Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. It is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, in the Chamber on this very significant day when we see expenditure on this country's budget exceed €90 billion. As I sat in the Dáil today and listened to both Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, I thought about the bravado of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in England last week. He rocked up in the House of Commons like Arnold Schwarzenegger, with both barrels loaded in typical Tory style. The only problem was that he held on to the ammunition too long and now it has exploded in his hands. It is like a warzone in the UK Cabinet now because the bravado has dissipated. Some people in here are suggesting that we should be reckless and spend beyond what we have. I remind them that being reckless with expenditure has a real impact on real people. We have seen what has happened this week as the result of the nonsense from the Tories last Friday. The international markets do not believe what they are at. They do not believe they can balance their books because they cannot. The levelling out or fall in the value of the pound has a real impact for real working people in the UK in terms of pushing up inflation and making life more expensive. People’s mortgages are going to increase. As we have seen, they cannot access borrowing to buy a home.

Let us counterbalance that and contrast it with what happened today, with the presentation of a balanced budget that has delivered for real people. The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, may not be Arnold Schwarzenegger - they are a bit more like Ben Affleck in "The Accountant" - but they are equally ruthless. This morning, "Gift Grub" portrayed the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, as Rocky. Like Rocky, he delivered some good knock-out blows this afternoon when he knocked bluster, nonsense and spoof on the head and instead dealt with real issues, real measures and key asks from all our communities. Week in and week out, we make speeches here and in the Dáil looking for key asks. I know that the simple measures which were announced today, such as the free books scheme, are going to make a difference to people’s lives. As a dad of three kids, I know about the cost of sending kids back to school. This measure will have a huge impact on reducing costs next autumn when kids go back to school.

I attended a joint policing committee meeting for more than three hours last week, when our new chief superintendent spoke about how he wants to be obsessed not with creating physical Garda stations but with having a simple philosophy of putting gardaí on the street. The speech he made last Monday in Navan will be made a reality as a result of today’s announcement of 1,000 new Garda recruits. The electricity credit of €600, along with the double payment of the children’s allowance, will make a big difference in people’s lives when they are balancing the budget for Christmas. If you are a mum or dad at home this evening thinking about Christmas, which is only a short period of time away, you may be wondering how you will have the money to pay the household costs and to make sure your kids have the decent Christmas you want them to have, like any mum or dad wants for their kids. They are going to bed tonight happy because they have the financial assurance that they can make that happen - they can buy the kids the presents they want from Santa, they can provide the food on the table, they can heat the house and they can keep the Christmas lights on the tree. They know they have that because of the certainty the Government gave them today. That is what governments are there for.