Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to give us the opportunity to make statements on the budget. I compliment him and his Cabinet colleagues on the delivery of the budget. To remind people, budget 2026 is worth €9.4 billion, €8.1 billion of which is spending and €1.3 billion is tax. It represents increased spending of 7%. Through budget 2026 we will provide as much certainty as possible in a turbulent world.

This is a Government that has based itself on fiscal responsibility. We have steered the economy through successive crises, restoring the economy after the property crash, securing a good Brexit deal, protecting the economy during Covid and supporting people through the cost-of-living crisis.

I welcome that we are helping with the cost of living with the inclusion of a €2 billion package of social protection measures. I welcome the €10 increase for pensioners, carers, people with disabilities and illness payments. It is very welcome to see the carer's allowance means test disregard has been increased substantially. This is an issue that everybody who participated in the general election met at the doors. The threshold for single people has gone from €375 to €1,000. For couples it has gone from €750 to €2,000. This is very welcome and looks after this particular area.Working family payment thresholds have increased by €60. Anyone in receipt of the working family payment will also receive the fuel allowance, which has increased by €5 to €38 per week. All of those measures are welcome.

On housing, I particularly welcome the additional €130 million in grants for older people for house adaptions. I also welcome €140 million in retrofitting for social homes. I will raise an issue in that regard when I move to further education.

The additional €33 million funding to complete the national broadband plan is welcome. Over 400,000 homes, farms and businesses can now connect to high-speed broadband through the national broadband plan.

In respect of building stronger, safer communities, I welcome the €77 million for recruiting 1,000 additional gardaí and 200 civilian Garda staff. I hope that counties such as Roscommon and Longford, to which Senator Flaherty referred a moment ago, can avail of some additional gardaí through that particular measure. I also welcome the €39 million for the phased recruitment of 150 prison staff. I would also like to see increased staff numbers in Castlerea Prison as a result of that particular measure.

On education, I welcome the additional funding for medical and nursing training places. An additional 1,100 places will be delivered, which is an increase of 25%. I note that the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Lawless, has included an additional €65 million to enable a further 1,250 apprenticeship registrations. I have raised the matter of an apprenticeship centre for Roscommon since I came into this House. It has been in the ether since 2018 or 2019. With the additional funding for retrofitting homes and older person retrofits, we need more people. What is holding back delivery in that sector at the moment is the lack of tradespeople on the ground. I would welcome the opportunity to engage on that issue.

We in this Chamber have spoken on numerous occasions about, and have fought for, a decrease in the hospitality VAT rate. I welcome its reduction to 9%, which will protect 191,000 jobs in small businesses across the country from 1 July 2026. We must welcome measures such as that.

In response to something that was said from across the Chamber, this budget also represents an increase in the total spend for disability services by €680 million to €3.8 billion, which is an increase of 20%. This will fund disability services for an additional 90,000 people.

Another measure that came up numerous times in recent months has not been mentioned yet. All Senators will have received in recent days a newsletter from the Irish Postmasters Union stating that budget 2026 will decide the future of Ireland's post office network. I am sure all Senators will stand up after me and compliment the €15 million in additional funding to support the post office network. I commend the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Deputy O'Donovan, on putting that in place.