Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That must explain why the Deputy went into my time, but anyway.

The budget was a really important step in the journey. If you think the last time a Fianna Fáil Finance Minister made a budget speech, it was the late Brian Lenihan, and he was in many of our minds when Deputy Michael McGrath stood to propose the finance element of the budget. One of the main reasons was that, as the previous speaker said, there were such difficult decisions the last time a Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance stood up to speak. Those lessons have not been lost on many people across the House, such as an obligation on all of us in proposing measures to ensure they are sustainable and that we never again go back to a situation where we have to make reductions. Whatever about not being able to increase, the idea of making reductions that then lead to service reductions is something we want to avoid and something that was foremost in the minds of both Ministers.

Regarding the economic success of Ireland over recent years, having come out of Brexit and all of its threats, having come out of Covid and to still be growing, and having come through the war in Ukraine, although it is still going on, and the international inflationary crisis, the Irish economy has grown and it has created the resources to allow Ministers and Departments to implement programmes. We should not underestimate the fact that, when we have a Government that is pro-jobs and creates jobs, it allows us the resources to be able to tackle some of the systemic issues such as child poverty. I welcome all of the measures in the budget, but the principal one we have to welcome is that we had a surplus, we did not have to borrow and we could spend where we did.

I also welcome the two elements of the budget that deal with unsustainable taxes, because we remember the previous occasion when there were unsustainable taxes that were spent, we did not put enough money aside, and by spending those unsustainable taxes, it created an imbalance in the national accounts. Coming back to the two funds, the Ireland Future Fund and the infrastructure sustainability fund, never again should a government have to stop a national programme such as the metro programme because these funds will be there now. I call on those in opposition who propose that they would be in government to support these two programmes because these two funds are a commitment to future generations. We are saying to my children, who are 12 and 15, that we are investing now for their future because, for climate action, demographic changes around ageing and a range of other issues, we are investing in the future. I call on the Opposition Members to commit to those funds now and that they will also invest in them so that they deliver the result of €100 billion as indicated by the Ministers.

I will not go through all the measures of the budget. We have already had that repeatedly from many Deputies. However, it is worth commenting on the way we have tackled social welfare payments. It is important we do not exacerbate inflation. We have had increases in the core rate and there were many who doubted we would do that again. Many were fearful that once-off payments would result in us not repeating that. Increasing the core rate alone embeds inflation for a longer period. Using once-off measures gives us the flexibility to change that overall payment over time. Taking all of the payments and dividing them out, the increases in core rates of social welfare are close to €20. That is a very strong statement that we are here to protect some of the most vulnerable, but in a sustainable way that allows us react when inflation comes back, we hope, to 2.9% next year, while at the same time indexing tax rates and prioritising the lowest earners in those tax rates so that we have a fair society.

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