Dáil debates

Tuesday, 27 September 2022

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Budget Statement 2023

 

1:55 pm

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----above the relevant rate of the State pension contributory. For over 70s specifically, I am increasing the weekly fuel allowance means test limit to €500 for single people and €1,000 for couples.

I am increasing the rate of domiciliary care allowance by €20.50 to €330 per month and making this allowance available to parents of babies who have to remain in hospital for six months. I am increasing the top-up payment to participants on the community employment, Tús and rural social schemes by €5 to €25 per week. I will also provide funding for access to the higher rate of JobsPlus subsidy for employers hiring candidates from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds.

Taken together, the measures we are rightly introducing this year and in 2023 represent very substantial State support for the most vulnerable.End of Take

By means of example, a single pensioner living alone and in receipt of fuel allowance will receive an additional €2,375 between now and the end of 2023 as a result of the announcements I am making today.

COST OF CHILDCARE

Childcare is a basic necessity for tens of thousands of families throughout Ireland. The cost of childcare for many of those families is too expensive and at a time of rising household bills, the pressure this cost places on many families is considerable. Today, I am providing the funding to support a reduction of up to 25% in the weekly fee for those availing of the national childcare scheme costing €121 million. This measure will put up to €175 a month or over €2,100 a year back in the pockets of parents next year. I am making a further allocation of €59 million to the recently established core funding model which will provide for extra hours and enhanced capacity in the sector. Under the new employment regulation order, those working in the childcare sector will see improved pay and conditions to better reflect the importance of the work they undertake in providing quality care for our children. In 2023, the childcare budget will reach €1 billion five years ahead of target. Alongside the measures announced last year, this funding will help to make childcare more affordable, improve the wages of staff and help ensure the sustainability for childcare providers.

FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

In recognition of the cost of living pressures faced by students and their families, I am providing funding in 2023 to reduce the student contribution fee by €500 on a permanent basis for eligible families earning between €62,000 and €100,000. The income limit to qualify for a 50% reduction in contribution fees under Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, will be increased from €55,240 to €62,000 and all SUSI maintenance grants will be increased by between 10% and 14% in September 2023. The postgraduate fee contribution grant for eligible students of €3,500 will increase by €500 and the PhD stipend will increase too. Further details of these measures will be announced shortly by the relevant Minister. Further details of additional cost of living measures are provided in the budget 2023 expenditure report prepared by my Department and published on gov.ie.

EXPENDITURE STRATEGY

A Cheann Comhairle, turning to wider spending measures, in the current uncertain environment, a managed adjustment to our medium-term expenditure rule is an appropriate response to the extraordinary circumstances we now face. The medium-term budgetary strategy has been adjusted on a once-off basis for 2023 to allow core public expenditure to grow by 6.3%. Overall in 2023, I am providing €90.4 billion in public expenditure, €85.9 billion of which is core expenditure. This is facilitating a €5.8 billion expenditure budgetary package in 2023. It includes an extra €800 million which will be made available under the national development plan for core capital spending to help in delivering the largest, greenest and most ambitious infrastructure plan in the history of our country. We continue to deal with the aftermath of the pandemic, the repercussions from Brexit and the effects of the war in Ukraine. I am therefore making provision of €4.5 billion for potential non-core expenditure in 2023, €1.8 billion of which will be allocated to Departments with the remainder held centrally in reserve.

HOUSING

Housing remains a key priority for this Government. Through Housing for All and the national development plan, the Government has committed a record €4.5 billion next year in public funding for the provision of more social, affordable and cost rental homes. After over a decade of under-supply, we are now seeing significant progress. We have seen the highest number of housing completions in over a decade and the highest number of first-time buyers in 15 years, with 16,000 purchasing homes in the past 12 months. It is clear, however, that more needs to be done. For many, rents are too high and the hope of owning their own home seems out of reach. It is an objective of this Government to provide opportunity for those who aspire to home ownership. We have launched the new first home shared equity scheme and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has today announced the extension of the help-to-buy scheme. This Government continues to support Housing for All with unprecedented levels of current and capital funding. Next year, I am allocating a record €6.2 billion in Exchequer funding to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, of which the majority, €3.5 billion, will be capital investment. Some €1.7 billion will be allocated to the Department in 2023 to deliver the social housing new build target of 9,100 homes.

I am announcing a €99 million increase in funding for existing schemes, including the social housing current expenditure programme, which will support nearly 6,500 additional new social housing units through approved housing bodies, AHBs, new build delivery and leases. A total of €215 million, an increase of €40 million, will be allocated next year to three key affordable schemes, namely, the local authority affordable purchase scheme, the AHB cost rental scheme and the national first home shared equity scheme. Alongside LDA delivery, these schemes will support the provision of over 5,000 affordable homes next year.

I am also providing €215 million for homelessness services. This is a €21 million increase in the homelessness provision and will provide vital assistance to those who are the most vulnerable in our society. An unprecedented €87 million is being allocated to the retrofitting of social housing in 2023. Some €61 million is being allocated to schemes to tackle vacancy and promote regeneration in urban areas by addressing vacant social homes and funding the Croí Cónaithe schemes.

Further measures of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage include a record Exchequer capital investment of over €930 million in our water services next year, and the provision of €4.3 million to support the formal establishment of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, early next year. MARA will be a key enabler in respect of Ireland’s ambitions in the offshore renewable energy sector. Significant additional funding will be provided to our heritage programme, including a focus on resourcing our National Parks and Wildlife Service both in terms of staff and finances and implementing the recommendations of the review published earlier this year.

HEALTH

The last number of years have been an extraordinarily challenging time for the health service, and the Government has responded with record levels of investment. This allowed us to deal with the immediate impact of Covid, significantly expand core services, and accelerate Sláintecare reforms so that we emerge from the pandemic with a much more resilient and responsive public health system. The expansion in capacity has been unprecedented in its scale and speed, with approximately 15,000 new staff and 2,000 new hospital and community beds added across the health service since the pandemic started. Budget 2023 continues this high level of investment in our public health system by providing a total allocation of €23.4 billion. This provides for a €1.15 billion increase in core current funding, a 2023 Covid allocation of over €757 million, and an additional €117 million as part of agreed NDP allocations for the delivery of additional health infrastructure.

Budget 2023 will allow for the continuation of public health system capacity expansion in line with Sláintecare. Significant progress will be made through the delivery of 650 acute and community beds by the end of next year. Funding is also provided for the recruitment of up to 6,000 additional staff to further enhance capacity and improve access across a wide range of acute and social care services. This builds upon two record years for recruitment in the health system.

The Government is committed to further tackling waiting lists that have been impacted by the pandemic. It has demonstrated this through the significant level of funding provided for the waiting list action plan that is being implemented this year. To ensure that progress continues, I am allocating a further €225 million in budget 2023 to provide for an overall package of €443 million to tackle waiting lists next year. This will fund the continuation of measures designed to reduce waiting times for outpatient, day-case and inpatient care, improve access to community diagnostics, and address backlogs in the provision of assessments of need for people with a disability. Some €5 million has been provided in additional funding for our oral health services on a recurring basis, as well as a specific once-off provision this year of €9 million within the overall waiting list fund to address oral health backlogs.

Continuing the progress made over recent years as part of the Sláintecare reform programme, budget 2023 will enhance access to vital services by reducing financial barriers to care, which is particularly important given the cost-of-living increases being experienced throughout society. In line with Government and Sláintecare commitments, funding has been allocated to address health charges and expand eligibility by removing hospital inpatient charges for all public patients, building on a measure first introduced in last year’s budget which removed these charges for children under 16.

The provision of free GP care will be extended to more than 400,000 people with the implementation of the commitment to extend this programme to six and seven-year-olds before the end of this year and to further extend it to those on or below the median level of income. A continued focus on investing in women's healthcare will be maintained in 2023. This will include an expansion of the free contraception scheme currently available to women aged 17 to 25 to those aged from 16 to 30 years, the provision of supports in respect of public access to IVF treatment for the first time, the expansion of women's health hubs and the provision of additional funding for screening and other women’s healthcare services.

This budget also provides for substantial investment in our health and social care services. Funding of €138 million will be provided, including €29 million for new developments to strengthen disability services through the provision of additional respite, day service and residential places in line with the disability capacity review. Some €150 million will be provided for older persons. This will include €18 million in new measures for the age-friendly home programme to support older people living at home, the development of a national dementia strategy and support for the introduction of a new adult safeguarding policy. There will be an overall increase of €58 million for mental health, incorporating €14 million to continue the increased provision of emergency placements within mental health services with further funding to ensure continued progress towards Sharing the Vision objectives. Finally, this budget provides funding for the ongoing necessary public health response to Covid. Some €439 million of the Covid allocation next year will be used to continue funding public health measures such as personal protective equipment, PPE, testing and tracing and vaccinations.

EDUCATION

For generations, Ireland has been renowned internationally for the high calibre and quality of our education system. It is important that while we may face temporary pressures, we continue to invest in our education system, in our children and in our future. To that end, today I am allocating €9.6 billion to the Department of Education in 2023, including a capital budget of €860 million. This allocation will support the continued progression of approximately 300 building projects that are currently at the construction phase. The continued roll-out of the national development plan, NDP, will involve a further 150 school building projects that are currently at advanced design or tender stage getting under construction over the course of next year. A strong focus of the school building programme is delivering additional capacity for special classes, particularly at post-primary level and for special schools.

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