Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on budget 2024. One hundred years ago, in April 1923, W.T. Cosgrave presented the first ever Budget Statement to Dáil Éireann. The budget was introduced just as the Civil War was ending, and the Government had a job on its hands to convince people both of its financial competence and the benefits of Irish statehood. Finishing his speech in this Chamber, President Cosgrave said, "When ordered conditions are restored, and normal life prevalent, we can safely anticipate a marked improvement in the economic condition of the country." Within a few months, a young engineer from Drogheda, Thomas McLaughlin, returned from Siemens in Berlin and started talking to the Government about a hydroelectric scheme for Ireland. Despite it representing one fifth of the resources available, the Government took the bold decision to fund the project at Ardnacrusha. It was the start of Ireland taking control of its own economic destiny. Today, Ireland is fully in control of her own destiny. We have our problems - every country does - but we are able to shape the kind of country we want to be. In a world of 200 countries, Ireland is consistently ranked in the top ten or 20 by almost every measure, but we can do more and can do better.

This is the fourth budget of this Government’s term. It is a €14 billion package in total, helping people, families, businesses and farmers with the cost of living and setting aside billions of euro for years and generations to come. This level of investment is only possible due to the hard work of the Irish people, the ingenuity of Irish business and some good political decision-making along the way. We should not take this position for granted. Not so long ago, this House was voting through budgets that reduced, not improved, people’s standard of living.

Inflation is moderating but the cost of living continues to rise. The bills coming in the door have not fallen and it is still more expensive to do the weekly shop or to keep the car running than it was two years ago. We are helping people and their families by putting more money in their pocket with measures for the most vulnerable and the squeezed middle. This includes a tax package that rewards work and allows people to keep more of their hard-earned money; a pensions and welfare package so that older people, carers, people on disability payments and lone parents get the help they need with rising costs; a focus on children that involves reducing school, college and childcare costs for families and improving access to those services; a package for businesses to help with higher costs, like wages and energy to protect jobs and ensure they do not have to pass all these costs on to the consumer; one-off measures to help households with high energy costs this winter, including three €150 energy credits; tax credits to help struggling mortgage holders, renters and small landlords; more investment across the board in healthcare, education and transport to further reduce costs and improve access to the services people need; new climate actions, including a record budget for retrofitting and funding for microgeneration and the just transition; a significant package to better resource An Garda Síochána, help to attract new recruits and build stronger, safer communities; and a record level of investment to drive regional development and help rural Ireland to prosper.

Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an costas maireachtála fós ag méadú. Níl laghdú tagtha ar na billí atá ag teacht isteach agus tá sé níos costasaí fós an siopa seachtainiúil a dhéanamh. I mbuiséad 2024, táimid ag cabhrú le daoine agus lena dteaghlaigh. Táimid ag cur airgead ar ais ina bpócaí chun cabhrú leis an gcostas maireachtála. Tá pacáiste maith cánach, cúnamh le costas seirbhísí cosúil le cúram leanaí, agus leas agus pinsin méadaithe chun ioncam daoine aosta, breoite agus faoi mhíchumas a chosaint san áireamh. Táimid ag cur deontas nua ar fáil do ghnólachtaí freisin chun cabhrú leo déileáil le costais níos airde agus pacáiste cánach chun cabhrú leo fás agus infheistíocht a dhéanamh sa todhchaí. Soláthraíonn an buiséad €100 milliún chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn mar theanga bheo i bpobal na Gaeltachta agus chun úsáid na Gaeilge a spreagadh sa timpeallacht.

A Cheann Comhairle, when it comes to any household budget, there are always three elements, namely, how much you are paid, how much you get to keep after tax and how far the money goes. This budget makes progress on all three fronts. Yesterday, the Government accepted the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission to increase the national minimum wage by €1.40 to €12.70 an hour, an increase of 12.4%. That is well ahead of the projected rate of inflation of 3% next year, just like last year's increase of 7.8% in a year in which inflation averaged 5%. It is a big step towards achieving a living wage, a policy initiative I took as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Around 150,000 people will benefit and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, more will benefit from knock-on increases. For someone working 39 hours a week, it translates to a pay increase of €54 a week, or €2,800 per year. This is making work pay and helping those who get up early in the morning. In the coming weeks, we also hope to finalise the terms of a new public sector pay deal, which will be important for our existing public servants and also for the ability of the public service to remain an attractive place to work in a tight and competitive labour market.

The second element of any household budget is how much you get to keep after tax. I believe middle-income earners in Ireland pay too much tax and USC. It is simply not fair that the average full-time worker is hit with the highest rate of income tax and it is not fair that the tax system erodes so much of any pay increase they get or money earned from overtime worked. In the past ten years, this Government and the last have shown you can manage the public finances well while reducing income taxes, increasing public spending and growing jobs. It is not just about putting money back in people’s pockets; it is also about keeping the tax system competitive when it comes to the international battle for talent and skills. In that context, someone earning €40,000 or €45,000 today pays €3,000 less in income tax and USC than they did in 2014, and from next January, they will be paying even less. That is a significant saving and it is not a one-off; it is recurring and it happens every year. Budget 2024 gives working people more than €1,000 back through USC and income tax cuts, new tax credits and other measures such as energy credits. We will continue to campaign for income tax and USC cuts in the years ahead, provided we can afford to do it.

The third element of any household budget is how far your money goes. We need to reduce the cost and broaden the scope of services available in Ireland, and the budget contains a combination of recurring and one-off measures to help. I am not going to list them all but there are some very important ones, such as a 25% reduction in childcare costs from September, thus meeting our commitment to reduce the cost of childcare for families by 50% over the course of the Government; free schoolbooks for junior cycle students in post-primary schools; the extension of hot school meals to 900 more primary schools; a €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee; and a €1,000 increase in the postgraduate tuition fee contribution.

A Cheann Comhairle, when I became Taoiseach again last December, I outlined my desire to make Ireland the best country in which to be a child and to reduce child poverty. That is something we can do. The minimum wage and knock-on increases will help, as will the abolition of fees for low-income part-time students, such as many lone parents and people with disabilities. Over the past decade, Ireland has made significant progress in reducing child poverty and promoting child well-being. Almost 50,000 fewer children are living in consistent poverty than was the case ten years ago, notwithstanding a rising population. After years of progress, however, last year, poverty rates increased for the first time in a long time, due to the sharp increase in the cost of living. Our objective in this budget is to restore the purchasing power of people’s incomes and push poverty rates back in the right direction. By focusing resources on those early years, we can empower people to make the most of that start through education, equal opportunities and good jobs to work towards a better future. It is not just about social welfare payments, though they are important.

The new child poverty and well-being programme office in the Department of the Taoiseach has published an initial plan identifying policy priorities for acceleration and investment in the years ahead - actions that will make a difference - in income, services and employment. We have already introduced free schoolbooks for primary schools and free GP care for all children under eight and extended the hot school meals programme. We have also abolished inpatient hospital charges and reduced the cost of school transport and public transport for young people. Budget 2024 builds on that with a €12 weekly increase in all social welfare payments, a double month of the child benefit, a €100 lump sum for families receiving the increase for a qualified child on top of that, a €400 lump sum for families in receipt of the working family payment, an extension of hot school meals to hundreds more primary schools, a €100 increase in the home carer and single-person child carer tax credit and a €200 increase in the incapacitated child tax credit.

In simple terms, if we think of, for example, a lone parent with two kids struggling to get by on social welfare, that family will receive €480 in bonus payments before Christmas, a Christmas bonus, a further bonus in January, and an extra €20 every week when we take into account the adult increase and the increase for two qualified children. I thank the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, for her work in putting together this year’s welfare package. In the round, some families could benefit by several thousand euro. To give another example, somebody renting who has one child and is earning the minimum wage will benefit from a €2,800 increase in pay, €450 in energy credits, €750 from the rent tax credit, €140 extra in child benefit payments and possibly a range of other measures. That is more than €4,000 back into the pocket of that family - not a small sum.

As is always the case on budget day and after budget day, we will hear claims and counter-claims and people will focus on one aspect of the budget and say it is not enough, or say something else was left out. I understand that is how criticism works on budget day. While people are entitled to their own opinions, however, they are not entitled to their own facts, and one of the differences in the budget this year is the publication that was released yesterday, Budget 2024: Beyond GDP - Quality of Life Assessment. This is all about the process of equality budgeting and it is significant to draw the House's attention to page 12, for anyone interested in the facts as to how this budget impacts on different people. It shows the impact of the budget on different deciles. Those who benefit the most are in the poorest 10% of the population and those who benefit the least are in the richest 10%. When we break it down by household, the type of household that benefits the most is a household headed by a lone parent. These are the facts; anything else is opinion.

A Cheann Comhairle, I believe improved pay and terms and conditions can go hand in hand with jobs growth, but I am also very conscious of the need to help businesses as these reforms are phased in. Along with higher energy bills, there is a lot to deal with, and we want to make sure those added costs are not all passed on to the consumer. I was very keen, therefore, to support the push by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for a new grant, the increased cost-of-business scheme, ICOBS. It will help about 130,000 small and medium-sized businesses with grants worth up to €20,000 and we expect it to be paid in the new year.

There is also a good tax package for businesses that will help them to grow into the future. It includes new capital gains tax relief for angel investors in innovative start-ups, improvements to the employment investment incentive scheme, an enhanced research and development tax credit and an increase in the VAT registration thresholds for services and goods for very small businesses. We can be relied on to back business and jobs to ensure a strong economy.

We have to step up our level of ambition on public infrastructure to keep pace with a rapidly growing population and economy. Next year will be another record year for public capital investment. To put it into perspective, we are now investing four times as much in public infrastructure every year as we did ten years ago. Extra funding alone is not enough. We need to get better at completing projects on time and on budget. Far too many important capital projects are taking far too long, including schools, housing, hospitals, Garda stations and public transport projects. Housing for All is working and, much like Project Ireland 2040, we are focusing on implementation to make sure the initiatives we have committed to are implemented quickly and effectively. Next year we are making additional funding available for homeless services, for our social housing building programme and for some of the vital schemes to help people to buy their own homes. The capital budget for housing will be a record €5.1 billion in 2024. The difficulty will be our capacity to spend it, but I believe we will. We built 30,000 homes in Ireland last year. We want to build more this year and more again in 2025. I am increasingly confident we will exceed our target for this year and next. We are extending the help-to-buy scheme until the end of 2025 and extending its eligibility criteria to those availing of the local authority affordable purchase scheme. We will examine extending it to the first home scheme as well. The rent tax credit is a simple and direct way to put money back in renters’ pockets. It is straightforward to apply for, so I would encourage anyone who has not done so to apply as soon as possible. They have three years in which to do so. In 2024 it will be worth €750 for an individual, €1,500 for a couple and €2,250 for three people sharing. It is per renter and not per property. For every renter, there has to be a landlord and therefore we need landlords. The budget introduces some tax concessions designed to keep them in the market for longer.

Recent severe weather events highlight the need to intensify our efforts to stop global warming. We must be the generation that turns the tide on climate change and biodiversity loss. As I have always said, we should not see climate action as an obligation or a burden. We should embrace it as an economic and social opportunity. It is about warmer homes, cleaner air, less time commuting, more remote and home working, more time with family, more jobs and greater regional development. Budget 2024 provides record funding to ramp up our retrofitting programme and ensure we have enough highly skilled people to meet the demand. Not only is retrofitting the right thing to do from a climate point of view, it will also mean lower energy bills and warmer, more comfortable homes for thousands of families, including some of the poorest, who will receive a 100% grant to retrofit their home. I want Ireland to become energy independent by harnessing our untapped renewable energy resources. This is our moonshot for the 21st century. Recalling Ardnacrusha and the spirit of the Free State, it is our Shannon scheme 2.0.

Budget 2024 enables the Government to continue its work in building stronger and safer communities. It provides for the recruitment of up to 1,000 trainee Gardaí and 250 Garda staff specialising in ICT and other administrative functions. There will be an increase in the Garda training allowance, which will apply immediately, and additional investment in fighting the epidemic of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. We are reinforcing this record level of investment with tougher laws being led by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and making provision for longer sentences for serious crimes against individuals.

Rural Ireland is at the heart of this Government’s work programme. So much of this budget - from extra funding in capital infrastructure, to extra funding for business - is about sustaining our rural communities. We are continuing the 20% transport fare reductions until the end of next year. We are increasing funding for the local improvement scheme to improve access to homes, farms and outdoor amenities. We are also increasing funding for rural transport Local Link services, which have proved extremely popular. The national broadband plan will also be fully funded. More than €700 million is being made available for farmers participating in agri-environmental actions, including through the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES; areas of natural constraint, ANCs; forestry; organic farming; and other schemes. On the tax side, we are improving several reliefs designed to help with farm succession. Accelerated capital allowances for farm safety equipment, which the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, has prioritised, are also included.

We should not forget that Ireland only became a wealthy country relatively recently. Other wealthy countries have a lead of several decades on us when it comes to infrastructure. Some of our neighbours started their metro systems in the 19th century. We will only start ours in the next few years. We need to get better at executing big capital projects. With this in mind, we are establishing two funds for the future - the future Ireland fund, and the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. They are designed to achieve long-term benefits, avoid a stop-start approach to investment and provide additional capital for climate action and nature restoration. It means we will be able to continue investing in vital infrastructure and avoid cutbacks in the future if the economy takes a downturn.

I remember when I was first appointed to government 12 years ago, the first thing I was asked to do was take €400 million out of the budget for the then Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I never want anybody, no matter what party, to have to make those kinds of decisions again, and have to increase income taxes or cut welfare payments, public pay or public investment. That is what the establishment of these funds is about.

Before I finish I will take a moment to comment on the proposals coming from the other side of the House. We know the drill at this stage. The Opposition parties put together a long list of ways to spend the money available. Long before we publish the budget, they say we made the wrong choices and the package does not go far enough. We also know that they will never say we have spent too much money. The idea of responsible public finances is a concern exclusive to this side of the House. However, there are a few surprises from the Opposition this year. Sinn Féin proposes no less than 19 separate tax increases. Sinn Féin is a seriously high tax party. These are tax increases amounting to almost €3 billion, while the economy is still grappling with a cost-of-living crisis. Business is hardest hit in its tax plans, but also retirement savings, and not just for the wealthy. Sinn Féin would leave income tax bands unchanged, resulting in income tax rises by stealth, especially for middle-income earners, more of whom would pay the 40% tax rate every year. Buried once again at the back of its alternative budget is a massive €330 million cut in the level of tax relief on pension contributions. Sinn Féin has done this before to make its figures add up, without explaining what it would mean in practice and for whom. We are left to guess, but it almost certainly means that ordinary private sector workers and many public servants would lose out by thousands of euro every year, creating the wrong incentives to save for retirement. They should be pressed to explain this policy. A common theme running through Sinn Féin’s policies is a failure to plan for the long term. That extends from pensions to enterprise and to climate. Where is its enterprise policy? Where is the package to help businesses to deal with increased costs? Sinn Féin pays lip service to the concept of climate action, but ducks all of the hard decisions. It would go against the advice of the Climate Change Advisory Council, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, and Nobel prize-winning climate scientists by refusing to outline a trajectory for carbon tax. In fact, it even wants to suspend it. Sinn Féin is definitely Ireland’s climate-sceptic party.

Sinn Féin opposed Ireland joining the European Union and the Single Market, opposed EU citizenship and opposed the euro. It opposed the ratification of major EU free trade agreements, and boasts that it has done so.

It opposed our low corporate tax rate, which helped secure so many jobs and so much investment for Ireland. Sinn Féin advocated and believed that Irish unification could be achieved by force. Sinn Féin wanted to burn the bondholders and reject financial help from the IMF and ECB after the financial crash. Sinn Féin even flirted with zero Covid in 2020. For 30 years, Sinn Féin got all the big calls wrong. It will do so again. The next big threat might not be external; it might be an internal one, taking the form of a radical change to our long-standing and successful economic and foreign policies. This is not the change we need; it would be change for the worse. Steady and safe change is better for Ireland.

I am conscious that we are well into our second year of war in Europe and that there are many other pressing issues around the globe while we talk about our budget. The events in the Middle East over the past week are of serious concern. The loss of life is appalling, as is the impact on people going about their daily lives. We condemn attacks on civilians unequivocally, no matter who perpetrates them. A few years ago, I launched the most ambitious expansion of Ireland's international presence ever undertaken, namely, Global Ireland 2025, with the aim of doubling our impact across the globe. We have seen how effective we can be as a small country working through international forums and providing humanitarian assistance to some of the poorest countries in the world. Look at what was achieved during our time on the UN Security Council and at the work our peacekeepers do. In this budget, we are increasing funding to Irish Aid by €60 million, reaching record highs. Total official development assistance from Government will amount to €2 billion. In doing so, we are tackling the root causes of conflict, malnutrition, climate change and irregular migration. That is a good use of public funds.

I commend the budget to the House.

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