Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss the budget, which I will address along with other issues mentioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

I welcome the social welfare increases, one-off payments and lump sums. I welcome the fact that people over the age of 70 will now receive the fuel allowance because many of them did not qualify for it for quite a while. The expansion of the scheme is welcome, particularly now because a substantial number of citizens need the allowance to cope with the rising costs of fuel.I welcome the cutting of the cost of childcare for families, reducing fees by 25% for those under the national childcare scheme, which will put up to €175 per month, or €2,160 a year, back into the pockets of parents in 2023.

I know there will also be more support services for crèches and increased salaries for staff. This is very welcome because many of the staff in the childcare scheme are at the lower end of the scale. There are extra places and more hours, which is welcome. The sum of €59 million extra will help childcare providers to provide those extra places.

The total health budget will be €23.4 billion, with free GP care for more than 400,000 additional people, inpatient hospital charges being abolished and investment in women's health, which we are all very concerned about. A measure that is most welcome is free contraception for those aged 16 to 30. There is also, for the first time, access to IVF treatment. There are to be 6,000 new health staff, who cannot come fast enough as there has been difficulty around trying to get staff, as well as €440 million to tackle waiting lists in 2023. Most importantly, 650 new acute and community beds will be added in 2023. The €150 million for older persons and €58 million for mental health are also welcome. Having gone through Covid, mental health is something that is top of all of our minds.

Another point is the 1,000 extra gardaí. When the recruitment of gardaí stopped, it was detrimental. It is good to see the Minister is able to bring 1,000 extra gardaí into Templemore again in the coming year.

I welcome the free books scheme and the funding towards SUSI and people going back to study PhDs. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, on all the work she has done around special needs and special schools. I am involved in a special school and I have to say there is now more funding available than ever. I will hand over to my colleague.