Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for outlining the Order of Business, which I am very much in agreement with. I welcome my friends Breege and Sam and their work experience colleagues who are here today. They are very welcome to the House. It is clear Breege has been instrumental in helping Senator Conway, whom I know since my college days. He is very successful in his own right but I know Breege contributes substantially to that. I say "Well done" to her.

The test of a good budget is that we do not talk about it very much the following day. There are no banana skins or big problems. I commend the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who is the youngest Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance ever and the youngest Minister for Finance in over 100 years, on his first budget. Let us all hope it will not be his last budget. Equally, I commend the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, a former Member of this House, who also put in a very good performance yesterday. There is so much detail and positivity in this budget that it is easy to forget how much is in it, such as the emphasis on water infrastructure and electricity infrastructure. I am not aware of any previous budget that has put such significant resources into the electricity grid, but these resources which are clearly needed, with the data centres and the increase in our population and so on. I congratulate the two Ministers on that.

Equally, we need to look at the hospitality industry again and see where we can help it out further, whether through VAT, a cut in excise or other measures. It is clear that many restaurants are closing. Parts of the hospitality industry are busy but many establishments are under pressure. A business may be busy on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays but does not necessarily mean it will stay afloat. As a Government, we need to look again at this issue on behalf of the Licensed Vinters Association, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation.

In my final minute, I condemn fully and outright the outrageous attack of more than 180 ballistic missiles that Iran tried to land on Israel yesterday. It is worthy of condemnation. This is more than a regional conflict; it is becoming a war and it is a challenge for us all. The loss of life and destruction of property on all sides is terrible. I urge de-escalation. We need to dampen down what is going on in that region and reduce the tension. We need to see the hostages released coming up to the anniversary of the outrageous attack on 7 October which was the catalyst for a lot of this. I urge all Members of this House to condemn the escalation of activity by Iran yesterday.