Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

We all know that budgets are about choices. This Government has made its choice. It has chosen big developers and multinationals. Ordinary workers and households be damned, because there is nothing here for them. In fact, middle-income earners will be worse off. What happened to all the pre-election promises? It is quite clear that the Government was just paying lip service in order to win an election. Where is its ambition? The budget lacks vision. It will not deliver transformative change.

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, told the House that the Government’s goal is to have no more than 3% of children living in consistent poverty by 2030. That equates to 36,000 children. Why is this Government willing to accept that a single child in this State should be living in consistent poverty? How can it accept consistent child poverty by the end of this decade? There is hardly a greater avoidable tragedy in Irish society than that of children living in poverty. In 2024, 8.5% of children were living in consistent poverty; over 45,000 more than the year previous. We know the scarring effects that living in poverty has on the life of a child. This is why we should be eliminating consistent child poverty by 2030, not reducing it to a mere 3%. That should be the priority, not lining the pockets of developers and fast-food chain owners. Instead, VAT for developers has been slashed at a cost of €390 million per year, while VAT on hospitality, which includes the likes of McDonald's and Starbucks, will cost €681 million per year. It is as simple as this: "Show me your budget and I will show you your priorities".

When it comes to student fees, the Government is claiming that there has been a €500 cut. That is simply not the case.

Last year, students paid €2,000 in fees and now they will pay €2,500. It is simply Orwellian to call this a cut.

On basic income for artists, as mentioned by the previous speaker, I welcome the Government’s commitment to putting the scheme on a permanent footing. However, many questions remain unanswered, and artists are understandably anxious. Last night, a constituent of mine, who has been on the scheme for three years, contacted me about one specific issue. Yesterday, it was reported that there will be a gap of up to six months between the current scheme and the permanent successor. If this is the case, 2,000 artists currently in receipt of the payment will be left high and dry, with no idea what their fate will be six months later. Some of these artists have finally got mortgages or are able to start families because of the stability the scheme provided, but now that is in jeopardy. Clarity for these artists is urgently needed.

Now I would like to turn to health, which must be one of the more underwhelming aspects of the budget. First, I wish to point out that not once was Sláintecare mentioned by the Ministers yesterday when delivering the budget speeches. This is the plan that should be guiding all health spending and yet it was not even uttered once. However, I should not be surprised since Sláintecare is about reform, and the health budget is shockingly short on that. In fact, I have never seen a health budget so short on detail, ambition or reform.

In the Minister’s quest for productivity and value for money, she has lost sight of other priorities. She seems to have forgotten that unless we fundamentally reorientate our health service away from acute to community settings, we will continue to treat people in the least efficient and most expensive way. Increasing productivity and achieving value for money in our health service is to be welcomed, but it is quickly becoming the Minister’s raison d'être. It seems that Sláintecare reforms have been put on ice for 2026. There should be a clear focus on consultant rostering, weekend scheduling and hospital activity, but so too should there be a focus on improving services and reducing out-of-pocket expenses.

This year’s budget does nothing to make healthcare more affordable. For example, it is silent on extending free GP care and reducing charges under the drugs payment scheme. When it comes to the €1.5 billion increase on last year’s health budget, I must say I have my doubts. I suspect that there is an element of smoke and mirrors with many precommitted elements just repackaged because I certainly have not seen many new initiatives announced. After this year's budget, we have to be left wondering whether the Government is serious about Sláintecare. In 2026, this Government plans to do very little to progress it, and that is incredibly short-sighted. Despite repeated requests, we have got no updated costings on Sláintecare. There is no ring-fenced budget for reform and the Sláintecare 2025 plan was published without any pledge of money for implementation. The Social Democrats have consistently called on the Government to lay out a five-year plan of programme funding for Sláintecare. I will make that call again. We want to see detailed costing on the implementation of Sláintecare. I agree with my colleague from Sinn Féin earlier who talked about the detail of the health budget. I have to agree with him that it is lacking in detail. We saw it in the budget yesterday for other Departments. On agriculture, there was €85 million for the eradication of TB in cows. We have been calling for increased funding for TB in humans and we have not got any details on that budget despite an increase of 30% in TB in the last year. The budget is lacking in detail on these key programmes. We want to see increased funding and more detail on a programmatic level across the health service.

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