Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Those of us who came to the House four and half years ago could not have believed that by now we would have exited the bailout, started to reduce our debts and started moving to a real recovery situation. The priority in this budget is clear: to keep the recovery going while providing better services for the people. This includes cuts in the universal social charge, more nurses and doctors for the health service, more affordable and greater quality child care as well as an end to the unfair treatment of the self-employed. These are sensible affordable steps that will keep the economy going and bring benefits to more households. It is a good budget for children. We have seen further investment in education, more teachers and a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio. It is good for older people in that we have seen an increase in the pension and the fuel allowance and the restoration of the Christmas bonus. It is a budget that will make it pay to work.

I welcome the fact that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, has announced that 600 new gardaí will be recruited in 2016. There will be increased funding for Garda surveillance of criminal activity and special operations and the budget for Community Alert and Crimestoppers is to be doubled.As we all know, there is a major issue with rural crime throughout the country, so this is a significant investment. A measure of whether the budget was good or bad is contained in a press release issued this afternoon by the European Anti-Poverty Network in Ireland. This alliance of over 250 national and local organisations has welcomed the provisions in today's budget which, it said, will mitigate some of the worst impacts of the policies of the past eight years for those on low incomes. In particular, the EAPN welcomed the announcement of a number of provisions for homeless services and housing, the partial restoration of the Christmas bonus, the increase in fuel allowances, the emphasis on the reduction of the USC for the lower paid, and the increased provision of preschool care.

That is a much more reasonable assessment of the budget than what we have heard from some Opposition spokespersons here today. The Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Howlin, have done a good job. Hopefully we will see the economic recovery escalate as we head into 2016 and beyond.