Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

This is the last budget from this Government and like all others there will be a spending increase. But the question we must ask ourselves, as with all other budgets, is if it will make the big difference that people need in their lives and the difference they are crying out for. Will it address the housing crisis, and make housing affordable, as laid out by Sinn Féin? The answer is no, it will not. Will it fix the health service that is on its knees? No, it will not. Will it address the cost-of-living crisis in a meaningful way? For example, will it abolish USC on the first €45,000 of income for all workers? No, it will not. Will it deliver the fundamental change that we need in our childcare system by introducing childcare for €10 per day for families across the State? Again, the answer is "No". The answer is "No" because this Government is incapable of delivering real change. It is incapable of getting value for money. People see through the spin. People hear about the millions and billions of euro but they do not feel better off. For most people it is about what they have at the end of the week and if, when the bills are paid, there is anything left. That is the question they ask. The answer for far too many is "No". Workers and families cannot afford another five years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is in this context that the budget will be judged and how the Government parties will be judged at election time. This Government has been exposed over and again as serial wasters. They treat the public with contempt when they waste taxpayers' money on every project, big or small.

These go from a bike shed, to the national children's hospital, to a security hut, to modular units for Ukrainians that are costing more than semi-detached houses built with bricks and mortar. That is the record of the Ministers sitting opposite me. That is what we get after Fine Gael has been in office for 14 years and no one takes responsibility, no one is held to account and the merry-go-round goes around and around. The Government wasted €10 million on lawyers, fighting a losing battle to deny the State €14 billion that it now wants to dish out.

Despite the budget being announced today, we still feel poor as a country in so many ways, such as in housing in health, in disabilities and in mental health. The Government's job is not just to spend money; it also needs to get results. That is where the Government is completely and utterly failing. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, people see a deepening housing crisis. Month after month, we pass new, shameful milestones in housing with record homelessness, rents and house prices and nobody takes responsibility. We have a Minister for housing and that is his record. Yet, he stands up here an applauds a Government that does not provide any new additional social and affordable homes. Everyone suffers when this Government fails to build the homes that are needed. Higher rents and higher house prices are the consequences. Sinn Féin is committed to bringing homeownership back within the reach of working people.

This Government is great at spin. It has talked over and over again about homeownership. To be clear, since this Government came into office, house prices have risen by €100,000, on average, in Dublin. That is the record of the Government. The other record it has is that homeownership for young people has collapsed under Fine Gael. There are 100,000 fewer people under the age of 40 who own their home today than when Fine Gael came into government 14 years ago. That is the Government's record. It has halved the number of people who own their home in that age bracket. It is a failure so big that it is hard to believe. On the other end, Fine Gael has more than doubled the number of people who are in their 60s and are still renting because they do not own a home. At the same time, the number of people in their 20s who are renting has completely collapsed. Why? They are not renting because they are living in their parents' box rooms or they are on a plane on the way to Australia. That is the record of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and that is why we cannot afford another five years of these two parties.

Many of these individuals are nurses, doctors, teachers and other essential workers. This does not just have an impact on them or on their families but it also has an impact on the wider public services that we all rely on in the State. In the Ireland of 2024, in a State where we are recording a surplus of €24 billion, we have children with autism being denied their constitutional right to education. Let that sink in. In the Ireland of 2024, with a surplus of €24 billion, children cannot get assessment of needs and parents have gone for years without therapies for their children. These are simple, basic things, such as speech and language therapy or the assistance that a child needs to be able to eat, speak or walk. In the Ireland of today, we are a poor country when it comes to issues like this. These are basic needs that any First World country should be able to deliver. Over and over again, however, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continue to fail these families that are crying out for assistance. They want assistance to help their child to speak or to eat. They have been left fighting for these basics for year after year.

The most glaring reminder for all of us in this House and outside, is the Government's failure for the children with scoliosis and spina bifida. In the past 24 hours, another parent had to go public with her child's heartbreaking story. No parent should have to do that because the State should provide the services for those most in need. No parent should have to campaign, fight or battle the State for what his or her child deserves. However, under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the Ireland of 2024 with €24 billion of a surplus, parents have to fight and expose their children to that and battle every single day. It is not acceptable. The longer they wait, the worse the condition gets. It is a race against the clock against the child's condition becoming inoperable. What did today's budget do for them? It gave them no more hope for these children than they had yesterday. That is what the budget will be judged on. This Government has all the financial resources, but completely fails to deliver on basic services. That has been the hallmark of the Government's term in office. It has squandered money and five years. The Government will be judged on that when the general election comes.

Tá Sinn Féin tiomanta d’úinéireacht tí a chur ar fáil arís d’oibrithe agus gnáthdhaoine. Tá an t-éadan ar an Rialtas labhairt faoi úinéireacht tí ach tá titim as a chéile tagtha ar úinéireacht tí do dhaoine óga faoi Fhine Gael. Tá níos lú ná 100,000 duine faoi 40 bliain d'aois ina n-úinéirí tí anois ónar tháinig Fine Gael i gcumhacht. Laghdaigh sé an méid daoine óga a bhfuil teach acu féin faoina leath. Is ábhar uafáis é an ráta tithíochta seo agus is deacair é a chreidiúint. Tá líon na ndaoine atá ag ligean tithe ar cíos agus iad ina 70idí ag ardú toisc nach bhfuil siad ábalta tithe a bheith acu. Níl na daoine óga, iad ina 20idí, ag ligean tithe ar cíos toisc go bhfuil siad ar an bhealach chun dul ar imirce. Tá go leor de dhíth anseo. Cuireann sé seo isteach ar sheirbhísí poiblí, seirbhísí a bhfuil daoine ag brath orthu. Mar gheall ar an easpa áiteanna i scoileanna, chímid páistí i gcruachás nach bhfuil ábalta a gcearta bunreachtúla dlíthiúla i gcomhair oideachais a bhaint amach. Fágadh 120 páiste gan scoil ag tús na scoilbhliana. Is rás in aghaidh an chloig é do go leor teaghlaigh, go háirithe iad atá ag déileáil le spina bifida nó scoliosis. Níl aon rud déanta sa bhuiséad seo le faoiseamh a thabhairt dóibh. Ní bheidh aon rud difriúil dóibh sna blianta amach romhainn faoin cháinaisnéis seo.

This is not a giveaway budget. This is a giving-up-on-housing budget. The Government has raised the white flag when it comes to housing, affordable housing and renters. This budget gives nowhere near the funding required. This means that the same inadequate social and affordable housing targets are being delivered. The Government is not planning to build a single social and affordable house more that it has already committed to. It has completely ignored the Housing Commission's report, which was a damning indictment of Government policy. The report accuses the Government of failing to treat housing as a priority. In this it was absolutely right. It called for a radical reset of housing policy and this budget again shows that the Government is incapable of delivering the radical reset needed. To not increase the targets at all is shocking. Not only is it shocking, it is an insult to everybody who is struggling to get an affordable house or pay rent. After eight years at the Cabinet table, what we heard recently is that the Taoiseach started talking about building more homes. This budget exposes that this is nothing more than soundbites. Not a single increase in housing targets is allowed for in this budget. This is a Taoiseach who cares more about headlines than he does about housing and this budget proves it.

Sinn Féin has a plan. In government, we would deliver 300,000 homes.

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