Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I was trying to get excited about coming to the House this afternoon but there was nothing exciting in the budget. It fell short in many areas this year.

The expenditure reported for 2024 is €96.6 billion. In 2024, the Government will gift €6 billion of taxpayers' money to the NGO sector in order that activists can use it to ask the Government to pass laws they like. This figure increases year on year. Earlier this year, €5.5 billion was set aside for spending on Ukrainians in Ireland. The budget signs away €225 million per year of taxpayers' money to be spent overseas to help Third World countries to fight climate change on foot of a promise made to Europe to do so for a minimum of four years. Just shy of €1 billion is going to Third World countries. Already, approximately 1% of the pot will not be seen by ordinary working Irish people of which more than 700,000 people are suffering in poverty.

I could not believe how often I read the phrase "from September 2024" or "by the end of the year". A ridiculous number of the provisions announced today will not be seen for many months. Some will perhaps not even be seen within a year. The big headline act of reducing childcare costs by 25% is not coming for another 11 months. Parents and families need support today. They do not want to wait 11 months for this. It might be budget 2024 but huge parts of it really feel like budget 2025. It is a budget of kicking the can down the road.

The reduction of the VAT rate for the hospitality industry was the one thing keeping many small businesses afloat after the Covid-19 pandemic. It ended six weeks ago and many businesses were hoping the VAT reduction would remain. There was no mention of energy supports for the hospitality sector or further tax protections for these businesses impacted by the war. We will see the devil in the detail of the grants for reducing commercial rates.I am afraid that a year of further closures of restaurants and hospitality businesses awaits us in 2024.

To match inflation, the core welfare rate for those with disabilities should have been raised by €27.50. A €12 hike will leave people unable to keep up with the relentless cost of living.

The INTO is very disturbed by many of the announcements today. Many primary classes are overcrowded, schools are underfunded, school leaders are under-supported, and mental health services for pupils are under-resourced. This is coming from the INTO’s report on today’s budget. The budget will result in the loss of approximately 250 mainstream teaching posts in primary schools next September. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has reneged on the promise of last Easter, meaning that 2,400 positions of assistant principal, which have been vacant for 15 months, will not now be filled in this Government’s lifetime. That is disgraceful.

Is the Government not ashamed of the €12 addition to the carer’s allowance? That is an absolutely disgusting payment to give the carers, and I am very disappointed that the Government did not go further with that.