Dáil debates
Thursday, 9 October 2025
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
3:40 am
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Before I begin, I want to mention the developments overnight which have raised the prospects of a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza. I hope for a peace that is lasting and brings justice and freedom to the Palestinian people.
Tá stampa Fhine Gael ar gach leathanach den bhuiséad seo a bhí foilsithe Dé Máirt, buiséad a thréigeann daoine atá ag obair chun aire a thabhairt dóibh siúd atá ar an bharr. Cuireann briseadh na ngealltanas mór a rinne an Tánaiste ó thaobh cáin ioncaim, táillí mac léinn agus cúram leanaí é seo i gcuimhne dúinn. Some 48 hours have passed since the introduction of the budget. I hope that the real shock and anger of working people and families is starting to register with the Government. They have spent the past two days shaking their heads in disbelief at what the Government served up on Tuesday. It was a budget that abandoned workers in order to look after those at the top. This budget has Fine Gael's stamp on every page. It is a budget that shows up for developers, landlords and investors, but leaves workers behind. It is as though the Government sat down before the budget and asked, "How many of these election promises we made can we break in this budget?" That is what it did.
I want to address some of the broken promises the Tánaiste himself made. The first one is on income tax. He said: "[I] believe we can do about €1.4 billion each year in tax measures over the next five years. And that will be made up of both the changes to the income thresholds ...[and] also changing the entry points to the various USC ban[d]s". That is what the Tánaiste said to The Irish Times in November last year, one week before the general election. He broke that promise on Tuesday. In one of the largest tax-cutting packages in the history of the State, at a time when it was never more needed, he could not even give ordinary workers a single cent in an income tax boost. The Tánaiste betrayed more than 2.5 million workers. That is on him. However, he found the money for big tax breaks for developers and landlords. It says everything about his priorities.
The second broken promise that he delivered on Tuesday was on student fees. Speaking on social media in November last year, just two weeks before the general election, he said: "I think we need to really phase out third-level fees. I've strong views on that." What happened? How can student fees be phased out while parents and students are being asked to pay €500 more this year than they paid last year?
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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That is what the Government did in this budget. No matter how hard the Tánaiste tries to spin - no doubt he will try to do it again - he said he had the backs of the students of Ireland. He has double-crossed them. It is another broken promise.
The third one is on childcare costs. Speaking to the Irish Independent in October last year, just a month before the general election, he pledged to deliver €200 per month childcare and to do so quickly. Here is what he said: "I actually believe the cost bit we can deliver quite quickly. I believe it can be delivered in the early time of the government." Fine Gael pledged to produce an action plan on childcare costs within the first 100 days of Government. We are now on day 259. Where is the plan? Where is the urgency he had in the run-up to the general election to deliver €200 a month childcare? It is not in the budget. Families are again shortchanged.
The broken promises have caused a lot of hurt out there. You do not get to raise people's expectation when you need their support and then come back empty-handed when they need yours.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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That is not good enough, but it is what the Tánaiste did. Does he get why so many workers out there are so angry with what the Government has delivered in the budget? Does he understand that they feel really let down by the litany of broken promises?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Before I answer that question, I too want to take an opportunity to welcome the developments in relation to the Middle East overnight. I welcome the announcement that Israel and Hamas have now agreed on the first phase of a ceasefire and a peace deal for Gaza. We are now at a critical moment where we all hope and pray that we can see an end to this brutal, horrific humanitarian catastrophe, an end to the bloodshed, the killing and the famine. I also hope all the hostages are released. It is a day of hope for the people of Gaza after the darkest of times. This morning I directed my own officials to prepare for a substantial contribution and effort to Gaza to assist in the humanitarian effort that is going to be required immediately. Right now, a consignment of 1,500 tents is being loaded by the International Organization for Migration, IOM, in Amman today for delivery into Gaza in the coming days, including indeed 750 tents from Ireland's humanitarian stocks. We will not be found wanting in doing more as well.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the budget and of course completely reject the way in which he framed the budget. What he does not tell the people at home is that his alternative plan proposed 23 new taxes at a cost of €3.3 billion. In terms of economic impact - not in my view but in the view of anybody who can understand economics - that would have increased inflation in this country by spending €4 billion more. What happens when you increase inflation? You increase everybody's cost of living. In Sinn Féin's economically illiterate way of assisting people with the cost of living, it actually would have hurt people with the cost of living. That is why, when we had a general election, people rejected Sinn Féin's economic philosophy.
Neale RichmondSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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They said, "No, thank you very much." They also heard what we said and what Deputy Paschal Donohoe said during the general election as well, when we said, "Yes, we want to do measures on income tax", but we put in black and white in the programme for Government that if it was a choice between doing certain things or doing income tax we would choose the other things because we have to keep this country safe. The Deputy only asked me about tariffs once at Leaders' Questions. He never wants to discuss the economy or the global headwinds that the country faces. We have to keep our country safe. There are people watching in on this programme today who remember what it was like wrong choices were made in budgets. They remember what it was like when too much money was spent. They remember what it was like when people did not manage the country prudently.
What we did in this budget was set out to deliver a five-year programme for Government, and it is a five-year programme for Government. The Deputy is conveniently picking up our programme for Government and saying, "Why have you not done in one year everything that you said you would do in five?" That is not how it works. We need to be honest here. What we have done is we have taken steps to help those most in need.
To take the issue of fuel poverty, we extended the fuel allowance to 50,000 more people. We regularly discuss that issue. I am sure the Deputy welcomes that fact. We embedded a reduction in college fees permanently so that students will not have to wonder what the fees will be next year. It is now on a downward trajectory and that is embedded, and it has been extended to apprentices.
We are going to deliver on the €200 per month per child commitment in the lifetime of this Government. That is what we said we would do; it is what Sinn Féin said it would do. It is what we all said we would do. However, we also have to make sure we deliver the capacity and that we have the places. That is why there are 21 commitments in the programme for Government and we are working through them already. In this budget, we actually delivered funding to significantly increase the number of childcare places. That is really important. I regret Sinn Féin did not do that in its alternative budget. Reducing the cost of childcare but not having childcare places is not much use to anybody.
This budget is being completely misrepresented by Sinn Féin. It should look at what the CEO of Inclusion Ireland said yesterday morning when she welcomed the significant uplift in funding. There is over €680 million extra for disability services, €1.5 billion more for our health services, and more than €800 million more for our education system. The budget is investing in public services, targeting the resources at those who most need them, particularly at the issue of child poverty. I was disappointed at Sinn Féin's lack of ambition on the issue of child poverty. It would have done a hell of a lot less than we did. Let us look at what it said it would do on child support payments. It promised the people it would do €12.50 for under-12s. Its pre-budget submission only did €6. We delivered €8, so let us get real.
3:50 am
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Seriously? Does the Tánaiste really believe that?
Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin is proposing 23 new taxes.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste speaks about honesty. I will read back his words from before the election-----
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Yes, when Sinn Féin thought it would win.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----so maybe he does not put much credence in it.
Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin proposed 23 new taxes.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Wait until he hears what Fine Gael promised the people. It was to increase the higher tax-band threshold, raise the point at which a worker enters the higher tax-band by at least €2,000 each year.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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That is what Fine Gael promised.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should read the next bit.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should read the next bit.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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----on childcare costs within 100 days.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should read the next bit.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government has no plan. Fine Gael has broken promise after promise because that is what Simon does.
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy did not finish the first bit.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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He says what needs to be said at a point in time-----
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has not read it.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----and then forgets all about it. The families of scoliosis know that and now the workers right across the State know what he is all about.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Two and half million workers have been abandoned in this budget. I put it to the Tánaiste, at a time when the Government made tax breaks available to investors, banks, developers and landlords, why did it consciously decide to leave workers worse off in this budget? That is shameful.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy Doherty.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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What it has done is shameful. It has broken its promise. Can the Tánaiste explain-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----why he made a pledge that it would lift the burden on workers and decided consciously to favour developers-----
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----investors and landlords over the people who are out working and building our economy?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am delighted that Sinn Féin is now in favour of reducing tax on work.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My party found that to be a lonely journey in the past several years-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Fine Gael promised to abolish the USC. Does the Tánaiste remember that?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----as Sinn Féin opposed it every time we did it.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It was to abolish the USC.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Doherty might read the programme for Government, where it specifically says that if it comes to a choice between investment in public services or tax, we know which we will do.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The choice was to tax developers.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Now, Deputy Doherty talks about-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government made a choice on tax to give €2.5 million of taxpayers' money-----
John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Settle down, settle down.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Doherty.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will use my time, if that is okay.
Did the Deputy hear the town planner yesterday on "Morning Ireland" talk about how the measures we have taken will help more apartments to be built? Sinn Féin wants more homes to be built, but spends half its time objecting to them. It says it wants to treat housing as an emergency.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We treat it as an emergency, using the tax code to stimulate viability.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Why did you break your promise?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin proposed 23 new taxes, €3.3 billion more-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, on banks and developers.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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You gave them your sweetheart deals.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is an alternative budget that would blow our economy. The people rejected it.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Why did you break your promises?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Thank you very much. We will keep this country safe.
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Why did you break your promises?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We will develop and invest in our public services-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Why did you break your promises?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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----- and deliver homes, and we will deliver our promises-----
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Why are you breaking your promises?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----in the programme for Government over five years.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Alan Kelly.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy saying it is so, does not make it so.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Alan Kelly.
Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I will briefly break a tradition. I am holding a sign I have up in my office, which says "Vote No to the Hanly Report". It is there as a reminder to me that 25 years ago, I marched through the streets of Nenagh holding that sign, to protest against the downgrading of my local hospital, the one in Ennis and St. John's Hospital. People can blame that report for me coming into Dáil Éireann. I jest, but it was an inspiration for me.
The mid-west - Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary - has been discriminated against when it comes to hospital services. The south east has a model 4 hospital and two model 3 hospitals. We have one model 4 hospital.
I speak about this from personal experience. On 22 October last year, I stood here giving live evidence of why elderly people are afraid to go into University Hospital Limerick, UHL. It was about my father. I had to convince him while I was here to get into an ambulance at his house. He said, "Alan, I will never come out" and he never did. He came home to die, despite receiving the best care. What is on my conscience is that he went in there afraid.
My mother is in Nenagh Hospital at the moment. She will not be put into UHL because, at this moment, I will not allow it. It has nothing to do with the workers or the management. It has to do with the circumstances. We have been discriminated against in the mid-west. I stand here with lived experiences. A few months ago, my wife got very sick. It was 4 a.m. I rang someone who works in the HSE to ask for advice. I was told to go to Portlaoise. I live about 25 minutes from UHL. I went to Portlaoise. That is what all of us in the mid-west are facing.
Now we have a HIQA report. It is beyond me why HIQA is even doing this report on hospital services. What needs to happen is as clear as the nose on my face. Deputy Sheehan and I, and all the other mid-west politicians, cannot be another generation that lets down our area. We need a new model 3 hospital with a full emergency theatre and intensive care unit in the mid-west. Full stop. If that means we will build a unit of 100 beds to deal with capacity at the moment and then wrap a hospital around it, that is what we need to do. I stand here today speaking from personal experience, but also as one of this generation of politicians. Will the Government and the Tánaiste personally, be the brave people to say they will deliver another model 3 hospital to stop the discrimination in our region?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Kelly for highlighting this issue. I know he is using his personal experiences as an example but I want to extend my sympathy and that of everyone in the House for the bereavement his wife experienced recently and indeed the loss of his father. I also wish his mother our best.
The generation of politicians who went before us gave an example of how to botch health reconfiguration. I genuinely believe the people of the mid-west were badly served by a reconfiguration that tried to change services on the promise of a better tomorrow, but did not put the better tomorrow in first. It is an example or case study of how not to do healthcare reconfiguration. If we are honest, since then, successive Governments have been trying to play catch-up on a variety of issues in the mid-west, particularly and acutely on the issue of bed capacity, but also on the issue of how to properly utilise Nenagh and Ennis hospitals, which are excellent hospitals that are eager to do more and are now beginning to do more.
The Deputy has been a vocal advocate on this issue and will continue to be. I accept the collective challenge we face is to address this once and for all together. The Minster for Health takes this seriously. She will be in Limerick next week for the opening of a new 96-bed block at UHL. I acknowledge the roles the Deputy and others played in that. There are also plans to significantly increase capacity further in the hospital. We all welcome that, but what the Deputy is saying is that, in itself, is not enough. I accept that too.
The HIQA report was commissioned, regardless of the Deputy's view on it. The Government was briefed on it by the Minister on 30 September. It outlines three potential options for consideration. One is to continue to expand the capacity at UHL's Dooradoyle site. I think we should do that anyway, to be honest. It is not either-or. The second is to extend the UHL hospital campus to comprise the existing Dooradoyle site and another site. The third is to develop a model 3 hospital in the HSE mid-west. Alongside these options, HIQA presented an extensive number of additional considerations. In fairness to HIQA, it did not just lob out three options. It went through, in quite a bit of detail, the pros and cons of each of the options. There are extensive findings. Quite a lot of work was done behind each of the potential options and the Minister will now fully consider them and report back to the Government. However, I will share the Deputy's recommendation with the Minister. There is a lot of logic in it.
We need to drive on quickly with extra capacity. The 96 beds are great, but we need to drive on the next bit and the bit after that and so on and then we need to recognise that in itself will not be enough.
There is a compelling case in relation to the option identified in the report around a new level 3 hospital for the mid-west. That needs to be looked into. We all know that will not happen today or tomorrow so how do we make sure we put the capacity in in the meantime? I will ask the Minister to keep the Deputy and colleagues from the mid-west informed on this issue as she deliberates.
4:00 am
Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I appreciate the Tánaiste’s reply but we need more certainty. This has gone on way too long. His Government needs to make a decision now to have a model 3 hospital. The idea of sending everybody through the UHL emergency room is downright bananas. It is crazy. It is criminal. We need to upgrade the model 2 hospitals in Nenagh and Ennis, 100%. However, a decision has to be made on the principle that the mid-west would have one model 3 hospital. The mid-west has a growing population and a population that is larger than that in the south east which has two model three and one model four hospitals. I accept the Tánaiste has gone far but I urge him to confirm that he will do this because we need it. It may mean identifying a site, putting a 100-bed unit on it and wrapping a hospital around it, because I know that will take more years, or using Nenagh or Ennis. We will debate all that again. Will the Tánaiste confirm the principle that the mid-west will have a future, that there will be ambition for it and that we will be able to address these issues for the people and that in the future they will not be frightened of going into just one access point through UHL?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I accept the Government needs to make a timely decision on this and I accept it is an issue that has gone on for many years. In fairness to the Minister for Health, she is proactively engaging on this issue. The point the Deputy makes about population is really key. He is correct that the population of the mid-west region is growing faster than the population of many other regions, including other regions that have a greater hospital capacity. That is absolutely factually correct.
When one looks at the three options, I do not really think there are three. There is to do one obvious thing, which is to expand capacity and then there is a choice between two others. That is how I read it.
Maurice QuinlivanSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We all agree with expanding capacity. Then there is the question of whether we further expand the UHL campus but also develop it on another site - that is what it says - or, for want of a less colloquial phrase, do we start from scratch and develop a new model 3 hospital? Both options recognise that there will have to be significant new healthcare capacity above and beyond the current Dooradoyle site. How quickly we can narrow down the pros and cons of each of them is very important.
The Minister will be in UHL with the HSE and local public representatives next week and she will have the opportunity to speak with the Deputy then. I take the point about the need to make a decision in principle as quickly as we possibly can.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The news of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza is very welcome. At the same time the kidnapping of five Irish citizens on Wednesday night by Israeli forces in international waters is utterly unacceptable. They include an elected Member of this Dáil, Barry Heneghan. Will there be any repercussions for Israel for kidnapping Irish citizens?
The Tánaiste bought the election with a litany of promises that he has broken. He promised students and their families that he would reduce college fees. They have gone up by €500. He promised that 40,000 homes would be built last year. That proved to be a complete fabrication. He promised tax cuts and spending increases, a combination we warned was not sustainable. He never once told people that the tax cuts would be for developers and that ordinary people would be forgotten. He promised a cost of disability payment, which would finally recognise the enormous costs of having a disability. Not only did he fail to do this but disabled people will be €1,400 worse off because of this budget according to the Disability Federation of Ireland. The Tánaiste promised to tackle child poverty yet according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, this week’s budget will push even more children and more older people into poverty.
During the TV election debate the Tánaiste said the Fine Gael manifesto was proposing that within 100 days of being in Government capping monthly childcare costs per child at €200 per month. He has completely and utterly broken that promise. His promises on childcare have left parents feeling betrayed. He made putting costs for childcare one of the central planks of his election campaign. He has just published his first budget and childcare costs were not reduced by a single cent. I have been contacted by parents who are at breaking point trying to pay these enormous childcare fees. One mother told me she is paying €20,000 a year for her two children. It is simply not sustainable. She was expecting this budget would take some of that pressure off and reduce costs. She feels deeply betrayed by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
There are parents who, as we speak, are asking themselves whether they can afford to go back to work. There are couples all over the country who are wondering if they can afford to have another child because paying thousands in childcare costs is just impossible. They cannot do it. These families feel betrayed by the Tánaiste and his budget. Does he understand why they feel let down? What happened to his promise to cap childcare fees at €200 a month within 100 days of taking office?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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First, I share the Deputy’s condemnation of what happened to our five Irish citizens. I have just received confirmation that Deputy Heneghan is back in Ireland. I had a brief message from him to that effect. It seems Israel released parliamentarians first. I know he is Deputy O’Callaghan’s constituency colleague. He is back in Ireland but the remaining Irish citizens will be engaging with our embassy team today. Obviously we are calling for their swift release. We believe it was illegal in terms of how they were detained and I do intend to consider how to pursue that with counterparts.
I join the Deputy in welcoming the very real live prospect of a ceasefire and the fact the United Nations has talked about there being enough food in the region to feed the people of Gaza for three months if we can just get that in and do so urgently. Our aid people will be endeavouring to assist in that.
On college fees and many issues, we were very clear during the election campaign that we were moving back to a one annual budget process. That meant that the one-off measures between September and Christmas were going to be replaced with an annual budget and that we would seek to embed permanent, sustainable, affordable cuts to a number of areas, including education, the cost for business and a variety of other areas. The measure we have taken on student fees is the first instalment of five. I remain committed to the very strong views I have in relation to the cost of education and college fees. We intend to build on that further in the time ahead. Other decisions we made, like extending the renters tax credit which was due to expire this year at a cost of €350 million a year, will directly benefit and help students.
I appreciate we have different views on the measures we have taken around apartments and tax but I believe it is an important viability measure. We will see who is right in time. We have listened to a lot of people in terms of the viability gap. We have taken a number of measures to try to close that gap because there are tens of thousands of apartments with active planning permission today that are not being built and we need them built. We all want more housing supply.
On disability, the Minister for Social Protection has been clear he is working on developing a cost of disability payment. We would like to see that in place for the next budget. However, this year’s budget did see objectively a step change in the investment in disability services. That has been recognised by the likes of Inclusion Ireland. The extra funding of €628 million for disability services from the Minister, Deputy Foley and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is an important step forward and will make a real difference.
On childcare, we have taken a number of measures. The commitment was to produce a plan within 100 days. All these things were going to be done as part of the budget.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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That is not what the Tánaiste said on the TV debate.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is absolutely what I said in the manifesto and I talked about it an awful lot. Every party in this Dáil gave that commitment and we stand by that commitment. However, we have outlined a record budget for childcare of €1.5 billion. The national childcare scheme is now funded for an additional 35,000 children next year. There is a 14% increase in the number of children benefitting. In the coming months, the Minister will set out plans for a new maximum fee-cap set from next September. That will benefit people with the costs. This will reduce costs for families paying the highest fees. That is where we should start. The Minister and Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, have signed off on a 10% increase in the minimum rate of pay for educators that takes effect next Monday. That is helping to ensure we have people working in childcare facilities to mind our children and educate them. There is also funding for further pay increases for their staff next year as well and we extended the back to school clothing and footwear payment to preschool for the first time ever, benefitting the children most in need along with a range of childcare measures. The commitment remains and the commitment will be delivered on.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I think the Tánaiste knows well that most people do not read every word in a manifesto. However, they do listen to what the Tánaiste says in an election TV debate. This is exactly what he told the nation in the TV election debate. I will quote it for him again. He said the Fine Gael manifesto is proposing within 100 days of being in government capping monthly childcare costs per child at €200 per month.
Then he went on to talk about what he was going to do on college fees. He did not talk about roadmaps or anything else. That is what he told the people. Anyone listening to that would realistically expect that, at least in the first budget, the Government would do meaningful things to reduce childcare fees, if not what he actually said in the TV debate. However, the Tánaiste did neither what he promised people in the TV debate nor has he done anything to reduce childcare fees. Can he not understand why people are really disappointed and feel betrayed by him now? During that election debate, they were given the very clear impression that, within 100 days of being in office, the Tánaiste was going to act to get their childcare fees down. Will he apologise to them? When is he going to act to reduce childcare fees and actually not break his election promises, which he has just done?
4:10 am
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We are already acting. That is why it is important that parents know. If the Deputy is saying that parents do not follow this, then I completely disagree. Let parents watching know this: the budget we just delivered provided funding for 35,000-----
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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That is not what I said.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy said that people do not read election manifestoes in detail but I think people watch these things very closely.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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They also watch the TV debates.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Irish electorate are sophisticated. Funding for an additional 35,000 places has been provided. A cap will be put in place for next September for those with the highest fees. We are extending the footwear and clothing allowance for the first time to children in preschool. I am sure this is something that the Social Democrats must support but did not fund in their alternative budget. The electorate do listen to what people say in elections.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Tánaiste promised to cut childcare fees.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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They listened when the leader of the Social Democrats promised that VAT for the hospitality sector would be set at 9% and then walked away from it.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Government has decided to give €20 million to McDonald's
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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This is because the Social Democrats do not believe that cafés in my constituency - in Greystones, Delgany or Bray - deserve the VAT cut that they promised during the election and which they are now walking away from. There is a pub-----
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Tánaiste has broken promises on fees, childcare, child poverty-----
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.
Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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McDonald's do not deserve it and I know that the cafés in Wicklow will agree that McDonald's does not deserve millions of euros of their money.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I can produce the image. The Social Democrats are going to vote against a measure to help with jobs in towns and villages across Ireland and I do not think that was very good thing to do.
Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I respectfully ask the Tánaiste to reflect on the decision to reduce the VAT rate for the hospitality industry. On mature reflection, the Government might reverse this totally baseless and unbelievable decision. The State is proposing to gift millions of euro to a very small number of very large and very profitable businesses. I suggest that the Government fell for a fierce lobbying campaign that was effectively a scam. There is no crisis in the hospitality industry. Small local cafés and restaurants have a legitimate case for support but the main industry is thriving. The facts speak for themselves: as profits in this country between 2019 and 2025 are up by 72%; 73% of small and medium enterprises have reported making a profit higher than pre-Covid years; employment is up; and hospitality is up by 6.8%, while the national figure is 3.5%. It does not look like a crisis. There are 15,370 businesses in food and beverage services. Of these, 99.8% employ fewer than 250 people, making up 85% of the turnover. What we have is the State subsidising a very small number of very large, very profitable businesses. To give a few examples: McDonald's, profits up 17% to €42.4 million, a gain of €20 million; Supermac's, profits up 28% to €43.6 million, a gain of €12.5 million; Domino's, €280 million Irish turnover, a gain of €12.5 million; Krispy Kreme, a gain of €635,000; Compass Catering, €130.4 million turnover, a €5.8 million, and Sodexo, profits up by 44%, a gain of €5 million. These six large companies share €54 million of a windfall gift from the Government, in a country where we have 640,000 people living below the poverty line, including 190,000 children. Will the Tánaiste accept that the Government has, let us say, made an error in judgment or a miscalculation, or even that the Government was misled, and reverse this totally unnecessary decision and bring forward a targeted proposal to support small, local cafés and restaurants with moderate turnover?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will not accept that at all. I will accept that we will do what we promised the people we were going to do to in the general election. Not too many of us in here, including myself, have had to lie awake at night wondering how we are going to pay the wage bill. Not many of us have to wonder that if we get sick and cannot run the café where our income is going to come from. Not too many of us have had to worry about the insurance cost of running a small business. In general, people come in here with good ideas about how they are going to come up with new policies that will increase costs for small- and medium-sized businesses. That is fine if that is what they want to do, but it is not the politics we practice. The services in this country - education, health, social welfare, pensions, carers, our salaries - are all funded on the back of people who run businesses. Breaking news: enterprise and creating profits are good things. Employing people is a really good thing.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We have very different economic ideology and I will not debate that in the two minutes available to me. As the Deputy rightly said, 75% of the businesses in the hospitality sector employ fewer than ten people. If I walked around the Deputy's constituency with him, which I would be happy to do some time, it would be a brave politician who stood on the floor of the shop, café, restaurant or pub that is opening to do a bit of lunch for the local community and tell it that everything is flaithiúlach and grand and that it does not need the bit of assistance. The Deputy knows how European VAT-----
Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Bring in a targeted measure.
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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That would be too much work for them.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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No, it would not. To be clear in case Deputy Newsome Drennan has not read her own party's alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposed this as well, so Sinn Féin is in favour of this and agrees with us on this one. The rate of 9% is supported by Sinn Féin as well, so I thank her for that support.
Deputy Healy does not support it and that is his right. On balance, we think this is the right thing to do. Some 191,000 people are employed in this sector directly in 20,000 businesses. The Deputy is right, some of them are large businesses and that is the same when any measure is introduced. Seventy five percent are not, with only 0.4% classified as large companies. Even the large businesses, heaven forbid, create good jobs as well, in every town, city and village. These jobs often lift people out of poverty because the best way to do so is to get them a job. Many of the large companies that I have heard mentioned in this House in recent days are franchises run by Irish people. They are Irish owned and, yet again, they create jobs. Too many people in this House are taking job creation for granted. I remember that when I first got elected to the Dáil, it was hard to get a job in this country. We are back at full employment and we have to make sure we back businesses and reduce their cost bases. This is a practical measure. We are not reducing it for just a year or two. This is a permanent reduction to reassure business owners across the country in the hospitality sector that we have their backs and are reducing their cost bases and to drive on and keep and grow those jobs in towns and villages around the country.
Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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The Government is proposing to spend €681 million on what is clearly an unnecessary and wasteful cut. At the same time, the Government has raised tax on PAYE workers, reneged on its commitment to abolish the means test for carers and reneged on its commitment for a weekly cost-of-living disability payment. The Government has cut all cost-of-living supports in the budget. There is no second tier of child benefit to tackle child poverty or no maximum of €200 per month for child care costs. Very profitable fast-food giants are benefiting at the expense of poor children, carers, persons with disabilities and PAYE workers. Does the Government have the political will and, indeed, the good sense to reverse this decision, stop paying hugely profitable multinational organisations and bring forward a targeted scheme that would support local cafés and restaurants with moderate turnovers?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We are not going to agree on this, so no, the Government does not intend to reverse the commitment it gave and is delivering on, but it needs to be seen in context. This is an important measure to back business and jobs in regional and rural Ireland. It is also just one of a number of measures. The budget allocated a hell of a lot more to childcare, disability, education and health than it did to this measure. In addition, we have also taken very important measures to protect those most in need. The minimum wage will increase for 200,000 workers. All workers will now have an automatic entitlement to a pension as auto-enrolment begins. We are continuing to drive down the cost of education. We are moving towards the abolition of the carer's means test.
I reject out of hand what Deputy Healy said about that because we took the first step in the budget, with an increase in thresholds to €1,000 for a single person carer and €2,000 for a couple.
4:20 am
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Please do not mislead carers. Family carers deserve to know the truth and this is the truth.
We have frozen VAT at 9% for gas and electricity for the next five years and we are making sure an extra 50,000 households throughout the country will benefit from the fuel allowance. We are extending the renter's tax credit. We have the back of Irish people and the back of businesses. Crucially, the measures in the budget most proportionately favour the most vulnerable in our society and that is the way it should be.