Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

It would feel wrong to rise to my feet and not take the opportunity to update the House on the ongoing illegal detention of five Irish citizens in Israel, including one of our own colleagues in this House, Deputy Heneghan. Overnight, a second flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli authorities. It was carrying five Irish citizens, including Deputy Heneghan. I want to inform the House that I have been briefed on the situation this morning by our Irish ambassador in Tel Aviv, H. E. Ms Sonya McGuinness. I was also in contact with Deputy Heneghan’s office this morning to brief it. Similar to the interception of a separate flotilla last week, we now expect that all those detained, including Deputy Heneghan, will be transferred to the Port of Ashdod for processing. From there, they will likely be brought to a detention facility south of Tel Aviv. This is likely to take up most of the day.

Let me be clear. It is my priority and that of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Government to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens. Our officials on the ground have been in contact with the Israeli authorities regarding the next steps and will make arrangements to visit those citizens as soon as possible. I will endeavour to update the House as soon as is appropriate. I assure Deputies that all efforts are being made to make contact with the citizens to ensure their safety and well-being. These individuals are part of a peaceful flotilla seeking to highlight the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and genocide in Gaza. They pose no threat to Israel and should not be detained. Their detention is illegal and international law has to matter in relation to this issue, too.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to commend budget 2026 to the House. I believe it is a budget that strikes the right balance between meeting the economic challenges facing our country, protecting our economy and jobs, delivering more homes, improving access to vital public services like health, education and disability services, and supporting families and children who need the most help. I have heard much commentary on the budget over the past day, as one would expect, but I would refer people to the budgetary documentation, which clearly shows that those who have the least gain the most from this budget. That is the definition of a progressive measure. It is there for all to see. The lower two deciles gain the most. All households gain by an average of, I believe, 1.1% but those who have the least gain the most.

Our commitment to the Irish people in the programme for Government and the preceding election campaign was to provide stability, deliver progress, secure Ireland’s future and never take our economic well-being for granted. We clearly set out our strategy for the public finances based on a set of core principles, which included increasing public sector investment to address infrastructural deficits, including using windfall receipts; building up our long-term savings funds - there used to be a time when everyone in this House wanted to spend the rainy day funds, but that would have been imprudent and it is important that we build up those saving funds - running budget surpluses; and maintaining a broad tax base with the postponement of income tax changes in the case of economic headwinds. That is what the programme for Government says in black and white.

Our strategy on the public finances has served this country well to get us to this juncture. We are one of the few governments in Europe in a position to deliver an expansionary budget. We have stuck to these principles in designing a coherent package. It is the first of five budgets in the lifetime of this Government and the first of five instalments, as it were, in terms of delivering on our commitments.

The Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has put together a policy-driven taxation package, with a clear sense of purpose, to stimulate housing development. Everybody in this House has said - I have heard it time and again - that there is a housing emergency, and there is. They have asked us to do more and to use every lever and do everything we can. We have decided to use taxation code to try to stimulate development, and now people are criticising that as well. It is important that we use ever lever, not just on a spending side but also on the tax side, in order to try to get the balance right.

We heard the experts on national radio this morning saying that this will help in the context of building more apartments. I see Deputy McDonald is nodding. I am sure she will welcome that when they are built. There are about 40,000 apartments in respect of which there is planning permission but which have not yet been built. We need them to be built because we need our young people in them. This is a measure to do that. It is a measure that I fully support. The taxation package is also designed to shore up key sectors in our economy, including small businesses and the agriculture sector, to protect jobs and support households.

On public expenditure, as outlined by the Minister, Deputy Jack Chambers, we are making a major allocation in social welfare and targeting those most in need, including our pensioners, those living with disabilities, family carers, and putting a particular and real focus on children who are living in poverty. Any objective reading of the budget will see a real step up in terms of child poverty, as there should be and as is a priority for the Government. I welcome the comments from the likes of Barnardos, which is working on the front line. There is always more to do, but yesterday we really did listen to the experts in terms of measures we can take to try to help lift people, particularly children, out of poverty

We were very clear and honest in the election campaign that were moving to a more normal budgetary process and moving away from one-off measures and the idea of nearly having two budgets in one year. I am pleased that we are now beginning to get the point of permanent structural changes that will help reduce costs that families and businesses face. We have extended the lower VAT rate for gas and electricity bills for five years. We are moving away one-off measures and questions about whether such measures would be extended.

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