Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome to the Visitors Gallery the group of women, including Patricia Walsh, from Rock Street, Tralee, which I am told is the street of champions. They are very welcome to Teach Laighean inniu. Cuirim fáilte rompu.

Ar phríomhleathanach an Irish Daily Mail inniu, tuairiscítear bhfuil sé ráite ag an Tánaiste go gcuirfidh sé airgead ar ais i bpócaí na ndaoine. Gheall an Tánaiste roimhe seo go mbeadh laghdú ar cháin ioncaim do ghnáthoibrithe. Bhris sé an gealltanas sin. Gheall sé go mbeadh laghdú ar chostais fuinnimh, ach tá na costais sin níos airde ná mar a bhí riamh. Tharraing sé siar na creidmheasa fuinnimh a bhí daoine ag brath orthu. Bhris sé an gealltanas sin. Gheall sé go mbeadh plean aige taobh istigh de 100 lá a chinnteodh go mbeadh costaisí cúraim leanaí ar €200 sa mhí. Arís, bhris sé an gealltanas sin. Gheall sé sa toghchan go n-ísleodh sé táillí triú leibhéil do mhic léinn. Bhris sé an gealltanas sin agus chuir sé in airde iad. Níl daoine bómánta; déanfaidh siad breithiúnas ar an Rialtas bunaithe ar na gealltanais atá déanta aige agus ar cé chomh rialta is atá na gealltanais sin briste aige.

On the front page of the Irish Daily Mail this morning, the Tánaiste is quoted as having said he will put money back into people’s pockets. He even describes himself as “Sensible Simon” in his new role in the Department of Finance. However, for workers, families, carers and students listening today, that claim collapses when measured against the promises the Government has made and broken. Let us take these promises one by one. The Government promised to cut income tax for ordinary workers but instead produced a budget that delivered huge tax breaks for developers and wealthy executives, while PAYE workers were left behind. The Tánaiste promised that energy bills would go down under Fine Gael. People have never paid higher energy bills and the Government withdrew the energy credits they depended on. The Government promised to abolish student fees but instead hiked them by €500 compared with what parents were paying last year. The Government promised that within 100 days it would produce a plan to reduce childcare fees to €200 per month. The 100 days are long gone and there is still no plan and no reduction in childcare fees in the budget the Government introduced. It promised to protect households from fuel price shocks but it is now driving up the prices of petrol and diesel through further carbon tax hikes. It promised it would increase the rent tax credit, yet the budget failed to do so, while landlords received tax breaks and rent pressures continue to spiral out of control.

These are not minor oversights; they were clear, repeated promises of the Government and each and every one of them is broken. The Government has done the exact opposite of what it promised. This is the real issue. People are not stupid. They are judging the Government on the promises it made and how consistently they have been broken. At the same time as breaking promises to workers and families, the budget found millions in taxpayers’ money for banks and developers. To be absolutely clear, this is not putting money into people’s pockets; it is taking money out of their pockets.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Does the Tánaiste accept that his €9.4 billion budget has left ordinary workers and families worse off? Does he accept that what he is promising in the Irish Daily Mail today is directly contradicted by his own litany and record of broken promises? Will he now commit to a real cost-of-living reset, including the immediate restoration of the energy credits, €10 a day childcare, a ban on rent increases, meaningful rent relief, the scrapping of further carbon tax hikes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil, the abolition of the universal social charge on the first €40,000 of income, and ending the means test for carers and, maybe, the sweetheart deals for banks, developers and vulture funds?

After everything that has happened, why should anybody take the Tánaiste seriously when the promises he made before the general election have been broken one after the other and he has done the opposite of what he promised?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Of course, Deputy Doherty chose not to start today, in his question about our economy and the budget, with the economic figures that have been published in the past hour, which show that, thanks to sensible and careful management, we have an economy that is performing well. We see modified domestic demand, which is pretty much a good proxy for domestic economic activity, growing by 5% annually for the third year. We see consumer spending remaining good, with record solid growth of 2.5%. We see investment in building and construction contributing positively to growth in the third quarter, and we see activity in the sector expanding by close to 9% annually. That is what we want to see at a time when we want to build more homes and infrastructure. We see employment growth as well and an economy doing well in a very challenging environment.

It is against this backdrop that we will continue to pursue sensible economic policies. It is not that long ago since we had high unemployment in this country and people felt they could not get a job. It is not that long ago since we had ghost estates in this country. It is not that long ago since we had to seek help from others to keep the economy running. That is why we will continue to run budget surpluses. It is why we will continue to put money into funds to protect the economy from any shocks, despite Deputy Doherty objecting to the legislation to establish those funds. It is why we will continue to be prudent and sensible in the time ahead.

The Deputy continually comes to this House and does two things. First, he suggests that everything said during an election campaign and stated in a programme for Government must be implemented immediately. The people of Ireland are not stupid.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy’s cacophony of assistance here is great. What was implied is obviously not reflective of how a programme for Government works. To the people at home, I say we have a programme for Government that commits to what we are going to do over five years. It is a published document, available on gov.ie. We have only delivered budget one of five. The Deputy will be pleased to know there will be another four. He will be 19 years delivering his ripostes to our budgets by the end of this Dáil term. We will deliver four more budgets. In the most recent budget, which the Deputy again fails to acknowledge, we have already taken a number of measures to assist people with the cost of living, and we have tried to target those most in need, which I believed the Deputy might support.

For example, we introduced the largest ever increase in the child support payment, under the Minister, Deputy Calleary. It is a targeted measure to help low-income families and children most in need. We have extended the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance to preschool children, helping those children most in need and their parents with the cost of going to preschool. We have increased the domiciliary care allowance. We have expanded eligibility for student grants under the Minister, Deputy Lawless, meaning more families are benefiting. We have continued with the roll-out of free schoolbooks and free hot meals. All these measures assist families with the cost of living in the here and now. We have expanded the working family payment so more families can qualify. We have increased the State pension. As we speak today, people right across the country are seeing the benefit of the Christmas bonus. This initiative, which costs around €370 million from the budget, is to assist pensioners, carers, people with a disability, those on low incomes and vulnerable people. We will see further expansions to the fuel allowance. We have reduced the VAT rate applying to energy costs to 9%, permanently, or certainly for many years to come. These are practical measures.

The Minister for children will update the Government this month on an action plan on childcare. This week, as Deputy Doherty will be glad to know because he is very worried about this, as he should be because it is a big issue, the Minister announced a capital plan that will see a very significant level of funding for State-led childcare facilities. I am sure the Deputy welcomes this. It is a welcome development. We will commit, with Deputy Doherty and everyone in this House, to delivering during the lifetime of the Government the kind of childcare system on which I believe there is almost a consensus. Childcare is not just a social issue but is now a real economic one as well.

The Deputy should please not continue to come into this House and misrepresent what the Government is doing. The Government has taken action to stimulate housing supply. It has taken action through the budget to help in respect of jobs in rural and regional Ireland, in towns and villages including in County Donegal in the hospitality sector. We have also taken measures to help people with the cost of living, starting with those most in need. The Deputy can be assured we will fulfil the remaining programme for Government commitments over the next four budgets.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Maybe the Tánaiste should read his own ESRI research.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is not mine.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I am referring to the Government’s own economic research body. What does it say about the budget? It states there will be income losses next year across the board. It states these will be even higher for those on lower incomes, affecting their disposable income. It states this will lead inevitably to reductions in household living standards in 2026. That is what the Tánaiste has been able to achieve with a €9.4 billion budget. This is because he prioritises his buddies. He has left behind and abandoned ordinary people. I put to him, to Sensible Simon-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Angry Pearse.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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How did he break all these promises? He should answer the question. He made pledges to people over and over again. He is Tánaiste and he wants to be Taoiseach in a couple of years. He promises tax cuts every year to workers.

There are no tax cuts in this budget, as he pointed out. He said energy would be cheaper under Fine Gael. People have never paid more. The Government knew that and withdrew the energy credit. People now have to get €321 extra. The Tánaiste promised cuts in third level fees. People are paying €500 more than they paid last year. The Tánaiste promised no shocks in fuel prices. The Government is pushing up fuel prices with carbon taxes. The Tánaiste promised things over and over again and broke them one after another. The question is simple. Why should anybody take the Tánaiste seriously in relation to his latest promise that he will put money back into people's pockets? The ESRI and everybody else knows that what the Tánaiste has done is taken money out of their pockets and left them worse off in a €9.4 billion budget. How the hell could he do that? It is unbelievable in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Simon.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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You can debate the use of the word "sensible", Pearse, but one thing is for sure, no one would ever call you "Prudent Pearse". Had we followed the economic plans of Deputy Doherty's party, God knows where we would be. He has some cheek, coming into this House and raising the issue of college fees, because I am sitting beside a Minister for higher education who has permanently reduced fees and will continue to do so in the time ahead.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Doherty took to social media yesterday. He will probably recognise the First Minister and leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, in the picture I am holding up.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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College fees are up.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Yesterday, on its social media account, Sinn Féin heralded the fact that it had managed to freeze fees at £4,855-----

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Are fees up or down?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----and put this up on its social media as though it was good news. It is more than twice what students in this jurisdiction pay.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin are hypocrites and phoney. Your faux outrage, Angry Pearse, does not convince anybody.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Are fees up or down? Are they more or less than last year? They are more.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We are reducing fees in this jurisdiction. Fees in the North are more than double, and Sinn Féin thought to take to social media to say this was great news. Sinn Féin are hypocrites. People see through it and that is why they are sitting over there, giving out, rather than actually being in government, because they have no credibility on this. They say one thing here and do the exact opposite in Northern Ireland. Shame.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Are fees up or down?

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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We need to get in on this.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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We had that regular Thursday pantomime at the end of the first part of Leaders' Questions. I want to focus on an issue that is important to the Labour Party, which is Garda resources and Garda recruitment. Specifically, I want to raise with the Tánaiste the lack of new Garda stations and the Government's continued lack of meeting Garda recruitment figures. According to a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted earlier this year, since 2017, only two new Garda stations have been delivered in the country, despite the population increasing by nearly 1 million citizens. One of those stations is on O'Connell Street in the centre of Dublin. The other was a replacement of the divisional headquarters in Wexford. There has been only one new Garda station in eight years. It is simply unacceptable. In my town of Swords, the third largest town in Ireland, we have a Garda station that is only fit for a village. The town of Donabate, just up the road, which is served by Swords Garda station and will be 20,000 people strong in a couple of years, has no Garda station or plans for a Garda station.

This is not unusual throughout the country. My colleagues and I are screaming out for more resources throughout the country, particularly in rural Ireland, where we are being gaslit by the Minister about Garda resources. In a response earlier this year, the justice Minister said that 56 stations in this country were not closed but were simply unstaffed. That is absolute nonsense. If the door is not open and there are no opening hours for people to go in and meet and talk to gardaí, that station is, in effect, closed.

Here is the reality. Figures show that 129 of 567 stations had a reduction in the number of gardaí assigned to them in the last year, and one in ten stations is without any designated garda. Overall numbers in An Garda Síochána have actually grown, by a paltry increase of 193. However, if you dig into the detail, the number of front-line gardaí has actually decreased, from just over 12,000 to 11,928, a net decrease. Warning lights are being flashed for the Government. At its conference this year, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors stated that we could lose 30% to 50% of our force due to upcoming retirements. Fine Gael has always identified itself as the party of law and order, yet the Tánaiste's party has stood over this lack of delivery for nearly a decade. The Tánaiste was one of the Ministers responsible for this portfolio, lest we forget. This situation is now beyond urgent and we need to see this Government make big changes to ensure greater recruitment and retention of gardaí and investment in Garda stations. The Government needs to look at increasing the training allowance, at pension reform and at building more stations.

Will the Tánaiste increase the Garda training allowance to really incentivise new recruits? Will he reform the pension for our uniformed service members, including our gardaí who were hired post 2013, who upon retirement will receive no support from the State for possibly ten years? Will this Government commit to significantly increasing the number of new Garda stations being built around the country, prioritising large towns that have unfit-for-purpose stations, such as my own, Swords, and for really rapidly growing towns such as Donabate and many others throughout the country?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy that we obviously need to get more gardaí on our streets. We need to recruit and train more gardaí. The Deputy has made some suggestions as to how he thinks that can be done and I will come back to that in a moment. I need to make a few points about the level of investment we are now making in the Garda budget to empower the Garda Commissioner and Garda authorities to increase the numbers. We have a Garda budget of €2.59 billion for next year. This will fund recruitment of up to 1,000 new gardaí and 200 more Garda staff and also a doubling of the Garda Reserve to over 600 next year. We have run two Garda recruitment campaigns in 2025 and we have seen more than 11,000 applications to join An Garda Síochána received this year. There is genuinely a sense when I talk to the Minister and Garda authorities, as the Deputy can probably see himself, that there is some momentum with the number of people going into Templemore, though I admit it has been a challenging number of years. We saw, for example, 194 gardaí attested last week. This brings the total number of newly attested gardaí so far this year to 617. We saw 223 trainees enter Templemore in the last couple of weeks as well. This was the largest intake in Templemore since 2014, so the largest intake in 11 years. We have seen 794 trainees enter Templemore so far this year, which is the most since 2018. There are larger attestations, the largest training classes going on and the largest number of people overall training in Templemore in many years.

As of October this year, which is the latest month for which numbers are available, there are a total of 14,290 gardaí across the State. For comparison, in 2015, there were 12,816. There are now 3,487 Garda staff, which obviously helps to free up gardaí to put them on front-line duties as well. The Deputy asked specifically about the Garda training allowance and pension. I hear these issues too. I was in Coolock Garda station not too long ago. This discussion came up last year too. I need to say that all of these matters are for discussion and engagement through normal processes, public pay processes and the likes, rather than for me to give loose commitments on the floor of the Dáil.

Specifically on the third point, about Garda capital, I know the Minister for justice had approval at Cabinet this week for the Garda sectoral plan, as part of the sectoral investment plan in justice. That will see a significant increase in the number of Garda stations being constructed in the time ahead. I am conscious of the point the Deputy makes and I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, about this, particularly with the fast-growing populations around Swords, Donabate and the likes, and the particular need for additional infrastructure there. I will ask the Minister to come back on that.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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The capital plan that has been drafted does not seem to be rooted in the reality of how towns are growing. My colleague Deputy Conor Sheehan talked about the Garda station and Garda needs in Castletroy. Every Member in this House will say the same. There needs to be a commitment to the reality. I did not mention investment, because we have had no shortage of money; it is a shortage of delivery. There has been some creativity in how the figures for recruits into Templemore have been published over the last couple of years, with recruitment classes starting very late in the year, where in essence they were beginning in the following year. All this has been revealed through parliamentary questions from our justice spokesperson, Deputy Alan Kelly, and other Members in our party. Fundamentally, two things are happening here. We are not recruiting or attracting enough gardaí. As a result, our communities and people are not feeling safe or protected. That is a real issue that the Government has not got a handle on despite the amount of money we have in the coffers. I ask the Tánaiste again to properly recommit to a training fund and to pension reform, and to prioritise those towns and villages all over this country that need proper Garda resources invested in their communities.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the point the Deputy makes, and do not want to jump over it, that it is not now an issue of shortage of money. It used to be. It is an issue now where we are actually able to invest properly, but that also means that we need to look at the processes. If 11,000 people put up their hand and say they want to join An Garda Síochána, the Minister for justice and the Garda Commissioner are eager to make sure that the pipeline is as efficient as possible in taking expressions of interest to join An Garda Síochána, robustly vetting and training those individuals and then having them on the streets, serving the people of this country and keeping people safe as well. There are some signs of positivity in Garda recruitment at the moment, albeit admitting that, with the closure of the college twice during Covid and the financial crash, there was lost time, which caused significant disruption.

We have also made changes to the recruitment age, the maximum age at which someone can join An Garda Síochána and the retirement age, and we have seen some positive effects from that too.

I will take the points the Deputy made back to the Minister for his conversation with the Garda Commissioner about matching investment in Garda stations and population growth. It is not an unfair point. Many parts of this country are growing much more quickly than other parts. The other issues of how to improve incentivisation for recruitment and retention are matters for the normal engagement and industrial relations.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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In advance of the last election, the Tánaiste said disability was "an absolute priority issue". He said, "We've got to look after people with disabilities". He could not have been any clearer. However, those words now ring hollow. That is not me saying that; that is the assessment of disabled people who feel forgotten, abandoned and betrayed by this Government for good reason. The Disability Federation of Ireland called the recent budget a devastating setback for disabled people that leaves them poorer, unsupported and excluded. In a €9.4 billion budget package, the Government managed to leave disabled people worse off. They have lost €1,400, an enormous sum for people who are living on the breadline. The budget was a deliberate attack on people with disabilities by a government awash with cash. Not only did the Government get rid of energy credits, it cut all the once-off payments. This included a once-off payment that for the first time recognised the additional cost of having a disability. Does the Tánaiste think that the costs associated with having a disability just disappeared overnight? Does he think those costs are temporary? It was a cruel and callous cut.

We have heard a lot from the Government about the need to target resources at those who need them most and the Social Democrats agree. Nearly 40% of disabled people live in forced deprivation, a staggering figure. They are precisely the people that resources should be targeted at. That is why in our alternative budged we included a permanent cost-of-disability payment, an increase to the disability allowance of €15 a week and a targeted energy credit of €400. Taken together our package would have meant an additional €2,200 for disabled people. That is what targeting resources looks like, not slashing payments to disabled people already living in poverty.

There is cold fury in the disability community about this Government's treatment of them. Services are threadbare, waiting lists are endless and now even the temporary cost-of-disability payment has been abolished. The Daily Mail today reported today that the Tánaiste promised to put money back in the pockets of people, yet with the stroke of pen he took €1,400 out of the pockets of disabled people at a time prices are rising. Disabled people have had enough of this Government's broken promises and duplicity. The Irish Wheelchair Association, Access for All and the Disability Federation of Ireland will hold a protest outside Leinster House on Tuesday. They want the Tánaiste to live up to his commitments, put his money where his mouth is and introduce an emergency winter payment for disabled people. Will he do this? When will he introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Disability issues and disability services are an absolute priority for this Government. That is why one of the things the Deputy will have seen published in the past number of months was the new national human rights strategy for disabled people, which is a really good piece of work. A huge amount of work was done with representative groups and with people with disabilities directly. It is a Government strategy that involves all parts of government. Because the Deputy has raised it, I will deal with it directly. He raised a very specific issue in relation to costs. It is a very valid and important issue. All aspects of how the State's policies interact with people with a disability respect their human rights and enable them to live their lives. We took a number of decisions on permanent increases in this budget. We were always very clear that we were moving away from the temporary measures that were brought in at a time inflation was extraordinarily high. We were very clear on that and we have to be clear on it because we have to make sure that we move back to a regular rhythm of an annual budget with clear parameters that works.

As part of that, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, specifically increased the disability allowance, increased the domiciliary care allowance and made improvements to payments for carers as well. I agree with the Deputy, the Minister agrees with him and the Government as a whole agrees with him on the importance of a cost-of-disability payment. I am pleased to tell him that there was a meeting as recently as this week where groups representing people with a disability were in with the Department of Social Protection to discuss the work on designing that payment. That is something that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is leading on, something on which he will have the support of Government as well.

We also made another change so that people who are leaving the disability allowance to move into employment are able to retain their fuel allowance, something people had sought for quite a period of time. This is the week in which the Christmas bonus is being played out. It is the last of the direct one-off cost-of-living payments to help people at this period. It is being paid out to people in receipt of disability allowance and indeed other payments too.

The budget did, though, make a very big investment in disabilities. Even organisations have accepted this in other areas. In the capital budget for disability to deliver the specialist disability infrastructure that we need across the country, the respite facilities, the residential homes, the multidisciplinary teams, we have seen a doubling of the current capital levels. We had €278 million announced in terms of disability services in the capital plan only this week. Quite rightly we also saw a very significant increase in the level of funding for disability services in the HSE with hundreds of millions of euro extra in funding provided. It was one of the largest areas of increase in the budget but I accept and Government accepts the work on the permanent cost-of-disability payment is an important piece of work. We are engaging collaboratively on that with groups, organisations and people with a disability. I know it is something that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, will be working on in the months ahead.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Does the Tánaiste not see something fundamentally wrong with producing a budget that leaves disabled people €1,400 worse off, pushing disabled people even further into poverty? It was a €9.4 billion budget package and that is what the Government produced. That is a huge problem that it needs to address now. For years, the Government has promised a cost-of-disability payment but where is it? We have had years of promises on this. There was huge disappointment in the disability community that there was no permanent cost-of-disability payment this year when the Government abolished the temporary supports.

The removal of the disability support grant is regressive and shameful. The budget "locks disabled people and their families into another cycle of exclusion". Those are not my words; they are the words of the Disability Federation of Ireland. Will the Tánaiste listen to disabled people? Will the Government introduce an emergency winter payment, which is needed now? When will it end the talk that has been going on for years about a cost-of-disability payment? When will it actually introduce it?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is eager to work collaboratively and is eager to engage with the Social Democrats and others on the composition of a cost-of-disability payment, what it looks like and who qualifies. He will engage with the Deputy and others on that. I have provided a status update in the sense that that work is under way with groups in the Department of Social Protection this week specifically on the issue of a cost-of-disability payment; I welcome that. I accept that it is something that has been discussed and debated in this country for a significant period. However, I would push back somewhat on the idea that the budget did not prioritise disability services because as the figures clearly show, there were a number of areas where we quite rightly took a conscious decision to significantly increase the level of funding to our disability services. We are seeing the benefits of that now in some areas, including CDNTs and the numbers of staff on them.

The Deputy asked when we would listen; we are listening. He asked when we would engage; we are engaging. We want to work in collaboration with representative groups. Indeed, we would welcome the Deputy's own input as we seek to design the payment.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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There is quite an incredible display of cognitive dissonance here. The Tánaiste went to the media and told them he is going to put money back in people's pockets. He then comes in here and he is asked on behalf of disabled people who are crying out for this to put money back in their pockets via a winter emergency measure, with a one-off payment, and he just bats it away. He did not engage with it at all. These are the people that the Government made poorer, not just a little bit poorer, but a lot poorer. They are €1,400 worse off as a consequence of the budget. It cut the disability support grant, a loss of €400. It cut the living alone allowance, a cut of €200. It reduced the fuel allowance, a loss of €160. It cut the October double payment, a loss of €254. It cut the electricity credits, another loss of €250. Altogether over €1,400 has been taken from the pockets, not put into the pockets, of disabled people.

Yet, the Tánaiste still thinks he can go to the public and say, "Don't worry; we're still going to put money back in people's pockets." The excuse before the budget, from the Tánaiste's predecessor as Minister for Finance, was to say we do not need cost-of-living payments because "inflation has now returned to normal rates. We now know that was a load of nonsense. He is now in Washington where he is on over €600,000 a year. I am sure he is not bothered by the cost of groceries, but ordinary people here are left with the highest inflation in two years. They are out preparing for Christmas, and they are seeing the reality of still-soaring grocery prices with over 4% food price inflation and 3.3% energy price inflation. It is going to be a cold, hard Christmas for a lot of people. The cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil has shot up, yet in a country with a massive budget surplus, a rich country, the Government had a budget that made everyone poorer except if they were a fast food giant, a multinational corporation or a developer. In particular, t hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest, the bottom 10%. As a result of the withdrawal of one-off payments they had an income decrease of 4.4%. The next 10% had a loss of 3.9% and then there was the particularly cruel approach to disabled people. The Government abandoned the promise to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment and then withdrew the one-off payments. They are not going to take this lying down. The Government is telling them everything is great and that it has actually improved disability services. All the organisations are screaming at the Government saying they need an emergency winter cost-of-disability payment. The Irish Wheelchair Association, the Disability Federation of Ireland and Access for All, will be together next Tuesday outside the Dáil from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Please, do not continue to be Scrooge, do not continue to be the Grinch and give this little amount back into people's pockets.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I do not remember the Deputy welcoming budgets where we brought in cost-of-living measures before the election. He is kind of opining wishing we had the budgets of the past number of years. I do not remember him ever supporting measures we brought into this House over the past several years to try and assist people at a time of extraordinarily high levels of inflation. The Deputy seeks to slag Paschal Donohoe, whose view I would take on the economy more seriously than his, for his views and call them nonsense. There is a reason the World Bank hired him. It is because he knows a few things about economics.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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He was wrong though, was he not?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Surely, the Deputy would acknowledge that, while we would like to see inflation fall further, that inflation both in Ireland and in the eurozone is at a much lower level than it was when those cost-of-living packages were brought in. The inflation was off the Richter scale for a period. It may be the Deputy's position, and in fairness to him I think it is as he is quite clear about it, that he wants to have two annual budgets effectively - a budget that runs from now to Christmas and then another budget that runs next year. We cannot run the economy like that. We just cannot; it is not sustainable. We have to get back to an annual budget and that is what we said we were going to do, and that is what we have done this year.

The Deputy talked about a cold winter. I am really conscious that people look in on this from home. I want to talk to those people and for them to know there are a number of measures in place to help people with energy poverty this winter. If someone is an older person living alone, this week, he or she will, quite rightly, have received a double payment of their State pension. Older people will receive the fuel allowance, which is now up to over €1,000 a year. That fuel allowance is due to go up again in the new year. They will see the household benefit package in terms of that cost coming off their energy bill, which is worth over €400, during this period. We have reduced the VAT rate which other parties proposed allowing that go back up including some who thought the rate should go back up in April. We did not do that. We have extended that for quite number of years more. I know we have different political views, but the Deputy makes these snide comments saying all we care about is helping the multinationals. Did he see the Exchequer returns yesterday? What does he want us to do - send the jobs and the money back, somewhere else? We are very proud to be a Government that is pro-enterprise, and we are going to continue to pursue policies to keep jobs in Ireland, to keep revenue in Ireland, because that is helping to fund the country. It is helping to provide so many employment opportunities, including in the Deputy's constituency. He is getting very close to the "Ah, sure, send them all away" brigade. We need to continue to make sure we support policies in this country that attract the jobs because there are many people in the Deputy's constituency and mine that got in a car this morning and drove to work in one of those multinationals that he dismisses our support for as though it is irrelevant. He also mentioned our support for "developers". He likes to call them "developers" because that is, in his view, a dirty word. I like to call them people who build houses and people who build houses in a housing emergency. It is a serious point. Deputy Murphy can laugh and have his little ideological view of the world-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Do you know who builds houses? Workers build houses, not developers.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----but we need to build apartments. All of the decisions we take are to protect jobs because that is how we keep people in employment, and it is also how we run the country in terms of funding public services and we also make sure we can stimulate the building of houses and apartments in this country. These are good things to do. However, I want people with a disability to know, as I have directly said in reply to Deputy O'Callaghan, unlike Deputy Murphy's comment, that we have not abandoned anything. Work is under way on a cost-of-disability payment and as recently as this week organisations representing people with a disability did not need to stand outside the gates, they were in the Department helping engage on this very payment.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Whataboutery from the Tánaiste to avoid-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Except when you say it. When you say it you are such a wise sage.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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-----the point. Can the Tánaiste answer a yes-no question? Did his budget make almost everybody in the country poorer, "Yes" or "No"? Did his budget affect those who are poorest the worst by the budget, "Yes" or "No"? Did his budget leave disabled people substantially worse off? The answer to all of those questions is "Yes". I am interested in hearing the Tánaiste try to spin how the answer is "No". He asked what I want him to do. He has a substantial budget surplus and in that context he should not be making disabled people poorer. That was a mistake made in the budget. The Tánaiste presumably agreed to it. I am appealing to him in the days running up to Christmas to use the resources he has to reverse that decision. Do not make disabled people poorer next year. Therefore, do what they are asking of the Government and introduce an emergency, one-off winter payment. It is very simple. That is what I am asking. It is a political choice for the Tánaiste to do that or not to do that. I do not know if he is suggesting that by doing that somehow all the jobs will flee the country. Is that the type of scaremongering he is engaged in? He can make a choice not to deprive these people, many of whom are living in deprivation, and not drive them further into poverty when we are a rich country with a substantial budget surplus.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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No, the point I am making is very clear. The Deputy stands up and makes snide remarks about supporting multinationals or snide remarks about supporting developers.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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They are not snide.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I make the point that is about supporting jobs and building homes. That is the difference between the Deputy's ideology and ours. He is proud of that difference and I am proud of that as well. We have a different view in on this. The multinational jobs in this country are important. They help to actually fund through income and corporation taxes the running of this State and it is a bloody good thing we have them. We need to work to continue to make sure we attract investment in to this country, particularly at such a volatile time. Does the Deputy know how to make people poorer in the country? You make people poorer by continuing to go along in the hope that everything is grand and wake up one day and realise that, actually, the fiscal vulnerabilities that in the paper that I published yesterday in the Department of Finance have come to be realised.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Can we get some answers?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We are not planning on opening the budget process again because we are delivering one annual budget. Within the context of the budget we delivered, we have delivered a progressive budget. The budget documentation shows it is a progressive budget, helping those most in need over those who have the most. That is the budget we ran. That is the budgetary process and we will continue to run progressive budgets. In the context of that we have made a number of decisions to increase weekly supports to people with a disability and invest significantly in services for people with a disability. Work is under way on the development of a cost-of-disability payment and we want to work in partnership with representative groups and political parties on getting that right.