Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)

I will begin by thanking all the departmental teams, the team in the Parliamentary Budget Office, and the ushers who were ferrying budget packages up and down today.

I thank everybody who worked long, hard hours in preparation for this, in trying to go back over trends, looking through forecasting, looking at the global situation and then coming up with a plan that would try, first of all, to meet the objective I understood was the primary objective, which was to begin by targeting supports and measures towards those most in need. There are elements of it I could I say I am not happy with and that do not match objectives I may have submitted to our team but it is a starting point.

The areas I welcome the increases in are the allocations across education, including special education, disability services and agriculture. However, I await details of a specific tillage sector aid package and the 9% VAT reduction. I would request, and I think it would be common, that the latter could be implemented sooner, if at all possible, than July 2026. There are many small businesses hanging on by a thread and July may be just too late.

I refer to accessibility to healthcare, a subject that is much debated and much commented on in this Chamber. Though not directly referenced in the budget, no less than €75 million has been allocated for a new pharmacy agreement. This will deliver improved accessibility to and affordability of healthcare in every community in Ireland and across all age classifications through the common conditions scheme, health screening initiatives and various other measures enclosed in that agreement.

There is one area that, as a follow-on with regard to the cost of living, needs to be reviewed and amended, that being, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. If we recall last weekend, the wind howled for three days, yet we had a cut-off on our own indigenous wind energy at 500 MW because we had the agreement on an interconnector. There are specific areas that can be looked at.

Moving on to housing, one initiative that is particularly welcome is the living city initiative. Dare I say, we all want it extended to other towns and not just cities. I can name a number in County Meath. There are even possibilities there for specificity in age categories and job targets, if we want to reduce dereliction and invigorate living in our towns and cities.

I am leaving aside the particular categories because I will be honest, I am wading through the different books and the devil is in the detail and the Finance Bill, when that comes to pass. That is where the meat will be on the bones. It is more important than ever that spending be clearly profiled, that it be managed within the year and reviewed, that there be ongoing costing of maintaining existing levels of service as our population grows, and that there be population growth through robust and fair management of same. We also have an ageing population. Even though an entity as large as the Exchequer will have huge complexities, micromanagement is essential. In any small business or family home, cost-benefit analysis is done on a daily basis and will be required regularly. Overruns in spending will have to be investigated in a timely manner with the necessary course correction. There is a willingness there, and there is the renamed Department of public expenditure and the reform piece. I would be anxious to see what the format of reform actually drills down into.

As I have said many times here on different subjects, accountability, efficiency and productivity are key to the delivery of the objectives of this budget for 2026. Without being repetitious, we have to run the country like we run a family home or a small business. Everything has a cost and everything counts.

As a final point, I would like to see more consideration given to paying down our sovereign debt. As both Ministers said in their opening remarks, we have external challenges. If there are any measures that can give us some stability and buoyancy at the same time, then sovereign debt is one of those areas. I would also like to see increased payments into the Future Ireland Fund and the management of that fund to copper-fasten our self-sufficiency.

As I said, the devil is in the detail. There is a huge amount of information to read. The publications have been extremely helpful. I will leave it at that point.

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