Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that Kerry gave Kildare the Sam Maguire for the day on Sunday. We will probably be looking for it in Cork also.

Today is budget day and it is a very important one. I commend both Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, for their cost-of-living budget which will rightly put a focus on people because people matter. The budget today is about ensuring that people receive taxpayers’ money and that we have a balance struck between helping people, families and businesses, along with ensuring that our country remains competitive and that we protect, maintain and retain jobs.

I know that the Ministers will not be in this House for the budget debates tonight but can I ask that we might have them to the House in the coming weeks in advance of the Finance Bill? I appreciate that they cannot be here tonight.

This is the most important budget in two decades. It shows, despite what people say, that the Government listens, has listened, and is acting across all of the heads of the budget. In particular, I welcome in my role as Seanad Fine Gael spokesman on transport, the whole issue around transport as to the BusConnects in Cork, the Cork commuter rail projects, and in particular, around the measures that are being taken by the Government to support new infrastructure in roads, but also to show that we are making that modal shift from the car. That is what is important about this budget in the transport piece.

In particular, in the context of Project Ireland 2040, it is important that the Cork commuter rail project is advanced along with the whole issue of BusConnects in Cork which I know is fraught with tension. The National Transport Authority was before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications last week.From the Government's perspective, the budget is about ensuring that people receive money and that we support the cost-of-living measures people need. All of us understand the suffering, hardship and pain that people are going through. Anybody who says Government representatives do not is not telling the truth. We do understand. We live in the real world, among our people and in our communities. Today's budget is a balance that is being struck. Not everybody will be happy. Everybody will have an issue they want to see addressed. It is a very positive budget notwithstanding the huge pressures in terms of the cost of living, inflation, energy and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to come to the House to discuss the war in Ukraine. It is important that we get an update on foot of last week's UN meetings in New York. We are all seriously concerned about the rhetoric of President Putin and what he has said in recent weeks. It is important that we hear from the Minister and the Minister of State on the Government perspective arising out of what happened at the UN regarding Ukraine. It is also important that we stand with the people of Ukraine once again.