Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I note that what we have seen today is a budget of more than €90.4 billion. It is an increase on last year's budget and it is to help families at a time of crisis. Supports are being put in place. There is an increase in the pension, more social welfare supports and greater numbers of people are able to access the fuel allowance. All of this will tackle issues for the most vulnerable, those who are in need and those who are waiting to get energy retrofits done and cannot get access to or are waiting months for the warmer homes scheme. It is crucial that we are seeing this increase in supports, especially for people who are most vulnerable.

One interesting comment the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, made in his speech was when he highlighted how one third of our corporate tax income is dependent on a cohort of 500,000 workers and ten multinationals. They account for one third of the total tax revenue. That is incredible. It shows the importance of foreign direct investment into this country and of our education and research sector. It shows how crucial those funds are but also, as the Minister highlighted, how important it is that they are not seen as funding permanent expenditure to fund this budget or budgets going forward and how we need to have the national reserve fund in place.

One other point to highlight, especially for towns throughout Ireland, is that Fine Gael is backing business. We see that with supports being put in place such as the temporary business energy support scheme. That will be absolutely crucial for businesses in the months ahead.

In recent months, I have spoken with businesses that are seeing increases of nearly two thirds in their energy bills. This will be capped at over €10,000 and will be backdated to September. It is one of the phenomenal initiatives that has come through in the budget this year.

I will be speaking later on education and research but we need to look at the shortfall in school transport, especially with the Minister for Education. It has been highlighted that this will be reviewed. Will the 6,000 families waiting for tickets hear news very soon? They have been waiting for more than four weeks. We live in uncertain times and face challenges but, right now, we have a budget that will support people in the times ahead.