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

I thank Deputy McDonald for her question. I am surprised she is not praising the Government for providing an increase for 850,000 people who have not received an increase for eight years, including carers, people with disabilities, people on invalidity pension, blind persons and the unemployed.

I would have thought the Deputy would particularly welcome the fact that, for the first time, we have a very strong, progressive Government, the budget of which will have a very positive impact in helping those who are paid the lowest, as shown in the ESRI's SWITCH model which does not even take into account the additional €8,000 that will be made available to parents availing of child care services as part of the very good initiative introduced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone. We have a budget which is balanced and very fair.

I absolutely agree with the Deputy that politicians need to take the lead in being more economical and that is what she will see from the Government. As she knows, we did not accept any of the increases during the term of office of the last Government. In the past few years the pay of Ministers was cut by 35%, as was right. We have also curbed expenses, done away with State cars and sought to make the Dáil a more effective workplace. That needs to continue and the Government will confirm next week that Ministers will not be availing the proposed pay rise.

Clearly, we are in a situation where we are producing a budget that seeks to address the needs of the country in a balanced way. There are, of course, those who are pressing for pay increases. In the budget we are offering an extra €300 million for increased pay, an extra €300 million for increased social welfare payments and €300 million in tax reductions. The Deputy is right to say these amounts will not have a huge impact in each individual case, but they are fair and balanced. They are being given against a background where we are recruiting an extra 7,000 people for services in the areas of health, education and policing, across all front-line services where there are really pressing needs. The budget takes a balanced approach to delivering for people, not just a sustainable path to achieving full employment but also fairness in a way that will help everyone. This is particularly the case for young people on lower rates of social welfare, to whom the Deputy referred. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has provided that they will receive the full rate of payment for participating in the Tús programme, back to education schemes and all of the other initiatives that can help to put them on a path towards finding permanent work. A lot of effort is put into building those pathways through traineeships and apprenticeships, in which we are again investing in the budget.

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