Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

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.

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