Donie Cassidy (Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I also welcome the €300 increase in the respite care grant.

I welcome the back to school allowance increases. Little was said about the back to school allowance, but this is a serious effort involving a substantial increase and I wholeheartedly welcome it. I say well done to the Minister on this 50% increase in the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, which increases the low rate for children aged two to 11 by €60 to €180 and the rate for children aged 12 to 22 from €95 to €285. An estimated 172,000 children will benefit from these allowances in the coming year.

I want to say to the Minister and to the Government that we have seen bad times in this House in our privileged term as Members. I never thought we would see the day where there would be such expenditure on those most in need. We all know of constituents who come into our clinics making heartbreaking pleas that something be done and to intercede. Thankfully, this year's budget, under my neighbouring constituency colleague and Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Brennan, must be acknowledged and welcomed, and they must be congratulated, by all sides of the House. As one who is here for quite a long time, I certainly do so here tonight. I look forward, with the help of God, to many more budgets in this particular vein, and especially for those on lower incomes who have been quite rightly uplifted over the past two or three budgets.

See this speech in context