Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and wish him well in his portfolio working alongside the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. Looking at the budget and listening to the broad brush strokes that were set out by the Minister in the Dáil today, it brings to mind the vastness of the competing interests for the budget and how passionately and with great integrity people can argue their case, and rightly so. It is the job of the Minister, the Minister of State, working with him, and all of us to try to get the balance right. However, there is always room for more investment and somewhere towards which we strive to improve the lives of our citizens and fulfil their potential and that of the country.

I agree with Senator Burke. We always need to take stock, and times like this give us that opportunity. We are in a position to make choices about where we spend money. We balance books. That is never glamorous, but it is the responsible thing to do. It also sends out a positive message as regards investment which in turn can create future growth and more money to spend on public services.

As Senator Dolan has rightly described, there are many countries where people never arrive at this position or get to debate the rights of individual citizens and how they can be empowered. As far as I am concerned, there are many good aspects to living in this country.

This is a good budget which tries to speak to a multitude of competing interests. It does not just do it in generality. Let us face it, there is, and rightly so, a big emphasis on housing and health. We see a bigger budget than ever in education. We will see an additional 1,300 teaching posts. At 26 to 1, the pupil-teacher ratio will be at its lowest ever. That is pretty good news. It was one of the asks of the INTO. Many teachers are struggling with big classes. We also see that the number of special needs assistants will increase by 1,000, which will bring the total number in the State to 15,000 come next September. We see an increase of 1,800 gardaí to be recruited.