Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Very good. The first test I run on any budget is a progressivity test. I feel strongly that a budget should do the best to provide the most benefit to those who need it most, so that the money goes to least well-off, rather than the well-heeled. In that respect, rather than taking either my word for it, as a Government backbencher who will surely say it is the best budget ever, or that of Opposition speakers, who will always say the opposite, I am looking at the preliminary review of budget 2024 by the Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO. It is independent and provides an independent overview and analysis of the budget. It is probably more fair-minded because, in any budget, there will be measures that are excellent and those that are less welcome. In terms of a distributional analysis of budget 2024, the PBO tells us:

Overall, direct and indirect tax and welfare measures in budget 2024 are very progressive from a distributional impact perspective, with lower-income households gaining more proportionately than middle- and upper-income households. The increase in core welfare rates and qualified child increases are key drivers of this.

This is not accidental. I must praise my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, who commissioned research from the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. It told him, and us, more generally, that in terms of tackling child poverty, in particular, the place to make investments is in the increase for a qualified child and in the working family payment. In both of those respects, we have seen increases not only in this budget but in successive budgets. That should not be lost. If I apply that progressivity test to this budget as I have done to the previous three budgets passed by this Government, I will see that each one was progressive. It is not just the investment in this budget, particularly in families and low-income families, that we should consider in terms of progressivity but the trend established by this Government. I very much welcome that. If that is the first test I apply to any given budget, in this instance this Government has passed.

Beart amháin a sheasann amach ón mbuiséad seo domsa, cé go bhfuil sé an-bheag i gcomhthéacs iomlán na cáinaisnéise, ná an maoiniú breise atá ag dul i dtreo scéim DEIS Gaeltachta in 2024, agus an nuacht go gcuirfear €500,000 breise ar fáil chun tacú le cohórt níos leithne daoine óga ar mhian leo freastail ar chúrsa samhraidh sa Ghaeltacht. Ar ndóigh, tá comhthéacs pearsanta ann domsa toisc go gciallaíonn an soláthar seo rud éigin dom féin. Sa bhliain 1991 - Dia linn - bhain mé leas as scoláireacht chuig Coláiste na Rinne a bhuaigh mé ar scoil. D’fhreastail mise ar Choláiste Pobail Naomh Pól i lár chathair Phort Láirge, scoil atá rangaithe anois mar scoil DEIS agus scoil nach raibh traidisiún láidir sa Ghaeilge inti. Ní dóigh liom go mbeadh na hacmhainní ag mo theaghlach nó ag mo thuistí mé a chur chuig an gcoláiste samhraidh murach an scoláireacht seo a bheith ann. Ba é sin an taithí is mó a spreag grá don teanga ionam agus féach ar an dtrioblóid atá curtha orm ó shin dá bharr. Tabharfaidh an maoiniú seo rochtain do pháistí eile ó scoileanna cosúil le Coláiste Pobail Naomh Pól ar an deis céanna agus nach maith an rud é sin?

I was going to say something more detailed about nature funding but I see the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is here, who will no doubt speak to that. I wish to very much welcome the climate and nature fund which this Government is establishing. It is a far-sighted policy direction that will help us to provide the type of projects that will be needed towards the end of this decade and beyond. I join Deputy McAuliffe in asking for people across the House and parties across the House - I understand it is the job of Opposition to stand up and criticise a budget and to find ways to improve it, and I understand they will have to cast a jaundiced eye on the provisions within any given budget - to endorse this counter-cyclical investment in infrastructure and maintaining our economy and this far-sighted attempt to provide for the types of projects that will be needed in the context of a biodiversity and climate crisis. I would like to hear everybody in this House endorse that kind of view and the sovereign wealth funds we are creating in this budget.

I wish to say a quick word about overseas development aid. There is an increase again this year.It is important that we maintain our proud commitment to overseas development aid. There is an increase of 8.4% this year. We should still chase the goal of 0.7% of our gross national income, but it is important that we continue the work that Irish Aid has been doing on our behalf for so many years.

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