Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I thank the Cathaoirleach, Leader and Members. I will not touch on the budget in any great detail but I thank the Leader for organising a debate on it today and tomorrow. It is important that we have a series of debates on particular topics. I commend the Government on the very detailed hot-off-the-press "Your Guide to Budget 2026". It sets out a lot of the very positive information in the budget but there are other things missing. We have a lot of time in the House as we are full-time politicians, or we should be. I ask that the Leader's office speaks to us on running a series of debates on agriculture, infrastructure and housing. There is a range of issues. Over a period of the next three to four weeks we could drill into more detail on the budgetary impact on key issues.

I received some correspondence this afternoon from the Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI. The programme for Government includes a commitment to "Providing a step change in the supports and services required by people with disabilities". This afternoon the DFI issued a statement stating the budget was a betrayal of disabled people. A litany of agencies and advocates for the disability sector have serious concerns. Now is not the time to discuss them as we have not drilled down into the detail and it would not be fair to comment in the absence of the exact figures. I suggest we have a series of debates. We speak about disabilities a lot in the House. It is important that we communicate back. Many pre-budget submissions were made and it is a disappointing headline. I would welcome a debate on this.

This is a particularly attractive booklet but not everyone has access to IT. I suggest that the powers that be make this readily available throughout our library network and places of public information. It is important that people understand where money comes in and where money goes out.