Yesterday the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, published the Government's summer economic statement. It clearly points to a budget in October that will have serious consequences for ordinary people. By taking a decision not to invest the €1.4 billion that is available to the Government in the upcoming budget under the fiscal rules, it is deliberately choosing once again not to address the social crises that we have in this State, crises that have been created as a result of a decade of underinvestment by this Government and previous Fianna Fáil-led Governments.

That lack of investment has resulted in hospital waiting lists of more than 700,000 people. It has resulted in 100,000 people on hospital trolleys last year alone. It has resulted in more than 4,000 children waking up this morning in emergency accommodation. Along with the crippling crisis the State faces in health and housing, we have the highest childcare costs in the European Union while our third level institutions are falling down the international ranking. Basic telecommunications remains a pipe dream for many in rural Ireland. Many struggle in fear of an extra financial burden such as a car breakdown or an unexpected trip to the doctor. It is reckless of the Government to decide that even though the money is available, it will not invest it to meet the challenges we face as a society. Instead, it is attempting to normalise lacklustre public services, which is socially and economically irresponsible.

The coming budget should be about building economic stability for all. It should be about providing access to proper public services and meaningful investment to stabilise public and personal finances. Putting a few quid in a rainy day fund is the wrong decision at the wrong time. While everyone appreciates the idea of putting a few bob aside for unprecedented events in the case of emergency, we have emergencies right here and now. They will not fix themselves. They need investment and they will not vanish overnight. Despite Fianna Fáil's constant promises to fund everything under the sun, it seems to be on board with the Government's strategy. The long and the short of it, however, is that these services will continue to be in a state of crisis unless the Government invests to fix them. The Government knows it and Fianna Fáil knows it. That is the crux of the matter. The choices to be made in the upcoming budget in October are very simple. We can choose to continue to allow these crises to prevail and deepen or we can tackle them head on. Does the Taoiseach accept that under his plans, the message to those in emergency accommodation and to the hundreds of thousands on hospital waiting lists or on trolleys is to suck it up and get on with it?

The Minister for Finance published the summer economic statement yesterday but I am not sure the Deputy really understands it. Perhaps I can explain.

That is patronising.

The summer economic statement, which presages the budget, provides for an increase in public spending next year of €3.4 billion. That is one of the largest increases in public spending in a very long time. Of that, we have already committed €2.5 billion. We have committed to a €1.5 billion increase in investment in public infrastructure, which includes housing, health care, schools, broadband and climate change mitigation measures. We have also pre-committed to increasing pay for our public servants, including doctors, teachers and nurses. We will see pay restoration continued during the next year. We have also set aside additional money for demographics, recognising that there will be more pensioners next year as well as more patients and students in our schools. We are also taking account of the fact that some of the improvements introduced in the course of this year, including subsidised childcare and increased welfare payments, will cost more in 2019 because of the full year effect. As such, the summer economic statement provides that next year we will increase public spending by €3.4 billion, which is a very large amount of money.

Health spending in Ireland is already at a record high. On a per capita basis, it is among the highest in the world. It has been running ahead of the international OECD average for 20 years now, including during the recession. If Sinn Féin does not understand that our problems in healthcare are about much more than funding, it has no solutions to offer Irish people or those patients who are suffering and waiting. The Sinn Féin policy is to spend money which is not available and would have to be borrowed. What we say in the summer economic statement is that we are aiming for a deficit next year. It is still a deficit and we will still borrow money next year. We are aiming for a deficit of 0.1% of GDP next year, which is close to but still not a balanced budget. The Sinn Féin policy is to borrow another billion or two next year. Now is not the time in the economic cycle to increase our debt. Now is the time for us to balance the books and pay down our debt because we cannot assume the economy will always grow this quickly or that unemployment will always be falling. The Sinn Féin policy is actually worse than the Fianna Fáil policy of the past. Fianna Fáil's policy was "When I have it, I spend it". At least it had it, whereas Sinn Féin is proposing to borrow it. Increasing borrowing and debt now might work for a year or two but after those two or three years are up, Sinn Féin will plunge us into a financial crisis yet again.

It is clear that the Taoiseach and his Cabinet are making economic decisions from their ivory tower. Let us deal with the reality here. The State faces major social crises. As we speak, there are hundreds of people on hospital trolleys. This morning, more than 4,000 children woke up in emergency accommodation. Despite the fact that we have very strict fiscal rules, we can spend an additional €1.4 billion to deal with these crises, yet the Government in its ivory tower has decided not to do so. Its message is clearly "Suck it up and wait". That is the wrong decision. It is socially irresponsible. It is economically irresponsible to fail to invest following a lost decade of underinvestment. We have had the lowest capital spending in Europe. While there is an increase in capital spending now, it is not reaching the European average, never mind dealing with the fact that we have had a decade of underinvestment.

What does the Taoiseach say to the young child this morning who left hotel accommodation to get two buses to his or her primary school? What does he say when that child asks why the Government cannot build the homes people need even though €1.4 billion is available under the fiscal rules? What does the Taoiseach say to a child who has been waiting for two years for an assessment because the Government will not provide the resources? What does he say to the 19 people in my constituency who are lying on trolleys today while a ward with 19 beds remains closed and management seeks €1.8 million to open it to allow these people to be treated with dignity and the professionals in the hospital to work in a proper environment?

It is curious and interesting that Sinn Féin now agrees with the fiscal rules when that party campaigned only a few years ago against the fiscal treaty, just as it campaigned against the Single Market and just as it campaigned against Ireland joining the European Union in the first place. I do not know whether it is just that one cannot believe Sinn Féin or whether it has really changed its spots.

It has not.

All of a sudden, it is a pro-European party committed to fiscal rectitude and the fiscal rules, even though it opposed the nine referendums which brought them about. I do not know whether one simply cannot believe them or whether we should believe them and accept that the party is very good at admitting when it is wrong, which is most of the time.

What does the Taoiseach say to those families?

Answer the question that was asked.

What I say to those families is that they should be very afraid of Sinn Féin.

Because we will build the houses.

They built Priory Hall.

Sinn Féin's policy, at the worst possible time in the economic cycle, is to borrow more and increase debt, which will lead to a new financial crisis and a further economic downturn. The people who suffer the most during a downturn are the very people the Deputy is talking about.

Fine Gael should go back to its ivory tower.