Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a great pleasure to contribute to the debate on the budget. I compliment the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, on the budget. It is very balanced and fair and is targeted at the people who need most help and also at the areas of housing and health, both of which will receive substantial funding.

I am glad to welcome my colleagues, the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Moran, and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Doyle. I compliment the former on the job he has done in dealing with the very serious flooding experienced throughout the country in recent years. The Minister of State has done a tremendous job. I was glad to see his Department receive extra funding in the budget because we are already having problems with rainfall, particularly along the west coast. We have had some very bad weather already this year, including heavy rain. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, on the job he has done.

I also compliment Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Doyle. I listened to the previous speaker and while he was fair, he was also incorrect in his comments on health and agriculture. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, and the Minister of State did a tremendous job for the agricultural sector yesterday. That sector has endured a very difficult year. There has been wet weather, dry weather and a fodder crisis. The Minister and the Minister of State have done an excellent job in supporting and helping farmers as much as possible. I accept that the farming community was not 100% satisfied with yesterday's announcements, but it was certainly very pleased with the amount of funding that is being invested in farming. I compliment my colleagues on that.

I worked closely with the Minister for Finance. I was Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport when he was Minister there. I learned a great deal about him there. He has a good conscience. He understands what is going on in urban and rural Ireland. Yesterday, he announced a social welfare package worth €20.5 billion. The latter represents an increase of €361 million on the allocation for this year. I am glad to see the Christmas bonus being restored, a development Deputy Danny Healy-Rae welcomed. I was also glad to hear about the payments that people on social welfare received yesterday, because they have gone through a very difficult time. The Minister for Finance responded to the needs of these people yesterday.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae referred to rural Ireland. He has given me an opportunity, as Minister for Rural and Community Development, to thank the Taoiseach for putting my Department in place when he took office. My Department has existed for one year. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae recognised some of the schemes that are in place now, and I want to talk to him about Kerry. I know he is from Kerry; I hear him talking about it every single day. I spent two weeks on holidays in Kerry this year. I did not recognise the Killarney to which the Deputy referred because I could not get into or out of the town any evening unless I arrived by 3 p.m. I had to wait until 10 p.m. otherwise because the place was so busy. I could not get a restaurant booking and I found it difficult to get a hotel. I love Kerry and I go there every year. I visited the Deputy's county three times this year. On each occasion, I found a different Killarney and a different Kerry to the ones about which he speaks. I want to put that on the record. I met business people from Kerry who told me how well they are doing, how good business is and that tourism is up by 8% this year. There are 230,000 people employed in tourism. Those business people were happy punters. They informed me that business is going well and asked me to ensure that American, British and other tourists keep coming to the country. Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are doing a good job for tourism.

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