Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. This is a cost-of-living budget of more than €90 billion. We see the Government responding to a need and an energy crisis for families throughout Ireland. We hear from the Opposition that retrofitting needs to be done but we need people in place to do that job. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, has provided for 4,000 additional places on the apprenticeship programme. This will ensure people are trained up to deliver the trades and skills we need to do the work.

We also have major shortages in many areas, for example, healthcare assistants. We need to ramp up the upskilling of people in all sorts of Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, qualifications in order that they can take on these roles.

I was pleased to see we will again reduce the teacher-pupil ratio. That is crucial in our primary schools. We know the impact of early years education so it is crucial that we do this. It is also important that we fight for teachers in rural areas and ensure we maintain teachers in primary schools. We will also have 2,000 special needs assistant, SNA, posts and free primary school books. This will be a huge benefit to families throughout the country.

The third level student contribution will be reduced by €1,000 this year and €500 next year. This will have a considerable impact on students and their families. The PhD stipend for researchers who are on Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, or Irish Research Council, IRC, grants, will increase by more than €500.

We are also seeing the largest ever special education budget. This Government, in particular Fine Gael, is focused on special education. We know through the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, Deputy Madigan, that more than 27% of the budget for education will be spent on special education.

The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, is being offered to schools and it is crucial that they have access to this when identifying special educational needs in special schools and special educational classes. Its funding has been increased by €2.9 million which will fund 54 additional professional and technical staff.

We live in uncertain times. It is crucial that this budget will give certainty to families.