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

I would like to congratulate the Minister of Finance for his achievement not only in putting the economy into a position where we could cope with the challenge of Covid and to do so successfully, with our public finances coming back into order already, but also his very astute handling a very difficult challenge to our corporate tax regime. He has made the correct changes, and made them steadily and gradually over a period so that people have had certainty in the approach that they can take and can have confidence in investing in Ireland.

Contrary to what Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said, in this year's budget, the Minister was the one who stood out and said he would protect consumers by indexing taxation, by providing additional tax credits and by expanding the tax band so that people have more money in their pockets to make choices. He is the one who supported investment in childcare, which is crucial. It is one of the key enablers we have failed over many years to address and this year we are doing it. He is the one who has ensured that the ambition to be able buy your own home is one that can be available to Irish people once again. Not only the help to buy scheme but numerous schemes will make it possible to buy at affordable prices, to rent at cost rental and to transform our housing market by having a State entity, the Land Development Agency, address the supply of homes in a concerted and effective way. This is the change we have been waiting for. Those on the left who continuously attack policies from the Government fail to recognise this is the first time we have had a State developer. We have a State developer using State land to develop and deliver homes to people up and down the country. This is transformative change. The Minister has been absolutely at the heart of this work.

Unlike Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and others, I welcome the carbon pricing. Carbon dioxide is toxic. It may not emit fumes of smoke or have foul smells but it is destroying our climate. Farms, enterprises or homes that do not start and are not helped to make the changes now in order to be in a position to address the challenges of a zero-carbon world will be the ones that will be undermined. Many of those who claim to be speaking for people in rural Ireland are seeking to condemn them to a future where they will not have prosperous farms or warm homes in the teeth of such dramatic change. It is right that we are using carbon pricing to recognise the damage that carbon is doing, and putting that money into helping farmers with €1.5 billion to make the transition, and helping people on low incomes to put in proper installation and proper heating systems that are resilient for the future.

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