Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I congratulate him and pay tribute to him on his budget yesterday. I will start by referring to the contribution of a colleague of mine in the Lower House, Deputy Lahart, who in his contribution to the Dáil a few weeks ago pleaded with the Government to provide a sense of hope to the people of the country in the months ahead as we face into the winter. His words rang in my ears yesterday as I listened to the speech of the Minister because the budget gave us all hope. That really came home to me when a small business person in my home town of Navan texted me late last night and said, "The support for a closed business like mine is very welcome...it's definitely released some of the stress and there's light at the end of the tunnel." They are real words from a real man employing a small staff, but contributing in a real way to the economic life of my town and his reference to seeing light at the end of the tunnel rang true.

I contrasted that small business owner and his feelings of having the stress lifted off his shoulders to the way that Oliver Callan, filling in for Ryan Tubridy on the radio this morning, characterised the budget by shrugging it off and saying it means nothing, all those billions they are talking about. I thought he must not have spoken to any of the real business people on the ground back in his home county of Monaghan that are going to survive this winter because of the budget. Yesterday was real - in fact it does not get any more real - and all those billions of euro and record amounts mean that real people are helped in real ways.

Senator Casey referred to the money for healthcare, housing and other areas. It was regrettable to hear the way some of the Labour Party Senators earlier today derided the investment in housing. One would wonder if they are they living in the real world and how this mammoth task is going to be handled at all. It is fairly pathetic to see them drifting into the same world as the Shinners but I know that the measures announced yesterday are going to make a real difference.

I have just come from a meeting of the Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht. There was a €50 million increase in arts spending up to €130 million and a €50 million increase in the spend in the live entertainment sector. A €36 million increase to Sport Ireland was announced by the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. They are real improvements in society and I pay tribute to the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath.