Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Those opposite do not like when I compare what is happening here with the place where they are in government.

We are also taking an important step towards removing the means tests for our carers. A big move was made yesterday in that regard. This is something that everybody in the House supports. Concrete action was taken yesterday in relation to that.

We are reducing the rate of VAT relating to hospitality and hairdressers to 9% in order to protect jobs across the country. Again, I have heard much commentary on this. Most Opposition parties called us on to do this. We did it. It is the right thing to do. Some 75% of the businesses that will benefit employ fewer than ten people. I refer here to cafés and restaurants. If any Member of Dáil Éireann wants to stand in any of these cafés, restaurants or pubs that serve food and tell the owners that they are flaithiúlach and that things are going great, good luck to them. They would be out of touch with the reality of the bottom line that these businesses are facing. This is an important measure to permanently reduce the cost base of small and medium businesses right across our country, particularly those in rural and regional areas. We are increasing the research and development tax credit to encourage investment and innovation.

This is a budget about sensible economic management, not populism and not spending €4 billion more than the budgetary parameters that we sent out yesterday. That would have added to inflation and , as the Taoiseach rightly stated, pushed up the cost of living for families. We must make political choices over the course of the Government's five-year term rather than in any one budget. The choices we are making are about keeping Ireland economically safe, socially just and future focused. The budget is based around three core priorities: protecting jobs and the economy; building more homes and the infrastructure our country needs; and supporting the most vulnerable and improving access to public services.

I have heard much commentary about what is in the budget for working families. I have knocked on many doors in my constituency and around this country and I know that working families also want to see improved public services. The relationship the Government has with working families is not just about cash payments, although cash payments are important, it is also about listening to what people have said about what is needed. They want to see more investment in schools, communities and sports facilities. They want to see children lifted out of poverty. We are fair-minded people, and there are many who understand that when we have to balance resources, targeted measures such as that relating to lifting kids out of poverty is a really good and sensible way to go.

I do not think we ever have enough discussion in this House about jobs and the economy any more. It is nearly as if we take full employment for granted. We can never take full employment for granted. We know that now is time when we need policies to sustain competitiveness and protect jobs. This budget is very much designed to support employment and business viability, particularly in uncertain global conditions. I thank the Minister, Deputy Burke, for his work on that.

The permanent 9% VAT rate for hospitality, hairdressing and food services finally provides certainty for that key sector. People cannot run their businesses while wondering if that matter was going to be dealt with in this budget or in the budget next year. Finally providing certainty in respect of their cost base is essential for the employers in our towns and villages who provide a unique part of our tourism product. As already stated, in most cases these are small businesses. This is a measure that will come into effect next July. It will support more than 150,000 jobs directly in these sectors right across the country.

Many of the workers in the sectors in question are on the minimum wage. They will benefit from the increase in the minimum to €14.15 per hour. They will also benefit from the tax adjustments to ensure they remain outside the top rates of USC. Overall, the minimum wage increase will benefit 200,000 workers. All workers will also now have an automatic entitlement to a pension as auto-enrolment begins. This is a decision that will be seen as important and significant in the years ahead enabling people to age with dignity in our country.

We need back enterprise and innovation across our economy. Research and development supports are a key driver of high-value employment. Therefore, I am pleased that the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Burke, have overseen an increase in the rate of the research and development tax credit from 30% to 35% and an increase in the first-year payment threshold from €75,000 to €87,500 to support smaller research and development projects. Building on the action plans on competitiveness and productivity and market diversification, this budget will also deliver on tax simplification for businesses. We will see an expansion in supports for the visual effects and digital games sectors. These are two important sectors in the Irish economy in which there is further room for growth. We will also support our entrepreneurs and our small and medium enterprises with targeted reliefs.

Just like other businesses, our farmers also need certainty. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister for Finance have delivered a significant commitment to generational renewal, with the extension of farmer consolidation, farm restructure and young trained farmer reliefs, as well as the expansion of the farm restructuring relief to include woodlands and forestry. We got important messages in this regard from the commission on generational renewal. We are acting on them. I acknowledge the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, in respect of woodlands and forestry. We have also funded targeted increased specific supports to resource the TB action plan, to deliver a tillage support scheme - we heard from our farmers clearly on this - to ensure timely payments under ACRES, and to continue the national sheep welfare scheme.

Meanwhile, we will increase current spending on climate to support just transition. We will invest carbon tax revenues in community energy upgrade schemes and retrofitting, as well as growing investment in renewable energy generation and the circular economy.

We all know the housing crisis is an emergency. That requires us to react with a multifaceted response and with all arms and agencies of the State acting on an emergency basis. That is what we see in the budget, with a massive capital investment in housing, water and energy to enable the provision of the infrastructure we need. The Minister for Finance, along with the Minister for housing, is using the tax system to stimulate housing development, particularly the construction of new apartments, and, crucially, the redevelopment of derelict properties to a much greater extent. We have all heard from people that dereliction in the middle of a housing emergency cannot be tolerated. As a result, it is right that we see a substantial expansion of the living city initiative. The conversion of the derelict sites levy to a derelict property tax under Revenue - I find when things go under the Revenue Commissioners people tend to take them a little more seriously because there is stronger enforcement - sends out a serious message to anybody who is sitting on properties that are derelict. The Government is extremely serious about this. There is going to be a derelict tax with the Revenue Commissioners in the time ahead. It is time for people to take this seriously.

The budget will also see increases for An Coimisiún Pleanála and Irish Water, which I am sure people across the political divide will welcome, to speed up planning and infrastructure delivery. We are also extending the help to buy scheme, which has helped so many of our young people, for a further five years to support first-time buyers. This is a scheme that many in opposition sadly wish to gut. Furthermore, we have extended the renter's tax credit. There are now well over 300,000 - possibly up to 400,000 - beneficiaries of this credit. We are keeping it for the lifetime of this Government. It was due to expire this year.

This is actually a much larger financial commitment than many of the others in the tax package announced yesterday. The budget allocation for the Department of housing also sees significant increases for the delivery of starter and social homes and the provision of homeless services.

I am particularly pleased that we are placing a priority on how we can target measures to help our pensioners, people living with disabilities and family carers and putting a particular focus on children living in poverty. We are increasing the weekly rates of the child support payment by €8 per week for children under 12 and by €16 per week for children 12 and over. A really important measure is expanding the back to school clothing and footwear payment, which is so important to so many families, to children going to preschool, for two- and three-year-olds. This is a practical measure that will help young families. We are increasing the fuel allowance payment and extending eligibility to those in receipt of the working family payment. More than 50,000 additional households will now qualify for the fuel allowance as a result of the budget.

Income thresholds for working family payments are also increasing by €60 for all families. We will raise the thresholds for those receiving income-assessed subsidies to make childcare more affordable and increase access to childcare, with 35,000 more children to benefit from the national childcare scheme next year. We will also invest €52 million in core funding to improve pay, which is a really important issue as we have heard from childcare providers across the country, and to help them grow capacity in the sector. The Minister for children, Deputy Foley, is in the process of developing the action plan on childcare in the context of how we mesh together and move forward with the 21 commitments on childcare in our programme for Government. This will enable us to build on progress around affordability, accessibility and quality of the early childhood, education and care system.

The €10 increase in core social welfare rates - at twice the rate of inflation - will assist pensioners, carers and people with disabilities, as will the changes we are making to the fuel allowance. The programme for Government commits us to getting the old age pension to €350 over the lifetime of this Government. The actions we took yesterday have us on track to reach that target.

We are beginning to abolish the means test for carers. The way we said we would do that during the election campaign and when we wrote the programme for Government was by increasing the earning disregard for carer’s allowance by €375 in this budget to €1,000 for a single person and by €750 to €2,000 for a couple, as well as increasing the associated carer’s benefit income limit by €200 to €825.

We are increasing the monthly domiciliary care allowance by €20 a month. There will be a Christmas bonus which means a 100% increase in the weekly rate of payment for eligible recipients, meaning the likes of our pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents receiving the Christmas bonus at that important time of the year.

We have delivered a strong, balanced package for health, education, disability and social care services. I listened very carefully to the comments of many people and groups, including Inclusion Ireland, which recognised this morning the significant increase in funding for our disability services. This is badly needed. It is something we have to build on in the time ahead. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughten, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, for the very good work they did on this. It will see us spend an extra €628 million in a single year on our disability services, enabling us to get a proper base in place for disability services and to begin to increase residential care provision, respite, personal assistance and home support hours as well helping to secure the sustainability of the section 39 sector. I acknowledge the very important role that sector plays as well.

In education, my colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will introduce DEIS+. This is a really important initiative to target those most in need in the context of education. In many ways, it is also a child poverty measure. It will mean extra funding for schools in areas where children are at the highest risk of disadvantage. We are also going to see an increase in capitation funding for all primary and post-primary schools and all special schools, something that is badly needed and I know has been welcomed by schools across the country. Significant investment is being made in special education, with 860 additional special education teachers and over 1,700 new SNAs to support students with additional needs. I am particularly pleased that the budget will provide funding to see the roll-out of the new education therapy service, rolling out therapy supports directly into special schools. That is a really important reform that we need to deliver, ensuring the therapy services are in the schools, starting with the special schools.

In the area of health, the Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, will focus on improving access to services with a record budget of €27 billion for next year - an increase of €1.5 billion. This includes additional funding to address the needs of our ageing population and to improve the health, well-being and quality of life of this cohort. It also includes an extra 1.7 million home support hours to be provided in 2026. There will be focus on improving regional equity in the context of access and reducing waiting times, funding for 3,300 new positions in the health service, that is, 3,300 extra staff working in the Irish health service next year, and focused investment in older people’s care, mental health, on which there was a particular focus yesterday, and acute services.

We have to continue to drive the reform agenda around rostering and the availability of services, improving patient flow and ensuring care is accessible when people need it the most. I am pleased to see a focus on things like increased immunisation, smoking and vaping cessation, screening and targeted programmes to tackle obesity, frailty, and chronic disease. To meet growing demand and improve access, we need to open new capacity. The budget will provide funding for 251 new acute hospital beds and 280 community beds as well as new surgical hubs and primary care centres.

We are funding An Garda Síochána for recruitment of up to a further 1,000 trainee gardaí and an additional 200 Garda civilian staff to fill valuable specialist roles and facilitate the ongoing redeployment of trained gardaí to front-line policing. The Prison Service is receiving an allocation for 150 additional staff. Additional funding of €11.5 million is being provided for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence initiatives and for the associated agency, Cuan, which is doing good work in this area.

There will be an additional €270 million when it comes to the delivery of public transport, roads, maritime, active travel and the aviation sector. We are providing additional funding to support the continued roll-out of the national broadband plan, something there was a lot of debate about in this House. People will objectively admit that it has been a really good success story in rolling out high-quality broadband to the most rural parts of the country and also to islands, making a real difference to people. We are providing the investment that our post office network and postmasters highlighted very clearly to us. Some €15 million per year is being provided to secure the post office network.

The basic income for artists pilot scheme has been a success. I am sure we have all met people across the country benefiting from that, with more art being produced and artists having the certainty of their income. This is another example of moving away from one-off pilot schemes to a permanent scheme that will add extra capacity every year in order that more of our artists can benefit. The application criteria will also be broadened to accommodate more artistic disciplines. Funding is being increased for TG4, to ensure the provision of high-quality Irish language content. The media fund, supporting public service broadcasting and journalism through Coimisiún na Meán, is also being increased. We are providing significant increased current and capital funding for the development of our sports facilities nationwide and resources for local sports developments.

Turning to my line Departments, I am proud that we live in a country which is increasing funding for international development and overseas aid when others are pulling back and reducing such aid. The latter is happening at a time there are more conflicts and humanitarian disasters across the world than ever before. We are proudly increasing our funding for our international development programme, Irish Aid. This is an important message we send out about the values of our country. We build on a programme of work in terms of overseas development aid of which people in Ireland are genuinely proud. At a time when aid cuts by some other countries are affecting basic health and education systems, especially in Africa, Ireland will stay true to its values and, indeed, its interests. Funding for the Irish Aid programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be increased by €30 million in 2026, bringing the overseas aid budget to a total of over €840 million, the highest level ever in the history of the aid programme. This increase will enable scaled-up humanitarian assistance for the devastated people of Gaza and broader support for a credible two-state solution. It will also allow us to focus more effectively on the continuing conflict in Sudan, which has created the most severe humanitarian crisis globally, with some 12 million people forced from their homes since April 2023.

This is a time of unprecedented humanitarian crises globally, all of which are happening in the context of the already existential threat of climate change. It is time to reassert our support for the sustainable development goals and to work with our partners to reinvigorate progress before the target date of 2030 that applies in respect of them. Our priorities, as set out in the whole-of-government development policy, A Better World, remain wholly valid, as does our overarching approach to focus on poverty and hunger in some of the most vulnerable countries and communities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and to work to reach the furthest behind first.

I want to ensure that in 2026, we will redouble our focus and strengthen the impact of all of our funding, whether it is for our bilateral programmes or through the European Union, the United Nations or in collaboration with the NGOs that do so much good work in this area. For instance, I want to develop the next phase of Ireland’s child wasting initiative, which has been having an impact on the scandal of severe child malnutrition in Africa over the past three years. We will strengthen our work with partners, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, to tackle the unacceptable reality in a world of plenty whereby almost half of all deaths globally of children under five are linked to undernutrition - with over 3 million deaths annually - 45 million children are suffering from wasting and around 150 million children are stunted.

We will also strengthen our partnership with the global fund to fight HIV, TB and malaria, which is successfully reducing the incidence of these diseases and has already saved over 70 million lives. Our commitment will be unwavering when others are pulling back because it is in line with our values, it is the right thing to do and because global prosperity and well-being depends on it. There will be no progress on sustainable development in Africa and globally without a clear commitment to gender equality and to tackling gender-based violence and the empowerment of women and girls globally. Ireland's foreign policy will continue to promote that.

We will continue to see further investment and improvements in our passport service. A really good example of public service reform is our passport service. It is working efficiently and effectively, ensuring we continue to process passport applications ahead of their target turnaround times and maintain that current excellent service to citizens. At a time when we are facing new global trade challenges, in response, I will reinforce Ireland’s embassy and consulates general across the USA as well as reinforcing our teams in key locations around the world to support market diversification opportunities. The funding in the budget will allow us reinforce and further expand our diplomatic network as part of our global Ireland strategy. Now, more than ever, we are seeing the benefit of having diplomats on the ground. We have already opened three new embassies and we plan to open two new consulates in Málaga and Melbourne next year as well. Combined with further strengthening of our existing mission network, it will allow expanded promotion of Ireland’s trade, culture and diaspora priorities abroad. We will continue to provide additional funding to our emigrant support programme, to work with our diaspora, and to the reconciliation fund to support peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. As colleagues will know, Ireland will assume the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2026, thereby becoming responsible for advancing the Union’s agenda against an increasingly complex global economic and geopolitical background. The Presidency will impact all areas of Government and this Government is committed to ensuring the necessary budgetary provision to deliver Ireland’s important Presidency obligations successfully, to have a good Presidency, to do this country proud and to advance the agenda of the European Union. Given the centrality of our EU relationships and the leadership role we will be assuming in 2026, provision has been made for an overall budget ceiling for the requirements of the EU Presidency. I welcome that. The Government is firmly committed to continuing its strong support for Ukraine in the face of continuing illegal, brutal Russian aggression. Some €100m was provided this year in non-lethal military support in addition to humanitarian assistance. It is planned that a further substantial package of non-lethal support will be announced separately in the time ahead.

Globally, and indeed in Europe, we are experiencing an increasingly challenging and volatile security environment. In that context, Ireland has a responsibility to invest in our Defence Forces, to protect our citizens, our values and our sovereign interests, and to continue to contribute to international peace and security. To this end, and in recognition of the significant ongoing transformation and reform evident throughout the defence sector, I welcome the increased allocation of almost €1.5 billion now provided to the Defence Vote group, comprising the defence and Army pension Votes, in budget 2026. The Defence Vote allocation has increased to €1.172 billion in 2026, reflecting an increase of €157 million, or 15%, on the 2025 allocation. Current expenditure will increase by €72 million, or 9%, and capital expenditure will increase by 40%, an extra €85 million on the corresponding 2025 allocations. In 2026, the defence pay allocation will rise to almost €600 million - an increase of €33 million on 2025. This level of pay funding will provide for the full impacts of the national pay agreement, along with the creation of new posts throughout the Department and the Defence Forces in critically important areas such as cybersecurity. The Government remains committed to increasing our Defence Force numbers and today’s allocation will provide for the recruitment, training and support of an additional net 400 members of our Permanent Defence Force next year, as well as further funding to support the recruitment effort. As evident by the increasing number of inductions, there remains huge interest in joining the Defence Forces and serving our country proudly. I welcome the increases that will allow us to continue to target funding to facilitate investment in digital transformation, maritime security, national societal preparedness and resilience campaign initiatives. Funding is also provided to the Reserve Defence Force and the Civil Defence, two organisations - to which I pay tribute today - with a proud record of support to this State. The capital allocation for defence for 2025 and 2026 will be the largest such allocation ever provided and I welcome that. We are on track to reach level of ambition 2 and to prioritise and deliver on the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. I commend the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces on their ongoing and excellent commitment and effort to the State and to public service. I particularly want to thank all members of the Defence Forces, most particularly those serving overseas on peacekeeping missions today. This funding is an investment in them, in our security and in the men and women who proudly wear the uniform of Óglaigh na hÉireann.

We should never take our economic strength for granted. It is not by accident we are in a position to make the investments when others are having to retract from that at a European level. Our nearest neighbours and many around would love to be in a position to stand up and announce more money for key public services, more money as an investment for those most in need and an unprecedented level of capital investment. We have not got to this point by accident. The budget announced yesterday, which will be delivered in the time ahead, will enable us to keep this country safe. It will enable us to build more homes, deliver better public services, lift more children out of poverty and support those in need. It will help us to meet the challenges we face in the here and now and it will pave the way to securing Ireland's future. I commend the budget to the House.

See this speech in context