Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This is very much a budget for families and for parents. There is the new payment of €420 for newborn babies and the two double child benefit payments to be paid before Christmas. Childcare fees have been brought down twice and are now half what they were thanks to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. Hot school meals for all children in primary education are being provided for. There is free public transport for children up to the age of eight, free GP care for children up to the age of seven and free schoolbooks not just for children in primary school, but also those in secondary school. There is also €1,000 off the cost of the student contribution for students in third level education and half-price transport for young people up to the age of 25.

One in four children in school in Ireland has a special need. That has not been addressed properly in past decades. This year, we have allocated 1,600 extra special needs assistants and more than 760 special education teachers. The integration of children with special needs into mainstream schools is well under way with most children with special needs now attending such schools.

The national broadband plan is a project to bring fibre broadband to every home in Ireland. It has been immensely successful. There has been a lot of attention and focus recently on the Government's competence and ability to deliver capital projects. This project, which happens to be the largest and worth more than €2.5 billion, is on time and on budget. By the end of 2026, every home, farm and business in rural Ireland will have access to fibre direct to the premises. I want to make sure that happens in urban Ireland as well because a number of black spots where fibre is not available are emerging. People in these areas use some kind of hybrid fibre with speeds of less than 100 Mbps but they need the same 1 Gbps level of connection that will be available in rural Ireland. I have asked my Department to focus on urban black spots. I have worked with the communications regulator, ComReg, which will shortly be producing a map showing where those areas are. It is a much smaller project than was required to connect up rural Ireland. If we can deliver fibre broadband to every home in the Black Valley in Kerry, we can certainly do it in Glenageary and Dundrum. That will be a focus for next year.

Beside me is the Minister for arts and sports, Deputy Catherine Martin. She has provided record funding for sports clubs. She will shortly be delivering funding for large-scale infrastructure. Within my own county, it is hoped to deliver a national watersports campus at Dún Laoghaire Harbour. This would allow for all types of marine activity and recreation to take place, based on models that are recognised around the world. The very successful GAA club Cuala is also looking for new sports facilities. I wish it luck in its applications.

The deposit return scheme has been immensely successful at reducing waste around the country.

Tidy Towns groups are reporting a reduction of up to 70% in bottle and can litter as a result. What needs to happen now is it needs to go beyond having machines in supermarkets. I need to see those machines in civic amenity sites run by county councils. I am looking forward to seeing the first of those in the coming months.

Overall, this is a budget that deals not just with problems in the short term or helps people with the cost of living through this winter, but one that provides large quantities of money that have been put aside for vital infrastructure we need in this country for investment in water, electricity, transport and, most of all, in housing. A total of €16 billion is being put aside between this year and next year into long-term funds for investment in infrastructure so we can have a countercyclical economy that can avoid the ups and downs of the past.

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