Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, to the House. I wish him and his colleagues, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, well with the budget. Of course, Deputies Donohoe and D'Arcy are former distinguished Members of this House. Deputy O'Donovan tried his best to get into this House but did not succeed. I wish them all well with the budget.

I have listened to many budget speeches in the House over the years and believe this is the best one that I have heard delivered by a Minister for Finance in all of my time here. There is something for everybody in this budget. We have had budgets for hard times and when one considers where we have come from as a nation since 2011, then one must acknowledge that this is a great budget. As far as I recall, we had two budgets in 2011 and nobody would have believed then that we would be in such a healthy position at this stage. For the first time since former Deputy Charlie McCreevy was Minister for Finance, we are going to balance the books. That sends out a great message to people who want to invest in this country at this particular time, especially in the context of what may happen as a result of Brexit.

The main provisions of the budget were outlined by the Minister earlier. He referred to real growth of 4.3% this year. Next year growth is expected to be in the region of 3.5%, which is a major achievement. The country is growing year on year. In each of the last 19 quarters the economy has been growing and that growth has been spread across every region. Employment is at its highest level since 2008, with over 2 million people at work in our economy. I remember when there were only slightly more than 1 million people working in the Irish economy but that figure has now doubled. All of those people are paying taxes and paying their way, which is of great benefit to the economy. Indeed, it is the life and soul of the economy. Increased employment means that the Government can deliver public services to the nation.

Unemployment, which currently stands at 6.1%, is expected to average 5.7% next year. This is a huge improvement on the 15% unemployment rate of 2012. Great credit is due to this Government and its predecessor for the way in which they worked to bring the level of unemployment from 15% down to 6.1%. Next year, unemployment is expected to fall to 5.7%, which is a major achievement for the country and the economy.

The Minister for Finance said that this budget delivers the Government's long-standing target of balancing the books, in structural terms, next year. The achievement of this MTO, or medium term budgetary objective, sends out a great message to potential investors. There has been much debate about the so-called rainy day fund. We previously had the National Pensions Reserve Fund, NPRF, which we were able to use to plug holes after the crash in 2010. Some now argue that we would be better off investing the money, given that interest rates are so low.We could have an endless debate about the rainy day fund, but on balance we are certainly better with a rainy day fund than without one if something happens. It can be of great benefit to a nation to be able to say it has money in abeyance. The old people used to say one time that they would put money by, and they always had a few pounds. We saw this in many family businesses, where people had a few pounds and it was the lifesaving of their business over the very difficult years they went through.

There are many good things in the budget, including the €5 increase in the weekly social welfare payment, which will be very helpful to all the people who are on social welfare, including those drawing pensions. It will be of great benefit to low-income households in the country.

The Minister of State has outlined many issues. There will be an additional 3,000 new build social houses by 2021 and, as we know, the housing situation in the country is in dire straits. To be fair to the Government, it has got to grips with the housing crisis now. We see at the moment that housing builds are back to levels we have not seen for quite a number of years. This is a sector in society that is badly needed because many people are involved in building houses, including solicitors, accountants, auctioneers and banks, and it is an entire sector of our society that has not been working for many years. The crash happened because of too much money coming in through this area and what might happen if we did not have the sector was not budgeted for properly Society needs this area to be working actively, not alone to provide badly needed houses for families but also to keep many arms of society going. It is an area that has not been working since 2011, and we have seen many people in the sector unemployed, such as auctioneers and solicitors. They also suffered greatly.

I have noticed the Sinn Féin policy and its so-called balanced budget. Most of the money it was going to raise was through increasing VAT from 9% to 13.5%. I am very disappointed in my colleague from County Mayo, who wants to increase the burden on the small restaurant and bar person and hotels in the county. They have struggled during all of those years. They are great employers. Tourism is a huge area, and includes hotels and small restaurants. They employ people part-time and full-time. They have struggled during the recession. Many family businesses barely hung on, and were it not for their rainy day fund they certainly would not have held on. To think Sinn Féin wants to crucify them by increasing VAT from 9% to 13.5%. In my view it is criminal because they have been the life and soul of many towns throughout the country, with their small restaurants and hotels, and they have provided huge resources to local communities and provided facilities for the tourism industry to attract tourists into places throughout the country such as Mayo.