Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

It is obvious that the budget is getting the interest of all the parties of the House.

I am proud to be able to serve in Cabinet and to present my first budget as Minister for Social Protection and for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. I will deal with each Department separately within my speaking allocation.

In the Department of Social Protection, we have secured almost €29 billion in funding for the Department for 2026. Over €1.15 billion of that is for new measures. Before I go through the new measures, I wish to announce that we will be providing in early December this year a full 100% Christmas bonus to over 1.4 million people at a cost of €370 million. This measure will help people at a critical time of the year. It also supports businesses and shops locally around the country. For many, our payments are the lifeblood of such businesses. As a key part of the measures for next year, I am pleased to announce that we are providing across-the-board social welfare increases to our pensioners and people of working age. Core rates will increase by €10, a level which more than matches inflation. The increase of €10 in the standard rate is equivalent this year to about 4.1%, compared with inflation of about 2.7%. For pensions, the increase is 3.5%. However, we know the pressure that people are under, and we have provided targeted payments in other areas. The above-inflation increases for two years in a row again demonstrate the Government's commitment to protect as best as it can the real value of the incomes of the people who depend on us.

The principal aim for the Government and myself in this budget is addressing child poverty. We all know that children in low-income families are especially vulnerable to that poverty. That is why the Government has in this budget prioritised over €320 million in measures to alleviate child poverty. Every child should have the opportunity to live a decent life. We are determined to give them that opportunity. Today, we are announcing the largest ever increases in the child support payments. These are increases of €8, or 16%, for children under 12 and €16, or 26%, for children aged 12 and over. This will directly benefit about 330,000 children whose parents are in receipt of a social welfare payment. The increases will bring the payments up to €58 per week for a child under 12 and to €78 per week for a child over 12.

I am raising the income threshold for the working family payment by €60, supporting 50,000 low-income working families and 100,000 children. I am extending for the first time the fuel allowance scheme to families in receipt of the working family payment. I am increasing the rate of the domiciliary care allowance scheme by an additional €20, to €380 per month, to support those families who rely on this very important payment. In association with the Minister, Deputy Foley, I am pleased to announce that we will be extending eligibility for the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, subject to the standard means test, to families of preschool children aged two and three.

We are keen to progress the issues of extra living costs that are incurred by people with disabilities and also the barriers they face in getting employment. These are complex issues, but I have already started the process of establishing a strategic focus network to explore and develop solutions to address the cost of disability issue. This is a task agreed under the new national human fights strategy for disabled people. I intend to complete it quickly in consultation as part of a codesign approach with disabled people and their advocates to bring forward proposals to the Government in the first half of next year.

We are extending access to the back-to-work family dividend scheme to recipients of the blind pension and disability allowance. I am ensuring that people who move into employment from disability allowance and blind pension will retain access to fuel allowance for five years, which has been a key concern for people trying to move to employment from these schemes. I am also making changes to the wage subsidy scheme, increasing its rate by €1.20 per hour, adjusting its rate bands and expanding it to new cohorts of people.

We are committed to carers and removing the means tests on carers as a Government. Today, I announce the largest ever increases in income disregards for carer's allowance, by €375 for a single person, to €1,000 disregard a week, and by €750 for a couple, to €2,000 disregard a week. These changes will mean that even people with relatively high incomes will qualify for a carer's payment for the first time. This is evidence of our determination to deliver on our commitment to eliminate the means test over the lifetime of this Government.

In association with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, we are addressing and focusing on issues of fuel poverty. We are increasing the rate of fuel allowance by €5 per week. This is the first rate increase for this key support since budget 2022. In supporting communities throughout the country, I have made improvements to community employment, CE, Tús and the rural social scheme, RSS, including broadening access, increasing the top-ups by €5 per week, and bringing in €1,000 in material grants for all CE schemes.

We have relied on evidence-based studies to make targeted increases in those payments that are shown to have the greatest impact in reducing poverty. This budget package is targeted and progressive. The lowest income quantiles are benefiting the most.

As Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, tá toradh an-dearfach faighte againn agus, ar ardleibhéal, tá leithdháileadh iomlán de €611 milliún faighte againn do 2026. Leis seo, cuirfear €192 milliún ar fáil don gclár forbartha tuaithe, €260 milliún don chlár forbartha pobail agus €159 milliún do réimse cláir na Gaeltachta, na Gaeilge agus na n-oileán. We have secured a positive outcome in the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. We have a total allocation of €611 million for 2026. This will provide €192 million for the rural development programme, €260 million for the community development programme and €159 million for the Gaeltacht, Irish language and islands programme area. This builds on the strong investment of recent years. The €192 million allocation for the rural development programme will ensure a combination of sustained investment by the Government in the social and economic development of rural areas. Our community development programme supports a wide range of schemes and projects that help promote social inclusion and address disadvantage. It also supports schemes that assist all communities, including annual funding for Tidy Towns groups, shows and funding for the community centre investment fund. On the community centre investment fund, I am reminded of the part that they play alongside and being the base of many community hubs during extreme weather events. This was particularly noticed during Storm Éowyn last January. We have instructed officials to work with colleagues across Departments to prepare a scheme that will see the roll-out of generators to local authorities for use during such extreme weather events. This will be funded from the community centre investment fund and is one of a number of measures my Department is taking in conjunction with other Departments to become more storm-resilient.

The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, will speak later about the community funding. I am delighted to announce that we are recommencing the RAPID programme that was previously in effect in the late noughties, with a €5 million capital investment for 2026. Fuair mé méadú an-suntasach sa mhaoiniú do chlár na Gaeltachta, na Gaeilge agus na n-oileán. Tiocfaidh méadú 29% ar an leithdháileadh ó €123 milliún go €159 milliún do 2026, arb é sin an méadú is mó sa réimse seo le blianta fada anuas.

Tá pleananna fíoruaillmhianacha againn chun tacú le pobail Ghaeltachta agus leis an nGaeilge araon. Leis an maoiniú seo, cinntítear gur féidir linn dul chun cinn suntasach a dhéanamh chun na pleananna sin a chur i bhfeidhm in 2026. Is léir do chách an dearfacht atá mórthimpeall na teanga anois agus bainfidh muid lántairbhe as seo trí infheistíocht i réimsí maoinithe reatha agus caipitil araon. There are many others thing I could speak to, and we have sought to do so in recent days, but I will hand over to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien.

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