Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

I will start my contribution on a constructive note, difficult as it is in the context of what was announced yesterday. I recognise the work the Minister, Deputy Foley, has done in keeping and growing the equal start programme and DEIS model for early years. This is a scheme I was proud to have initiated as Minister. It is already benefiting over 30,000 of the most vulnerable children in our country. I also welcome that the basic income for the arts scheme will be made permanent, although I would like to see some more details about how that will actually work. This is an innovative scheme introduced by my Green Party colleague, Catherine Martin. We have seen the benefit it has for artists' work and also for their mental health. We know about those benefits because research commissioned to scaffold the scheme demonstrated those benefits.

Last December, when the Dáil first met after the election, in my contribution to the House, I asked what the point was in sitting in these seats and being granted the highest privilege our democracy can bestow, if it is not about seizing an opportunity to deliver real and meaningful change for the good of all people in our country. While I have absolutely no doubt that all of us in this Chamber, both the Government and Opposition, are motivated by a desire to do good both for the country and, through our country's impact, for the wider world, when I look at the budget presented to the House yesterday, I am left with some fundamental questions about what vision the Government has and what its appetite for reform is. If you have that desire to make change, are really following a reform agenda and are lucky enough to be charged with doing that by the electorate, you need to begin that work in year one. The most important task in year one is ensuring you have the money and budget to back up the choices and priorities you wish to achieve.

Doing a budget is incredibly difficult. Of course, some people will be disappointed, including some with really good causes. I understand that. I also understand the difficulties Ministers face when they are in that staring contest with the Department of public expenditure and reform. However, yesterday, we got a budget that said more about placating the constituencies Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael represent than it did about the kind of country we want to see in the next five or ten years. Fianna Fáil got its budget for big developers, Fine Gael got its budget for big business and the Independents were just happy to be there, to be honest. Everything else just trundles along.

We would almost make allowances for that if the budget demonstrated some of the major commitments, or a start to some of the commitments, that are in the programme for Government. After almost a year now of a do-nothing Government, however, budget 2026 reveals what we have all suspected for a while: that this Government is quiet-quitting on the programme for Government and the big promises its members campaigned on and were elected on last November.

Not one cent has been set aside for the introduction of the new public model of childcare, the approach that will finally ensure there is an early learning and childcare place for every child who needs one. There is nothing about the second tier of child benefit, something that could lift thousands of children out of poverty, even though the Tánaiste said less than a month ago that he was a firm believer in that approach. There is nothing about the phase-out of the means test for the carer's allowance, an issue that was a central topic of debate during the general election in 2024.

These are all big changes that would have really significant impacts and if this Government is to have any chance of actually delivering on them, it needs to start that work now. We know the Government has tough choices to make when trying to temper the desire for additional spending and the risks that come with that. We are facing a more uncertain outlook this year. What it chooses to fund and what it chooses to prioritise in those circumstances tells a lot about what it intends to do as a Government and how it will help the country meet the challenges down the road.

When we desperately need to broaden our tax base, we are gifting hundreds of millions of euro in foregone VAT income to profitable restaurant chains. When we are desperately in need of land for housing, we are creating new loopholes to permit land hoarders to defer payments of the land hoarding tax. When it could not be more timely for us to take a stronger approach to climate action, the foot is absolutely coming off the pedal in that area. There is nothing in this budget to help farmers meet the legal obligations they will have to undertake under the nature restoration law. Will we just ignore the fact we signed up to that and hope it goes away? There is nothing to fill the gap left by the Government raiding the climate and nature fund earlier this summer so there is no money for the massive retrofit of the public buildings, schools or nursing homes that so desperately has to be undertaken.

I have a question that maybe the Minister of State or another Minister can come back to me on about the State's commitment to global climate finance. There is no mention of this in the expenditure document. The Taoiseach committed he would get us to €225 million per year. We are reasonably close, at €190 million this year, but there is no mention of climate finance at all in the budget. I welcome the fact that overseas development aid is going up by €30 million - that is good - but is that money that has actually been redirected from the climate finance budget? I would welcome some clarity on that particular point from either the Tánaiste or the Minister for climate.

I mentioned how important it is that when you have a reform agenda, you get to work quickly. When it comes to the big measures to improve the lives of children today and their outcomes in the future, it is particularly frustrating when you see progress start to stall. I welcome that the child support payment is going up but that is not-the game changer for addressing child poverty that a second tier of child benefit would be. The amount of money we have forgone in the full year in the VAT increase would almost meet the full cost of what the ESRI has costed the second tier of child benefit at, a figure of €770 million. That would have the impact of lifting tens of thousands of children out of child poverty.

While it is good to see that increase in the child support payment, it leaves some of the most vulnerable children in our system behind. Those are children in the international protection system. Children in the international protection system receive through the daily expenses allowance €29.80 per week on which to live. I raised this matter with the Tánaiste in advance of the budget and I would like the Minister to confirm whether the budget is raising the daily expense allowance for children in the international protection system at the same amount that the child support payment is being raised. If not, could we get an explanation as to why children in the international protection system, who do not get child benefit, are not being supported in the same way that children outside of international protection are?

In terms of the delivery of the public model of childcare, there was agreement among political parties during the general election that we needed to make that sea change. That is a massive change in our system and it requires work from year one of the Government. I was the Minister for children. I saw the amount of work it took to put in the major investment that was able to reduce fees to a certain extent and to apply greater public control on early years in terms of fees and standards of services but that work has to begin early. There is no evidence from this budget that there is that intention to introduce a public model of childcare, a model that would allow the State to identify the geographic areas in which there is a shortage of childcare places and allow the State to step in. That work has not begun. I really urge the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Government to start work now if they are determined to do this because, otherwise, this key commitment will not be delivered. Children will suffer from inadequate outcomes and parents will continue to struggle to find spaces for the childcare they desperately need.

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