Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the House. I was a Member of the Lower House in 2011 when a budget was produced and there were cuts everywhere and it was hard to face the public on decisions that were made at the time. They had to be made because we were in deep trouble. In the budget in 2010, there was a difference of €17 billion between what we took in and what we spent. The budget today is virtually balanced. The progress that has been made over the past seven to eight years has been remarkable, not alone by our standards but by international standards.

The Minister for Finance spoke today about the future and the prudence of budgets going forward. Putting €500 million into a rainy day fund and using €1.5 billion from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund for investment is planning for the future. We do not know what is going to happen. There is Brexit, which we are discussing at the moment, and a President in America who wants to look after his own country with trade barriers and protectionism. We do not know what will happen in the future and it is prudent that we plan for the future. This is what this budget does.

Whenever a windfall arose previously, Governments spent it on unsustainable wage and salary increases that had to be continued annually. The corporation tax windfall that has come about this year, however, is being spent on capital projects. That is what is important, that we build for the future.

I very much welcome the 25% increase in capital project funding for next year. My political opponents told me in 2016 that the Sallins bypass and the M7 road widening would not happen, but those projects will be finished next year because we are increasing the capital budget as a result of this spending.

The strange thing when I hear Sinn Féin talk about budgets is that there is no budget in the North. It is being dictated by Westminster. There was some form of government which had control. It makes me laugh to hear Sinn Féin talk in this House about what we do down here with the budget when there is no budget in the North and it is being dictated by civil servants from Westminster and not by the people who have been democratically elected in the North of Ireland. This is a shame.

There is a trend I want to talk about and about which I have been strong. I have been talking about childcare because it is almost a second mortgage for most householders each month. Most of them are in the country. There are many families in my community in Kildare where both parents are working and they need childcare. The measures introduced in the budget in respect of childcare have been very much welcomed. These include an increase in the basic income threshold so that people can get a grant, an improvement in the deduction where there is more than one child, which is very helpful, and the additional two weeks’ parental leave, which has been discussed. It now covers almost the whole first year, and it was the Minister's intention to do this over time. That has to be welcomed.

On education, Senator Dolan was critical of the additional 950 special needs assistants, SNAs. In 2011, we were struggling to maintain the number of SNAs, which was less than 10,000. We were fighting hard to keep the budget for that. That we have increased the number to 15,500 SNAs is unbelievable. The capitation rate increase of 5% is something which parents have been looking for, and when children leave school, we are investing in third level education.

I love the human capital initiative, which is building for the future. Those who have jobs or who will have the jobs we will create in future may need to upskill in light of the new technologies that will bring about change. Some of these changes will have an impact on people who are working at the moment. I am thrilled that additional funding is being provided for apprenticeships, and that we have ten new apprenticeships coming forward is excellent.

Another of my pet projects is overseas development, and an increase of €110 million in this area in the budget signals where we stand and where we are going.

The Minister of State is very welcome. This is one of the most progressive and most sustainable budgets we have had in this economy since the 1970s and 1980s, when, again, Fine Gael was in charge.