Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our focus has always been on, in the first instance, average workers and those who assist them in making provision for their pensions and, in the second, ensuring a continued increase in the State pension, which the Government has always prioritised. We will make it a priority in this budget as well. There has been an increase of €29 in the standard weekly State pension since this Government entered office. We need to see increases in pension provision for and pension take-up by workers. That is why measures such as auto-enrolment are important. I cannot assume Sinn Féin will support that measure; it is a Government proposal, so Sinn Féin will probably reject it.

The Deputy is trying to create an impression that the Government is looking after a small cohort of people and no one else. That is not the case. The Government is acting on an independent report in a structured and phased way. No changes will take place next year, but there will be a phased approach to increasing the standard fund threshold from 2026 onwards.

Our main focus is on ensuring pension provision for workers. This country has near-full employment because of the economic policies of this Government and the hard work of our people. We have 2.75 million people working in this country. Our country still faces challenges, so when they look across at the Opposition benches, they see how that economic prosperity would be put at risk if Deputy Doherty were the Minister for Finance. There is not a bandwagon that he will not jump on. He will bend in the wind on any issue. That is not the way to run a country or an economy.

See this speech in context