Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Of this, €102.4 billion is being allocated for the next five years, an additional €23.9 billion on what was previously allocated in the NDP. A further €10 billion in equity and fund releases is being provided for megaprojects in water, energy and transport. Crucially, a significant element of Government policy in the housing market is to "crowd in" investment from the private sector. The State cannot, on its own, afford to build all the homes the country needs. A successful partnership between the public and private sectors is essential in meeting the housing needs of our citizens.

Funding on its own is, of course, not enough to get us to where we need to be. We have to make sure our systems and processes are streamlined, efficient and fit for purpose. We are tackling delays in planning through the new planning Act and increasing the resources available to An Coimisiún Pleanála. We have looked at our governmental processes and revised them through the infrastructure guidelines, and we are working to ensure wider uptake of modern methods of construction. We are identifying barriers to infrastructure delivery and how we can act quickly to find solutions. We are engaging and working alongside experts and wider industry on this and in the coming weeks we will set out our actions of reform. These will be grounded in practical, real-world knowledge and experience.

Just as infrastructure delivery is essential to our competitiveness, so too is the increased supply of affordable and sustainable housing. Much has been achieved in the last number of years, but we need to do more. Scaling up our delivery of housing is an economic and social necessity. The delivery of homes is at the centre of the revised NDP, which includes €28 billion for housing programmes. It will create the building blocks we need to deliver thousands of new homes through upgrading our water and energy infrastructure, delivering roads and providing better public transport.

We have agreed reforms to rent pressure zones. We have initiated the process to regulate the short-term lets market and introduced new design standard guidelines to help drive down the high cost of construction for apartment building in Ireland. Increasing housing supply is a common problem among a wide number of western economies. However, few, if any, governments are committing the scale of resources to building homes as Ireland is.

Homelessness remains a very significant challenge. Last month, the Government announced the prioritisation of €50 million for housing acquisitions to support large families with children and housing first clients to exit long-term homeless emergency accommodation into safe, secure and permanent homes. Building on the measures already taken, and with these challenges in mind, we are now in the process of finalising a new national housing plan for the next five years and beyond. This new plan will build on our success under Housing for All and achieve further momentum across all aspects of housing delivery over the lifetime of this Government. We are allocating €7.2 billion in capital funding for housing to support the delivery of social homes and starter homes, the regeneration of towns and urban areas, a new housing activation infrastructure fund and retrofitting and home adaptations.

Tax measures in this budget include a reduction of the VAT rate on the sale of completed apartments, targeted corporation tax and income tax measures, and an extension and enhancement of the residential development stamp duty refund scheme. We are also expanding the living city initiative, which will be significant in terms of its geographic extension, the timelines involved and so forth, and we will introduce a new derelict property tax. These tax measures will incentivise the provision of new residential units, help address the viability gap, accelerate the delivery of affordable homes and encourage more stock and higher quality stock into the housing market.

We are currently refreshing our national digital and AI strategy to ensure we accelerate and maximise the return from the digital and AI revolutions. This includes our commitment to invest to make Ireland a European Union centre of expertise for digital and data regulation. It is critical that we get the balance right between stimulating innovation and regulation to ensure the European Union is open for innovation and AI business. We will continue to be a very strong advocate in Europe for this. With a thriving tech sector and a strong talent base, Ireland has the foundations in place to be a leader in specialised areas of artificial intelligence and a vibrant location for artificial intelligence innovation. We will ensure that we all realise the benefits of AI across the breadth of our society and economy.

Climate change is not a distant threat. More and more, Ireland is experiencing at first hand its growing impacts. More frequent and intense storms, prolonged dry spells and unpredictable weather patterns are becoming the new normal. Storms Éowyn and Darragh, like others before, brought flooding, power outages and damage to infrastructure. These changes threaten our businesses, homes, our food production system and our very way of life. We have accepted challenging emission reduction targets at EU and national levels and we have considerable work to do to achieve what we have committed to. We know there will be cost implications if we fall short of our European Union targets. We must factor these into our policy considerations. Change is under way across our economy and society to steer Ireland towards a low-carbon future. Reducing emissions is now at the heart of all our policies and sectors. We are seeing encouraging signs. Ireland’s emissions have been falling for the past three years and we now have lower overall emissions than at any point in the past 35 years, despite our population growing by 55% in that period.

While we are making real progress in the areas of energy, transport and agriculture, I have to acknowledge that the latest EPA projections make clear one thing, namely, that we have to go further to tackle climate change faster and at scale, particularly over the next five years. A total of €1.1 billion is being allocated to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment for measures such as the residential and community upgrade schemes, the retrofitting of public buildings and funding for the climate action and environmental leadership programme. We will invest in flood relief schemes, building sustainability and resilience in our grid and accelerating our transition to renewable energy. This budget will extend the VRT relief for electric vehicles until the end of 2026 and the accelerated capital allowances schemes for energy efficient equipment, gas vehicles and refuelling equipment until the end of 2030. The revenue raised from the increase in carbon tax will be ring-fenced for social welfare and fuel poverty measures to allow for a just transition.

Budget 2026 strengthens supports for farmers, fishers and foresters in rural and coastal communities in a manner that both supports incomes and ensures their long-term sustainability. We are providing €2.3 billion to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for measures, including bovine TB eradication, the ACRES scheme, the national sheep welfare scheme, the World Food Programme and Bord Iascaigh Mhara programmes. We are extending the existing farm consolidation stamp duty relief, farm restructuring relief and the young trained farmer relief to the end of 2029 in addition to the expansion of the scope of farm restructuring relief to woodlands and forestry.

The shared island fund, which now has a commitment of €2 billion out to 2035, is an integrated part of the national development plan and is driving a step change in all-island investment co-operation. The Narrow Water Bridge and Ulster Canal projects are well under way. Next year, Government resourcing will enable a new Dublin-Derry air link and an expansion of Ulster University in Derry and continue the transformative hourly Dublin to Belfast rail service. New all-island investment programmes in enterprise, tourism, the bioeconomy and higher education research collaboration will also move up a gear in 2026, delivering real dividends across all sectors and the island as a whole. We will also continue at pace to develop new projects that deliver on our national development agenda to build a more connected, sustainable and prosperous shared future for all communities, working with the Northern Ireland Executive and through our strategic United Kingdom-Ireland 2030 partnership.

I am determined that this will be a Government that moves forward with purpose in improving the level and scale of support for disabled people and their families. I have established a disability unit within my Department to enhance cross-Government working and collaboration, troubleshoot, drive innovation and change, give momentum to policy delivery, simplify pathways and improve services. In effect, the unit will make things happen.

Last month, we set out our vision, which was developed with disabled people, for how we would begin to deliver a step change in disability policy across all of Government through our National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. I pay tribute to the Minister, Norma Foley, and the Minister of State, Hildegarde Naughton, for their commitment and determination on this. This strategy will be the foundation of an ambitious agenda over the coming years. It is a commitment to ensuring all disabled people can live the lives of their choosing without barriers, fully participating in their communities and our society.

Budget 2026 reflects this level of ambition and commitment and marks an important first step on the journey that this Government will take. A total of €3.8 billion is being allocated to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality for disability services, including residential care, day services, assessments, home support and personal assistance and respite services. Additional special education supports include more school places, over than 1,700 more SNAs and the roll-out of the education therapy service. We are also increasing the carer’s allowance income disregard to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. The domiciliary care allowance will be increased to €380 per month, which is an increase of €20.

As we said in the programme for Government, child poverty is not inevitable. By ensuring a determined focus, we can lift more children out of poverty, giving them the futures they deserve. The Government’s recently published child poverty target will be our North Star for the rest of this Government’s term. No more than 3% of children will live in consistent poverty by 2030. This would be the lowest figure in our history and would put us among the very best performers in Europe, although ultimately the figure should be zero. While no child should grow up in poverty, when children experience difficulties, we will do everything we can to reduce the negative impact of poverty on their well-being and outcomes.

Children are our single most important investment for our collective future.

This is the bit I really have to stress to the Opposition: we need to target resources. All of the Opposition has come in today looking for universal allocations but we will not make an impact on these issues if we do not target. That is what we are doing in this budget. The measures outlined are vital. As part of a €300 million package of supports for children and families, we are increasing child support payments by €8 for children under 12 and €16 for those over 12; increasing the working family payment income thresholds by €60 per week; extending the back to school clothing and footwear payment to two- and three-year-olds, which I think is a very novel and welcome initiative; increasing the weekly fuel allowance by €5; and extending fuel allowance eligibility to those in receipt of the working family payment. We will continue to drive forward in the coming years.

As our population rapidly increases - and it has - it is essential that everybody can continue to avail of our public services when needed in a timely and efficient manner through increased access and improved delivery. We will continue to deliver a world-class education system that breaks down barriers and ensures every child can achieve his or her full potential. We remain committed to improved school attendance and completion, to supports for families in this regard and to further special classes and special school places for children with more complex needs. Considerable progress continues to be made across the senior cycle redevelopment programme. We have also recently launched the redeveloped primary curriculum specifications for all primary and special schools across Ireland.

Investment in further education infrastructure, course choice, place availability and the tertiary sector, including skills and apprenticeships, is continuing at a rapid pace. We have placed a particular emphasis on strengthening Ireland’s research performance. This will be critical to maintaining and enhancing our global competitiveness, driving innovation and creating sustainable jobs. In this regard, increased funding has been allocated to postgraduate and PhD students.

A key theme of our action plan on competitiveness and productivity, which I mentioned earlier, is embracing research, innovation and skills. Changes to the research and development tax regime in the budget, along with the publication of a research and development compass in the coming weeks, are aligned with this. These are important steps towards investing in the future, fostering and supporting innovation among our SMEs, boosting the innovation ecosystem and moving towards a more balanced, resilient model underpinned by sustained public investment.

Additionally, work is under way in the Department of Education and Youth to establish a convention on education. This will provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come.

Budget 2026 will continue to support the early years, education and further and higher education sectors through continued funding for early years, including the national childcare scheme and early childhood care and education, additional childcare places, additional teaching posts, investment in the school transport scheme, an increase in primary and post-primary capitation rates, funding for DEIS Plus and a new DEIS plan, increased apprenticeships and additional third level places.

The demographic composition of Ireland is shifting. Our population is growing and ageing at a rapid rate, resulting in a greater level of demand for our health and social care services. In preparing for this since 2016, our health budget has increased by over 94%, from €14.1 billion to the €27.4 billion allocated in budget 2026. It is absolutely enormous. Through the ongoing implementation of our programme and sustained investment, reform and leadership, we are providing access to high-quality patient care, reducing waiting times and further cutting the cost of care. Funding through budget 2026 will provide for increased acute and community bed capacity, home support hours, staffing, nursing home places, enhanced community care and expansion of mental health services.

In the area of justice, €6.17 billion is being allocated. We are committed to getting more gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment and civilianisation, building safe and secure communities across the country. Last month, we published the new rural safety plan. We are establishing local community safety partnerships throughout the country. These will ensure that the needs of local communities are addressed collectively by those who are closest to both the problems and the solutions. We will equip front-line officers with body-worn cameras and extend the use of facial recognition technology, which I hope the Opposition will support, to tackle serious crimes. Work is also under way on a retail crime strategy, with actions to reduce retail crime and support affected businesses.

We are continuing to support the roll-out of the current youth justice strategy, including expanding the network of youth diversion projects. These initiatives make a significant impact by diverting and supporting young people at risk of becoming involved in antisocial or criminal behaviour. We will also confront crime and antisocial behaviour by strengthening antisocial behaviour orders and banning face coverings to protect public safety. We will dismantle organised crime gangs, target the drugs trade and strengthen international co-operation to disrupt criminal networks. We are taking a health-led approach to personal drug use, diverting people to treatment and support services, rather than the criminal justice system, so that we address the root causes of harm while keeping our communities safe.

In conclusion, we have set out to ensure sustainable economic growth against a very challenging and uncertain international economic background. While economic growth is not a goal in itself, it gives us the resources to put services and supports in place, to take care of people when they need a helping hand and to ensure every person has the opportunity to succeed.

The objectives of this budget are clear. It strikes the correct balance between addressing the challenges of today and ensuring our public finances remain sustainable over the medium term to enable investment for future generations. Along with the national development plan, budget 2026 plots an ambitious and inclusive course for our people and provides us with a tremendous opportunity to build a future that ensures prosperity and opportunities for generations to come. I commend it to the House.

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