Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, have today announced a fiscal space of between €1.2 and €1.5 billion for the 2016 budget, which will take place in October 2015. The Ministers have made it clear that these resources will be allocated on an equal basis between additional spending and reducing the tax burden on low and middle-income earners. The enormous improvement in the economy that this represents has been made very clear to people.

The idea of the spring statement is also to be seen in the context in which the Ministers have placed it. It is part of a reformed budgetary process, enabling Government to plan on a multi-annual basis and to plan expenditure in a much more coherent manner. We all welcome that, particularly the announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, that gross voted current expenditure will be increased in this budget by €600 to €750 million, particularly to ease demographic pressures. There are some very stark statistics coming through on the demographic pressures facing us in education, for example, as well as in the areas of health and social protection. In education, we are conscious that we will need 3,500 extra teachers at primary and secondary level by 2021 to provide education to an additional 50,000 pupils. We know at third level that the number of students is projected to increase by 20,000 in the same period. We are facing significant demographic pressures and it is good that we are able to plan spending on this multi-annual basis and that we have additional money to allocate. This is to be greatly welcomed and the sort of petty comments being made by Senator O'Brien and his colleagues deserve to be seen in the context of their performance four and a half years ago-----