Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, who has a lot of professional and personal expertise in this sphere. He is a very apt person to be with us for the debate.

It merits saying that the object of the Finance Bill is to give legislative effect to the budget, primarily the taxation changes, etc. The budget is set in the context of a strong economy. We have 2.8 million people in employment. We have had a 19% increase in employment since lockdown. Some 63,500 new jobs will be added in 2026. We have high living standards, long life expectancy and excellent educational outcomes. We have a good progressive social protection system. It is in that context that the budget and Finance Bill are set.

In the overall context, we are not without challenges. The major challenge, of course, is tariffs. They have been set at 15%, which is not as bad as anticipated but is still a significant increase compared to the status quo. Today, we have a lot of trade wars and geopolitical conflict. They are the challenges and the backdrop to the Bill. We have to build resilience into our economy to deal with those challenges. We are doing that very effectively in the budget.

In next year's budget, there will be a Vote of €19.1 billion for infrastructure across the board, including water, roads, transport, energy, the grid and all of that. That is an important bit of resilience and economic activity for the country.Over the coming five years, we will be devoting 5% of GDP to infrastructure development. We have put €4.5 billion this year into the Future Ireland Fund, which will cope with ageing, climate change and digital transition. We will have a budget surplus of €5.1 billion, which is a very healthy situation. We have an improving debt-to-GDP ratio. We are at 61% now and we will be going down to 58%, which is significant. We will have an annual growth rate into the future of 2.19%. That is an encouraging situation as we deal with the whirlwinds that are out there, which we cannot fully anticipate the impact of.

As I said, the Finance Bill creates and enhances a progressive and caring Ireland, which is important. There is a big attack on child poverty in the Bill. There is an increase in the weekly rate for a child over 12 of €16, to €78, and an increase of €8 for a child under 12. The issue of carers is very important. Both in cold, clinical economic terms and in human terms, it is important that carers are supported in their homes. The income disregard for carers is up by €375 for a single person and by €750 for a couple. The fuel allowance, which is important in the context of fuel poverty, has seen a €5 increase from €33 to €38. There has been a flat rate increase of €10 in social welfare payments in general. We wish it was more than that, but in the budgetary context, with the other measures in the budget, such as the increase in the fuel allowance and so on, it is not inconsiderable. However, we would aspire to more in the future.

Importantly, the budget makes provision for auto-enrolment, which is effectively a retirement savings scheme. The State will invest €154 million in that next year as a contribution for 2026. It is a hugely important initiative, one of the most important initiatives in a long time. I must acknowledge that it was my constituency colleague, who has been in the news a lot lately, Heather Humphreys, who piloted that through initially. It is a significant social reform, irrespective of the politics of it.

The extension of the rent tax credit is important in the housing context, as is the VAT reduction on apartments. I have heard anecdotal evidence, and we have colleagues here from Dublin city, and seen from walking around that there would seem to be a lot of activity on the apartment complex front, which would suggest this is working. I mentioned the €9.4 billion infrastructural fund in the context of building in resilience, but it is also important in the context of housing.

Agriculture is our core industry, and it gives rise to food processing and so on. In the region I come from, everything is based on agriculture and food processing. The measure for young farmers is important in the context of succession planning in farming. The young trained farmer stamp duty relief is being maintained and extended, the farm consolidation relief is being extended and the farm restructuring relief is being extended.

In the climate area, the extension of the VRT relief on electric vehicles is important, as is the extension of the €400 tax disregard for people selling electricity into the grid.

The purpose of tonight's Second Stage is that we broadly approve the Finance Bill and, in so doing, I commend the Finance Bill to the House. I would ask everyone in the House to support it on the grounds that it deals with economic whirlwinds and is a prudent response to the international difficulties that we face around the tariffs and geopolitical conflict. It is a prudent response, is socially progressive and is a very important response to the housing crisis through putting the infrastructure in place. It is also a response to the issues of climate change and agriculture. It attempts to keep the stimulus in all sectors of the economy. The Finance Bill, in giving effect to the taxation measures in the budget, is an important piece of legislation. I hope that we will have a good debate, that it will go through Second Stage and that we have a good discussion on Committee Stage, where we will discuss the recommendations. I will leave it at that. I again welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the Finance Bill and support it.