Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not care how many minutes have elapsed. The chamber of commerce is important and I am not sorry for mentioning it three times. Its members are the people who make the jobs; we make the regulations. Sometime we have put a fix in the gap, but thankfully the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, have set out 80 to 90 specific details for small businesses, for which those businesses are thankful. I was downstairs listening to those in small businesses thanking the Government.

The purpose of the spring statement was to get away from what was always criticised, namely, short-term planning, buying votes and all the old ways of doing things. It set out the current economic fiscal situation and we are in a much better position now than we thought we would be in four years ago. Who would have thought that we would have €1.5 billion extra in funds and that we would look to give something back to small businesses? We will look to give something back to the people who saved this country, who worked with us to ensure we got out of the very difficult circumstances we found ourselves in. They helped us and many reforms were introduced.

A positive development is this new departure to provide a level of forecasting in advance. There was great criticism of the process in the past when everyone in Brussels knew what the forecast was going to be before the Deputies in Dáil Éireann and the Senators in this House knew what it would be. Now we can have collaborative, participative democracy budgeting. That is what this is about. It is a good development. We know how much we have but we must be prudent and act wisely and responsibly to ensure the country stays the way it is and on the right trajectory. If the economic crash has taught us anything, it is that we must be responsible.

I was in the Dáil for the announcement of spring economic statement and the Minister, Deputy Howlin, said that no one owes us anything, no one owes us a living. We have to make sure we do things right ourselves as well. We have to ensure others such as the banks do things right as well. Previous speakers have spoken about that.

We received emergency funding at the time when the markets stopped lending to us but we owe it to ourselves to ensure we do not allow a return to that. That is why we have sought to broaden the tax base to prevent over-dependency on property and transaction taxes which contributed to the crisis. We have an extra €1.2 billion to €1.5 billion in funds and both Ministers have spoken in the House previously about the 50:50 split between tax cuts and spending increases, which will be announced later. Some people have criticised the statement and said that the Ministers did not tell us anything new. The statement was not the budget, rather it was a trajectory on forecasts and on fiscal prudent management. France, the United Kingdom and many other countries in Europe have this system. We have not done it to date. This year was the first time for us to do it and it is a new departure.

The measures in respect of the 50:50 split between tax cuts and spending increases will be announced in the budget but they must be affordable. That is why the EU as a whole has adopted rules to support stability. That was adopted by the Irish people to ensure we do not lose the run of ourselves. Stability matters as the people voted for it. The Government outlined in the spring statement that it will see increases of €600 million to €700 million which will allow investment.

I want to concentrate on one issue whereas previous speakers have mentioned other issues. I would concentrate on the mortgage issue if time permitted as it is very important. Child care provision is an issue that cuts across every Department and every Minister. Each of them must give a bit to ensure that the Department of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, is the one that is really looked after in the next budget because it affects every job, person, parent and child. It affects not only the child where the parents go out work but the child who is cared for at home.Child care involves more than just caring for children; it involves education. The pedagogy of education is so important to children between zero and three years of age. Families, particularly those in deprived areas, need child care and health education. This is the business of every person in society. This is a society as well as an economy and we must ensure we get it right. We must ensure society is functioning and fair. The people, including children, depend on us. The children of today will be the fathers and mothers of tomorrow. For every euro spent on child care, €10 is actually returned to the Government in savings in respect of juvenile justice and prisons. That is not my statistic but that of Professor Weikartfrom the United States in a study carried out 20 years ago. We are behind the curve in research in Ireland, but it is now occurring.

Tackling homelessness is a very high priority. I compliment the Government on the priority action it took and its announcement yesterday on social housing. We added over 1,000 nurses in 2014. Good news makes news for a day, but bad news is bad news forever. Three hundred new gardaí were recruited last year and there are to be 250 more this year. Recruitment was stalled, but it has started again. There are to be 920 additional teachers, 400 resource teachers and 365 special needs teachers.

Some pensioners had their pensions nearly halved and some lost on investments. The pensioners who made the State are suffering. In addition to considering children, one must consider older people. They made the country that we have. As we piggybacked on them for so long, we must ensure they are protected. The number of people over the age of 65 is projected to increase from 11% of the total population in 2010 to 15% in 2020 and 24% in 2060. That is a huge demographic change and we have to provide for it. It will cost €200 million.

Social care, including child care, care of the elderly and all of the bits in the middle, must be considered.