Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to say as a Fianna Fáil Deputy that it is not that our fingerprints are on this budget but that our hoofprints are all over this budget. A number of core policy issues for my party have been addressed well in this budget. The first matter that I want to focus on in the short time that I have available is the provision of SNAs. Some 1,000 extra SNAs are being provided in the education system.

I have lobbied unsuccessfully on the issue of working principals in previous budgets but there has been a strong recognition of their plight in this year's budget. Angela Dunne, who has led the working principals' action group, is the principal of Loughmore National School. There has been a major improvement. Any working principal with two autism units in his or her school will now be treated as an administrative principal. That is a major step forward. More needs to be done for these working principals, who find it extremely hard to teach as well as to deal with a substantial amount of paperwork. I hope that in next year's budget, any principal who has an autism unit will be treated as an administrative principal, and that working principals will get extra allocations.

The national childcare scheme is a core principle of Fianna Fáil. There is €78 million extra for it in this year's budget. I have been lobbied by SIPTU in my constituency about this issue on numerous occasions. Pat McCabe is a strong lobbyist for it. It was a grand to get a text from SIPTU on Tuesday evening recognising the achievement in the budget. There has been a serious problem with the retention of staff and staff conditions. This €78 million will go a long way to ensuring the retention of staff in the childcare system, which is essential, and also to stabilising fees for parents, another core policy issue for us.

Another important issue is the change to qualify for carer's allowance. It is the first time in 14 years that this has been addressed. That is linked to the €90 million for housing adaptations and means that many families will be able to consider looking after their older family members at home. While it is our policy, a shoulder needed to be put to the wheel to ensure that families could achieve their objectives. That change in the criteria for carers and the money for housing adaptations will be important for families who want to try to keep senior family members at home and look after them there.

The €30 million extra for high-tech drugs is most welcome. I ask the Minister of State to take this back to the Minister for Health. I and others have lobbied for a drug called Epilex, an essential drug for people suffering from epileptic fits. I have dealt with the case of a young lady with cancer who badly needs this drug, which is expensive. Hopefully, with the extra €30 million allocation, we will be able to reimburse that drug. I would like if the Minister of State would bring that to the attention of the Minister for Health.

This is the largest welfare package in a decade. The Opposition says that we have not looked after older people in the budget. That is not true. A person living alone will be €13 a week better off. If you examine what was put forward by the Opposition in their alternative budgets, it did not measure up to what was introduced by the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, on Tuesday. I am proud to say that we looked after social welfare recipients in this budget well.

I am glad to see the mention of infrastructure projects in my constituency, such as the Ballina-Killaloe crossing, the Cork to Dublin railway line and the Waterford to Limerick Junction railway line. They are all essential infrastructure projects. Some need improvements and others need to happen as quickly as possible to improve transport infrastructure in my constituency.

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