Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a good budget for every household in the country and for every individual. As a Minister of State in the Department of Finance, it gives me great pleasure to rise to commend this budget for the House but also to speak to the conditions that have allowed us to deliver a good budget.

The conditions of our economy do not happen by accident. They are not some fluke, as some people would imply. This is the product of over a decade of prudent, sensible, financial management in the face of serious issues. This was the coming out from a financial crash that devastated our economy and led to nearly 16% unemployment; the travails of Brexit; a Covid-19 pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in a century; a war in Europe the likes of which we have not seen since the Second World War; and a cost-of-living crisis that has impacted every household of every size and every business. Yet, we stand here to deliver a budget on the back of an economy that is still growing. Inflation rates are some of the lowest in the European Union and we have more people in work in the country at the moment, 2.7 million people, than the 1950 census shows we had living in the State.

The earning power of Irish people at the moment is the highest it has ever been in history. It gives us an opportunity to have a record tax take, not just corporation tax but also income tax and VAT. This allows the Government to recognise some things. I hope we all agree that Members all enter this House with the same ambition. I acknowledge that we all want to do it in different ways, which is good and proper, but we all want to make people's lives that little bit easier. We want to help people. That is the core of why we sought office, I hope, and I would like to say that of all colleagues. In this budget will see a cost-of-living package to be delivered this side of Christmas that will go directly to the people who need it the most. It will also ensure that all those people in the State who pay their tax, who work hard and play by the rules get a little bit of their own money back.

Equally, within the Department of Finance we are able to introduce an ambitious taxation package that recognises the fact that Ireland has the lowest rate across the European Union where someone goes into the highest tax bracket. It is right that we have increased that threshold by €2,000 to make sure that some day, we hope, we get to a threshold of €50,000 before someone pays the upper rate of income tax. We have seen a cut to USC on earnings up to €70,000. That is right. This is not introducing 22 new taxes that will stymie an economy and punish people for working hard or for trying their best in society.

Beyond that we also see taxation measures being used best in the way we want to deliver housing. No one can deny that this budget is ambitious in building housing with 10,000 social homes to be built. We will see renewed figures in what we seek to deliver. Last year, we delivered more than 33,000 homes and this year it will be 40,000. In this budget there are measures on the one hand that will work to make sure individuals can build the homes and also deter such scenarios whereby 200 homes were bought by institutional buyers last year. This increase of stamp duty will equally see that the people who worked hard all their life, who bought their own family home and paid tax on it once, if not twice, can leave it to the next generation. Of course, taxation will, and should, be paid but the threshold at which taxation is paid is increased in the recognition of rising property prices and of rising contributions.

There are two other points that are crucially important. I read some of the comments today from the armchair economists who said this will fuel inflation. Irish inflation has come down drastically after the really high inflation rates of the previous two years. The flash inflation rate for September has Ireland at the lowest in the European Union at 0.2%. This budget provides for the infrastructure development of the State. The sale of shares in AIB will allow us play huge money not just into housing, but also into energy and water provision, and to make sure that our country continues to be attractive to foreign investment and continues to be able to support indigenous economic growth. This is why those infrastructure projects that are so desperately needed will get the real support and funding from this budget, never mind any discussion about any other windfall measures that will need to be spent and discussed in the first quarter of next year.

Crucially, this budget responds to the need of the population and of our businesses to make sure we can continue to grow our economy. Without a growing economy any promise made in this Chamber or any commitment to impact the societal and community needs of our country is just hot air. We must have a growing economy and an ability to plan for the future. Once upon a time we had a rainy day fund and it was lambasted by many Members in this House but when it rained we needed that fund desperately, such as at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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