Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget this evening. Since the budget was announced by Martina Fitzgerald on "Morning Ireland" yesterday, there has been plenty of debate and media commentary as to whether it was a good deal for people, both from a personal perspective and from a service delivery aspect. The shift towards expenditure on public services, as demanded by Fianna Fáil, is a positive change, as Deputy Troy said.

There are plenty of positives to the budget. Regardless of one's political persuasion, there is no weakness in acknowledging those positive aspects. Naturally there are areas where my party worked hard to see improvements, including in areas such as the return of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the old age pension increase and cuts in USC, coupled with initiatives to help the self-employed. The efforts of Fianna Fáil to ensure the budget would help entrepreneurs to create jobs were positive. We did not get everything we wanted and we need more action in certain areas. However, we have ensured that people got value for their vote with Fianna Fáil through the areas where we have exerted influence.

I wish to comment on child care. In the early days of the Government, during Question Time with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I sought assurances from her in respect of the funding for the sector, about which I am passionate. I warmly welcome the 35% increase in early years funding. We need to see the sector properly resourced so that our children can receive the very best in early years education. However, the narrative in the Chamber from some over the past 24 hours and, indeed, in opinion pieces by some from eminent institutes over recent weeks has been disturbing. It is almost as if investing in the early years sector is in turn penalising those who choose to parent at home. For years I have listened to Deputies and others call for investment in the early years sector. From the moment I came into the Dáil, I pressed the Minister, Deputy Zappone, on it and I welcome the increase. I would disagree with the Minister over the distribution of those funds. We need to help the squeezed middle more and not just those on low incomes. However, there are positive moves in the right direction.

It was unbelievable to hear some of the attacks on the child care sector this afternoon. Investing in one sector is not an attack on others. However, there is an attempt to reduce and simplify, and present the debate as such. Perhaps the most derogatory statement I ever heard was uttered in this Chamber this afternoon when Deputy Mattie McGrath said that parents may come to regret to "farming out" their children in years to come. What a disgusting and Neanderthal statement to come out with. It insults not just hard-working parents who care for and love their children but those hard-working professional people in the sector who over the past three decades have moved that sector on to a different plateau.

Some people like to think of the sector as a child-minding service without taking the time to examine how this is actually the first rung of the educational system. It is fighting hard to get recognition and funding as such. The increases in funding announced yesterday are welcome, but derogatory statements by Deputy Mattie McGrath and others are not helpful and insult the professional front-line staff in the service.

On the housing measures, while people have been critical of the home buyers' scheme, anything that helps people will be welcomed by first-time buyers. However, having met developers in my county where there has been a total cessation of building in key towns, I know that the elements which impact the supply of homes was what we needed to examine. The fact that this was not addressed in tandem with the incentive for buyers was a terrible miss. We are going to drive people from certain areas into other areas where the schemes are going to be built. There is not going to be an equal spread and that issue has to be looked at.

With regard to education in the budget, the funding which was allocated to the third level sector is a start but it still falls a long way short of what had been set out as required in the report by Peter Cassells. In addition, the failure to deal with the pupil-teacher ratio was also a missed opportunity. Having held meetings with the INTO representatives in my constituency it will come as a big disappointment to teachers and parents that these ratios were not tackled. There are however, many positives to the budget and overall the Dáil needs to work constructively in that regard.

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