Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome my good friend and colleague, former Senator Maurice Cummins. He has had many outings in this House over the years. In the face of two serious challenges that the country faces, namely, those relating to Brexit and climate change, I welcome the cautious approach adopted by the Government in presenting the budget yesterday. Preparing for a no-deal scenario has to be done. We must manage the risks associated with a no-deal Brexit and ensure that the State finances are secure, while all the time aiming to make continued progress across so many sectors. In the area of health alone, the budget announced yesterday will mean that we will have 1,000 extra nurses and other professionals in our communities, 1 million extra home help hours which we know are badly needed, €100 million towards the national treatment purchase fund to reduce the waiting lists in our hospitals and €45 million to expand free GP care for children under eight and free dental care for those under six. I especially welcome funding for the new palliative care unit at University Hospital Waterford, where a provision of over €4.8 million is being made for a fully-staffed unit led by Dr. Brian Creedon, a consultant specialist. This will mean that there will be a 20-bed regional hospice for the very first time to service the south-east region and it will be based at University Hospital Waterford. In saying this, I acknowledge the significant contribution of the Waterford Hospice Movement and the support of the general public, who made a contribution of over €6 million towards the new unit in a building that cost almost €36 million in total.

A no-deal Brexit presents serious challenges for our economy but especially for the regions. Two sectors that were always mainstays of our economy and helped us out of recession were tourism and agriculture. We are especially vulnerable in those sectors in a no-deal scenario. That is why I welcome the Brexit contingency fund. Waterford and the south east have benefited from strong tourism and agriculture. These are very strong, productive sectors indeed. I welcome the fact that additional contingency funding of €40 million for tourism and €110 million for agriculture, fishing and farming is being provided to help in the event of a no-deal Brexit. I ask the Leader for a debate on the capital spend increase of €800 million up to €8.1 billion. I am sure many people here remember when we had no capital spend during the years of recession. This funding is vital for infrastructure development, for our schools, roads, housing, rural regeneration and indeed broadband as well. I also expect a flagship project in my own city of Waterford, the north quays regeneration project, to benefit from this funding and I look forward to an announcement on that in the coming weeks and months. I ask the Leader to schedule the various Ministers to come to the House to debate the funding streams that are being made available in budget 2020. This is a critical time for our country and a solid debate in this House can contribute to how we can manage our State finances, manage our public sector and support communities and people right across the country.