinn Féin claimed that in its document. There is no reference to the €12 million allocated for disability services for school leavers or the €6 million for therapy services for children up to 18 years of age. Neither did it mention any allocation for the rolling out of primary care.

Sinn Féin called for the extension of the BreastCheck programme, which I am glad to say is happening. It wanted funding for suicide prevention to be increased to €18.7 million. However, it also wanted to increase suicide crisis assessment nurses and nurses in accident and emergency departments, funding for whom, it must be remembered, comes out of the health budget. Suicide prevention is strictly about the message in different areas of health, and we are developing a new framework.

Budget 2015 provides for an additional €35 million to be ring-fenced for mental health services. This will bring to €125 million the total investment by the Government in mental health services since 2012. The additional funding will enable the Health Service Executive, HSE, to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with A Vision for Change. The additional funding will be directed towards the continued prioritised development and reconfiguration of general adult teams, including psychiatry of later life, which had not been done until now, and also child and adolescent community mental health services, CAMHS, teams, which need to be bulked up. This will be delivered through further recruitment and investment in agencies and services to achieve a consistent service provision across all areas. It should not matter whether one is in Dingle or Donegal. The pathway to and the delivery of the service should be the same.

In addition, the funding will also permit urgent specialist needs to be addressed, including psychiatric intensive care, forensic mental health, mental health intellectual disability care and psychiatric liaison services. I am sure Deputy Dessie Ellis does not disagree with any of these provisions. Additional funding in 2015 will provide for prioritisation of investment in community services designed to respond to the needs of those with co-morbid mental illness and intellectual disability. Someone with a disability can sometimes have mental health difficulties. Investment will also be provided for services for homeless people with mental illness, bed capacity to respond to eating disorders and other secondary care, the development of a seed CAMHS forensic mental health team, the enhancement of capacity in adult forensic mental health services, the maintenance and development of the incredible Jigsaw services nationally, and the implementation of clinical programmes for mental health.

Additional funding will be provided for the roll-out of the Advancing Recovery in Ireland process. It is no longer the case that if one has a mental health difficulty it should be enduring or lifelong. People can recover, and the Government wants to ensure they have every opportunity to do so. Funding will address the physical health needs of those with severe and enduring mental illness. People with severe and enduring mental health problems tend to die younger. We must examine their physical health needs too. We will be integrating action in respect of Traveller mental health and the substance misuse strategy. There will be training for the prevention and management of violence and aggression and full implementation of the incident management policy.

There will be challenges with our aging demographic. With so much research into dementia, I believe we will find a way to either slow it down or cure it completely. We have a difficulty with delayed discharge from hospitals for older people requiring rehabilitation services. However, this is not confined to older people; it can also affect chronically ill young people. We have set aside €27 million to address this problem in the short term. The long-term strategy will examine intensive rehabilitation that can get people, whatever their age, back home into their own communities. It will also help those at home who have become immobile - bedridden, as it used to be called - to receive intensive rehabilitation care and get out again. It will involve grants for home improvements and housing adaptation, which have all been increased.

Deputy Dessie Ellis knows I do not stand in here slagging people off because I do not believe it gets anyone anywhere. We need to find solutions to the problems we all want to solve. Primary care will be rolled out with the co-operation of the Irish Medical Organisation and GPs. We will deliver free GP care to all children under six in the first quarter of next year with the co-operation of GPs and the IMO. Without it, it simply cannot be done. I hope the negotiations between the IMO and the Department will be successful, which looks as though it will be the case.

We need to take a more humane approach to discretionary medical cards. Members know of families that have extraordinary medical needs. While they may be over the financial limits to be eligible for a card, we need to take a more holistic view on all of this. I hope this will happen too.

I always say it is about the politics of the next impossible task. The following story describes this perfectly. There are two guys sitting down to breakfast. One says to the other that buttered toast will always land with the buttered side down if it falls from the table. The other guy says it will be more a case of 50:50. The first guy proceeds to drop his buttered toast to the ground. It lands, however, butter-side-up. The second guy says that just proves it is always 50:50, to which the first guy says, “No, I just buttered the wrong side.” It is the same when it comes to the Opposition - no Government will ever do it right in its eyes. I believe we are doing a very good job in the difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves. I am very grateful that we have extraordinarily talented people in the Civil Service and public services to help us do that job.

Debate adjourned.

Written Answers follow Adjournment.

The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, 16 October 2014.

Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 15 Oct 2014

Financial Resolution No. 3: General (Resumed)

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 15 Oct 2014