Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Exactly. Senior hurling. I am sure you are well able to play it down below in Kilkenny. Someone has to keep Deputy Cleere in check.

This is my opportunity to speak about the budget. I have put together many budgets in my time. I have been doing budgets, in some shape or form, for the past 20 years as an accountant. It was nice to have the opportunity to be involved in some step in the process of the national budget, which is the most important budget in which anybody in the State can be involved.

I have my own experience on the Committee on Budget Oversight. That committee gave me the ability to understand exactly the situation we are coming into economically, as we head into 2026. People might not necessarily have that vision or the level of information coming at them as came at me in that committee. Members from across the House, including representatives of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, were members of that committee and everybody signed up to the report of that committee. The report stated we should not be spending too much money on the economy because there was a risk of overheating. IFAC and the Central Bank stated we should be spending €8 billion. In fairness, we pushed a little harder. We will spend that money on important things. The Government will spend that money on the most vulnerable people in our society. From a social welfare perspective, there will be a €10 increase for pensioners and carers. Those sorts of elements were looked after. We also wanted to ensure that businesses were looked after. We must ensure that we can invest in jobs and ensure we have the jobs that can lead us to having positive budgets in the future. With that in mind, the 9% VAT rate was introduced for small business owners. That was important for small employers.

There were also changes to the research and development, R and D, tax credit. Some people around the country, and indeed some people in the House, might ask what difference the R and D tax credit makes. It provides the opportunity for foreign direct investment and Irish companies to continue to invest, continues to make Ireland a good place to do business and ensures we keep those high-quality jobs. The Government should be commended on being far-sighted in that regard.

The entrepreneur relief was increased from €1 million to €1.5 million. Some might say that is only a small thing, but it incentivises young Irish people to set up their own businesses.

I have been involved in the entrepreneurial space and have seen people do well but, more important, they have created jobs. I was involved with a company that went from having three or four employees five or six years ago to having more than 60. They are the sort of people we need to encourage to get into business.

I also wanted to reference the specific items Deputy Cleere alluded to in his own way about villages and towns in Kilkenny. I also look at the likes of the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, which has an extra €300 million allocated to it. We want to make sure that money is spread around because sometimes there are issues where the fast-growing areas like Kildare, Meath and Wicklow are left out of things a little. Often, we talk about the need for rural development. I fully agree. We talk about the need for a Dublin task force. I fully agree. What often gets left behind is the belt around and in between those two places, where the population has grown the most and where most houses are being delivered but we do not see the same community investment in these areas. Last week, I spoke about the towns of Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth. They are all touching base with each other. Between the three towns there is a population of 53,000 and they do not have a theatre, swimming pools or even a proper community facility, other than relying on local clubs.

I know budgets mean difficult decisions. I have been part of those decisions in small ways in a business. I know that, in the budget, those decisions made are in the best interests of the future of our country.

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