Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

The European Union Single Market has been hugely important to this country and we need strong international relationships. The introduction of widespread tariffs by the US, although capped at 15%, will no doubt impact on our economic growth and has been a serious consideration in preparing this budget.

We are fully committed to delivering a strong and stable economy, in which every business, throughout every region of this country, has the opportunity to grow and succeed. Improving our infrastructure through ambitious investment commitments will future-proof growth in the economy for years to come. Our recently published action plan on competitiveness and productivity manifests this commitment and acknowledges the urgency of increasing our competitiveness and productivity offering in the changing international landscape. This is complemented by our action plan on market diversification, published in August.

In budget 2026, €1.3 billion is being allocated to Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for enhancing competitiveness and productivity, for the promotion of regional enterprise, for AI, and for Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to support our indigenous businesses to grow and expand and to attract foreign direct investment.

We are supporting our businesses through a range of enhanced tax measures including changes to the research and development tax credit, the film tax credit, the CGT revised entrepreneur relief, the special assignee relief programme and the foreign earnings deduction. We are extending existing reliefs, including digital games tax credit and the key employee engagement programme, all with the purpose of underpinning the jobs we currently have in the economy and with a view to attracting further investment. The world is getting more competitive and what is happening in the US will affect investment flows if we do not adapt or policies. That is what these tax measures are about. However, the opposition is labelling them as somehow a sort of a windfall for employers, developers or whatever. I wish that Members of the Opposition would engage a bit more seriously on these issues because they are sending a terrible signal to investment into country, investment that has been the bedrock of hundreds of thousands of jobs over decades. We need to adapt to maintain that inward flow of investment as well as growing our own indigenous base. It is all about jobs for the future.

We are reducing the VAT rate to 9% on food and catering, and on hairdresser services from 1 July next year, as recommended by the Social Democrats last year, supporting jobs. We are also working to modernise and simplify our tax code to enhance our competitiveness and reduce the burden on businesses.

The Government is bringing about a step-change in the approach to infrastructure delivery. We must be better at delivering the large-scale, ambitious projects that our growing population and future generations deserve. Our continued economic competitiveness depends on it. It is the clear, unambiguous message from every analysis and stakeholder. Our revised national development plan represents one of the largest ever and most significant capital injections in our economy in the history of the State. We have set out annual sectoral allocations for capital expenditure for 2026 to 2030 and overall Government capital expenditure ceilings to 2035. This is a total public capital investment of €275.4 billion over the period to 2035.

That is key and I would like the Opposition to say that it will also support that and commit to that in the years ahead because we need certainty for those taking on and delivering those big projects in the future, including the metro, light rail, BusConnects, new roads and active travel. That is what the Government has very decisively decided to do. To be frank, it is an investment in the future of our country. A lot of it will not win votes in the next election but we need to end short-termism and have a commitment to long-term investment in future.

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