Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We have all been through one hell of a rollercoaster ride in the past decade, but having reflected on it, there is a compelling proposition that everyone must now accept, which is that we cannot have a sustainable, fair society without a strong economy and we cannot have a sustainable, strong economy without a fair society. They are two sides of the one coin and that is what the budget has been at pains to underpin. We only have to look back at the past decade when both economic and social supports were torn down to recognise the folly of trying to build a fair society in an economic sandpit. That is what the property bubble was and it could not sustain the social services we wanted to build. As a result, we have a lost decade in terms of investment across many sectors, whether it be housing, education and health, and that issue will not be addressed in one or two budgets. It will take systematic work in the coming years to recover the losses.

It is important to think long term about the challenges we face and examine what is sustainable fairness and a sustainable economy. That is where the budget is strong because it has set out an important road map for the changes that need to be made to support a strong and fair society. We have commenced long overdue investment in child care services, starting with families that are least well off. That investment will represent a figure of €8,000 for families on low incomes that need to place their children in child care services. That is substantial support for such families, particularly in disadvantaged areas. We are told every other day that children from a disadvantaged area enter school at the age of four years way behind their peers. We have a structured child care programme from the age of six months until children enter school, starting with child care support and moving into the early child care programme. That is a significant long-term decision by the State.

Our decision to invest in tackling disadvantage within the education system is equally significant. I note the criticism of Members that we did not reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools, but we made a conscious decision to make a substantial investment in both disadvantaged children and children with special needs. Of the 2,400 additional teachers we are funding, more than 1,000 will be deployed to look after children with special educational needs. We are moving to a better model which will support these children in a better environment, better integrating them in mainstream schools. That, again, is a long-term investment and we will have a plan to upgrade the programmes supporting DEIS schools. These are important long-term decisions because to break the cycle of unfairness and disadvantage, we have to start with education. Education opens up opportunities for people to receive the training and gain the skills they need, which means that they will not be in marginal jobs for the rest of their lives and not suffer persistent unemployment. We know this from every statistical journal people care to open. We have made a conscious, long-term decision, therefore, to invest in tackling disadvantage, not just in the early years but also in higher education, apprenticeships and many other important areas.

We have also made a long-term strategic decision to halt the decline in investment in higher and further education. We have had eight years of decline, with a 33% reduction in investment in that sphere. For the first time, we are not only investing this year but setting out a road map for the coming years. I look forward to discussing with colleagues at the education committee how we can find a sustainable path to drive the skills, apprenticeship and traineeship programmes needed for the future economy we all desire to build. However, the decisions announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform are important for the long-term development of the country.

I was surprised when a former Labour Party Minister trenchantly condemned the Minister for Social Protection for providing €5 per week for the 850,000 social welfare recipients who had not received an increase in the past eight years. They have suffered only cuts to welfare supports. The proposed increase is a correct decision. We cannot leave 850,000 people, including carers, the widowed, those with a disability or in receipt of invalidity pension and the blind, behind. Given that we had the opportunity, it was right to treat them fairly. They are in the lowest decile, even below pensioners.

The budget takes a long-term view of Brexit. I have listened carefully to what has been said by colleagues, particularly in Fianna Fáil, about this because there is genuine concern.

Having overseen the enterprise agencies, I look favourably on their decision to increase their capital budgets by 10% and to put boots on the ground in the foreign markets into which we now need to diversify. It was right to extend the tax relief for companies which put their people out into those new markets, on which we need to build by bringing in new export credit support and insurance so that people can get access to better-value credit. It was also right to support entrepreneurs and start-ups and to give them a break in the area of capital gains tax. It is a signal of the direction a long-term sustainable response to Brexit requires. It requires us to rebuild innovation, rebuild entrepreneurship and strengthen export markets to diversify away from the United Kingdom.

Those who have said this budget is not prudent need to look at the numbers announced yesterday. Our budget deficit will be less than 0.5% and our debt at the end of next year will be down to 75% of GDP, lower than the United Kingdom and most European countries. The total increase in our spending will be 3.6%, but the growth of the economy will be 4.6%. We are increasing our spending by less than the growth in the economy. We are confining current spending to 3% but increasing capital spending by 10%, taking advantage of these times to invest in capital projects that are badly needed.

We are also setting aside money for a rainy day fund and €1 billion will be available to top up our capital programmes if, God forbid, we face more difficult times and the going gets rough. That is prudent and correct and will fortify us against the potential of a Brexit. There is international confidence in this economy and it is measured in the rate at which we can borrow. We can now borrow at 0.3% whereas at the depth of the crash we were having to pay 14% in equivalent markets. That is a transformation, but we have to build long-term competitiveness. That will be found in entrepreneurship and innovation but also in child care in order that women will not be forced to leave the labour market. It will also be found in housing in order that we will not have the pressures in rent and house prices which force companies to pay more. The long-term structural decisions that are part of the budget are important.

I recognise that we were not able to do everything and there have been criticisms from all sides of the House of the things we left out. In my area, however, we got €458 million, the highest investment in education ever in one year. We had to leave some things out, but we have given real signals of our intention and the direction in which we want to take education. We want to deliver the best education service in Europe within a decade and are putting the big stones in the bottom of the bag in that respect. We are creating the big road map to allow that to become a reality. While the budget is not perfect it, deserves the support of the House.

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