James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government has been doing its level best over the course of the last two and a half years, since we came into power, to support families that are struggling and we will continue to do that.

In advance of the budget, we should take stock of the situation in the world economy. We are facing unprecedented uncertainty, which has driven large increases in interest rates. The euro and the dollar are on par for the first time in 20 years, which is going to cause more difficulty as we head into the winter. We are facing an energy security crisis, facing up to the reality that Ireland does not have enough gas to fuel our economy and we do not produce our own oil. These are challenges the Government will have to face up to and deal with. They will impact on every aspect of our society and economy. The reactionary nonsense of an emergency budget in response to everything that is going on is utterly contrary to the economic realities the Government has to face and what is responsible.

A lot of people, particularly those who work in our economy and in business, now have concrete reassurance that Sinn Féin has no idea how to handle the public finances. We need to be responsible in what we do with taxpayers' money. It is all about giving this or giving that and paying out more money here, there and everywhere. Nobody ever asks a question in this House about what we take in order to do that. I get the impression from the Opposition that one can keep lumping taxes on people who work hard in order to pay for more supports. However, that does harm to the economy because somebody has to pay the VAT we need to keep it going. Increasing corporation tax causes significant issues when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment, an area in which we are global leaders. Where are Sinn Féin's solutions to all the economic promises it has made? The business community in Ireland does not see those solutions either. That is a worry. The economy is a fundamental part of keeping society going.

We are an open, free, democratic country. Our economy has had unrivalled success over the last four decades. We have brought ourselves out of poverty to become world leaders in enterprise and trade. That is something we need to be proud of but, more important, it needs to be protected. There is a very dangerous political narrative developing in Ireland as the Opposition is sowing the seeds of hopelessness about Ireland's place in the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is about time members of the Government stood up and outlined that to the Opposition.

I am not saying everything is perfect. We should also outline the significant challenges and areas we need to improve upon. At a recent party meeting, I spoke about increasing supports for people who want to get their first home. In the situation we now find ourselves in, where there are unfortunately extremely high rents and record levels of foreign investment in domestic property, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform need to grab the bull by the horns and tell the Central Bank that the tens of thousands of well-educated, young working professionals who want to buy their first home must be shown leniency when it comes to the deposit requirement. People say 0% deposit mortgages are a bad idea but for somebody's first home, separating it out from investment property, there should be some degree of leniency shown. These people have been renting for five or six years at extraordinarily high rents and in the majority of cases those rents are significantly higher than mortgage payments over a 25-year or 30-year period. That is something the Government needs to look at. If we do not do that, the social contract of getting an education, working hard, saving money and making the correct financial decisions in order to purchase a home, with which we have had so much success, will be broken. We need to do more work to protect it because it is at risk at the moment. That is something the Government needs to take on the chin. We are getting it wrong at the moment and more work needs to be done, alongside the record investment in the area of housing to increase supply.

I wanted to relay that message. I do not have a monopoly on talking about issues facing younger people but young prospective first-time buyers are to the pin of their collar in places like Cork and Dublin. That is something I would like the Government to look at ahead of the next budget. I also recognise the very positive work that has been done to shepherd our economy through Covid-19 and now through a war and record levels of inflation. That needs proper management and we have had that for the last two and a half years, despite what the Deputies opposite wish to tell us.

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