Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to address the House. As has already been advised by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, Tuesday's budget will for the first time in ten years balance the national books and it does so while primarily supporting young families, improving people’s lives, safeguarding our national finances and investing in our country's future. This milestone should not be overlooked when considering where we have come from in terms of the levels of borrowing needed to run our country. In many ways, it really is the end of the forgotten decade of cuts, forced emigration and austerity which followed the economic crash in 2008.

Overall, this budget is a safe and modest expansionary budget which will see €1.2 billion in spending and tax cuts being implemented. We will spend €60.5 billion as a country in 2018 but we are sticking to the careful approach we have taken with regard to public spending since 2011. This careful approach has helped us to reduce the risk of future financial crises being homemade. It has helped us to regain our feet following the crash and I am glad to see it continue in this budget. The boom to bust policies of the past have wrecked this country time and again and we do not want to see them return.

On the ground in my constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, this budget will have a wide range of benefits across local communities. For example, social welfare spending is up by €260 million, which means there will be a €260 a year increase across the board for all weekly payments from March 2018, including for carers, pensioners, jobseekers and the disabled in Sligo, Leitrim, south Donegal and north Roscommon. The Christmas bonus has also been retained at 85%.

With regard to personal taxation and rewarding work, this budget will ensure that middle income workers are modestly rewarded by ensuring that the point at which an income earner will pay the higher rate of tax is increased by €750 to €34,550. We will also reduce the rates of USC and increase the subsequent bands to ensure that all workers who will receive the increased minimum wage of €9.65 from January will not pay increased USC as a result. This is the fourth budget under Fine Gael in which the marginal rate of taxation has been reduced and it will continue to drop under our stewardship.

In health, we will see more nurses hired to work on the front line of our hospitals in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal. Some 1,800 will be hired nationally, with the health budget to be increased by €685 million to €15.3 billion. Prescription charges for the over-70s will be reduced from €2.50 to €2 and a new telephone support of €104 per year will also be introduced. There will also be a reduction in the threshold for the drugs payment scheme from €144 to €134.

In housing, additional resources are being allocated to fast-track the building of the local authority housing stock nationally and, in particular, in Sligo and Leitrim. This has further been supported by an increase in the funding for the housing assistance payment.

In education, this budget will deliver an additional 1,300 teaching posts in schools in 2018, along with an additional 1,000 special needs assistants in time for September 2018, bringing the total number of SNAs to over 15,000. This measure will ensure that the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level in schools in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal will be reduced to 26:1 for the first time in the history of the State.

The budget will also see the recruitment of a further 800 gardaí and 500 civilian staff in 2018, which will mean more gardaí on our streets and villages. Funding has also been ring-fenced for large Garda infrastructural projects, such as the new Sligo regional garda headquarters, with a site location expected to be disclosed shortly by the OPW.

The N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin road upgrade, mentioned on page 135 of the expenditure report, will continue to be funded, with an overall tender expected to be ready to go by the end of 2018. I await the statements from the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, in this regard.

The earned income tax credit will be increased by €200 to further support our SMEs.

There is a new €300 million Brexit loan scheme to support SMEs in accessing finance during the difficulties which Brexit will present.

In agriculture, a major industry in my constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, there will be a comprehensive €50 million Brexit response package announced for 2018, along with a specific €25 million agrifood loan scheme to assist with Brexit related issues.

I was also lobbied hard by farmers from the region about the areas of natural constraint scheme, ANC, and I am glad to learn that this fund will be increased by €25 million 2018. I am, however, quite concerned about the fact that, as it stands, the 6% stamp duty for agriculture land sales applies and I believe that this needs to be changed in the Finance Bill.

I welcome this safe and modest budget for 2018 and I also welcome the ever improving financial situation which we have faced since Fine Gael has taken power and I look forward to more positive budgets in this regard.

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