Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I heard Senator Warfield speak as I came into the Chamber. He spoke about forced emigration, which he claims is happening.The people I know who are emigrating from this country are doing so not by force but to explore the world, broaden their horizons and have a bit of an adventure, which is possible because of the education they received in one of the best education systems in the world.

Unlike Senator Warfield, I am old enough to remember the 1980s, when there really was mass emigration as people were forced from these shores. There was a sense of despair and gloom. I remember my self-employed father on budget days, which were not like today. Investments were not being made but, rather, cuts delivered across the board. It is pitiful to hear many Opposition Members grasping at straws to find fault with a budget that includes record expenditure across Departments and puts investment into areas that never previously had investment.

Ordinary working people are the real winners from today's measures. The most significant measures introduced by the Minister, Deputy Chambers, whom I commend on his first budget, show his focus on those on the lowest wages. He has announced a personal income tax package of €1.6 billion. Most important is his focus on minimum wage increases to bring it up to €13.50 an hour. Also important are the changes to the USC entry thresholds, as a result of which full-time workers on the minimum wage are now €1,400 better off per annum than they were this morning. I challenge anyone to say that is not a good, decent and progressive measure. It ensures those on the lowest incomes are looked after by being €1,400 better off this evening than they were this morning.

That is before we even consider all the other measures, including in regard to childcare, child benefit and fuel allowance. People are not silly. They are making an adjudication this evening based on what they have heard and how their families are better off. People are better off not just on the basis of cash in their pocket, which they are, but also because the Government has looked at the structural side and sought to ensure the country's infrastructure is built up. It is seeking to leave a lasting legacy, ensure the mistakes of the past are not remade and that the funds others derided when they were established, and would raid if they got their hands on them, whether the Apple fund or others, are being put into infrastructural improvements.

An issue I have raised numerous times in my nine years in the House, and before that as a local authority member, is childcare. I pay tribute to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for the work he has done in this sphere, not just today but over the past five years. We now have a record expenditure of nearly €1.4 billion on early learning and childcare. That is an increase of almost €266 million. It will have a significant impact on the delivery of those services. People might not see that impact today or tomorrow but the changes will leave a lasting legacy. I pay tribute to the Minister for those changes, and to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, for funding them. More than 216,000 children are set to benefit from the national childcare scheme next year. The universal early childhood education programme will benefit more than 107,000 children in 2025. The new access and inclusion model, AIM, is enabling nearly 8,000 children with a disability to access meaningful participation in the early learning sector. That shows a real commitment to the young people of this country in a sector that for decades was given no statutory recognition. It is a lasting legacy of today's budget.