Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think the Senator missed my first part. He should not miss the second part.

I hope and expect that we will have significant opportunities to debate the specific measures in the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill where can tease out many of these matters. I know that sincere views are held by Senators on all sides and I look forward to teasing them out.

We have had many reasonable contributions. To sum up much of what I have heard, it is a realisation of the fact that there are many social challenges. Members on both sides of the House can list things that they would like to have seen in today's budget but quite simply were not possible because of the fiscal space. We had parameters of €1.5 billion and the Government decided to divide it 50:50 between tax cuts and expenditure. We decided to do that on the basis of continuing to embed the recovery and get to full employment.

There is one aspect though that grates with me when I hear it and this is when people talk about how money that could have been used for spending has been given back in tax cuts. The facts of the past year do not bear out that assertion. In budget 2015 we decided to reduce income tax and take more people out of the USC net. What happened was that we took in more in tax revenue. That has enabled us, by way of Supplementary Estimates, to invest more in health, education, gardaí, transport and the Christmas bonus. The Minister for Finance feels strongly that if one uses tax as a vehicle for growth and job creation, and not just redistribution, one can end up with more money in the coffers.

I will not have time to go through all of the points that were raised. I will have to return to a number of them. As regards the key fiscal parameters, however, it is important to recognise that we will still borrow about €2.1 billion in 2016. We all have a collective duty in the Houses of the Oireachtas to get towards a balanced budget. We now have a plan to reach that position.

A number of important measures have been welcomed by Members on all sides of the House, including investment in social housing and taking on 600 more gardaí. We have a capital plan and Senator Barrett said it is important to implement it. It will be implemented and every single measure in it will have to comply with the public spending code.

I was asked about the family income supplement and some 59,000 families will benefit from the increase in the FIS thresholds announced today. Regarding the fair deal scheme, there is a significant change. We are moving to a demand-led scheme whereby there will be funding for anybody who needs the nursing home scheme. That funding will be available within four weeks.

A number of issues were raised about rural Ireland. There are many measures in this budget in favour of rural Ireland.