Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Item No. 1 is statements on budget 2017. I call on the Minister of State.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I am very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the Seanad's debate on budget 2017. The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform presented the Government’s first budget to Dáil Éireann earlier today. A number of key themes run through this budget - fairness, protecting our hard-won economic recovery, housing and preparing for Brexit.

This is the second year of preparing budgets under the preventive arm of the EU’s fiscal rules following our successful exit from the excessive deficit procedure at the end of last year. Our estimated deficit for this year is 0.9% and we are now on target to balance the fiscal books and achieve our medium-term budgetary objective, defined as a balanced budget in structural terms, in 2018. This represents significant progress in a relatively short space of time. It shows all the hard work and sacrifices of the Irish people during the crisis have paid dividends. It is important we remember and retain the lessons learned for the future. The changes announced in today’s budget reduce the burden on taxpayers by close to €300 million with €500 million of tax cuts offset by revenue-raising measures of €195 million. On the expenditure side, gross voted expenditure in 2017 will be almost €58 billion, an increase of over €1.84 billion compared with the 2016 projected outturn. Approximately €980 million of this relates to new announcements, while the remaining €860 million was precommitted in line with the mid-year expenditure report. The overall budget package amounts to €1.3 billion and is in a ratio of 3:1 in favour of expenditure over taxation. This is above the Government’s commitment to a 2:1 split and reflects the Government's commitment to rebuilding our public services.

This budget is being framed against a background of continuing domestic recovery along with increasing international uncertainty, most notably the UK's decision to leave the EU, and a number of the measures announced are focused on addressing that. Ireland’s economic recovery is now firmly established. This reflects a combination of decisive policy implementation, as well as, until recently, relatively favourable external tailwinds. It is important to emphasise that although levels of economic activity and employment are returning to their pre-crisis level, the composition is now considerably better balanced and more sustainable. In this context, the unexpected upwards revision to the 2015 growth rates last July, with GDP increasing by 26% in real terms, clearly shows the information content in key macroeconomic aggregates, particularly for GDP and GNP, is less relevant than elsewhere. Although the data are compiled in accordance with international standards, the 2015 headline GDP figures clearly have been distorted and are exaggerated in an Irish context. More concrete indicators of the underlying levels of economic activity point to a continuation of a now firmly rooted recovery. Specifically, indicators such as consumer spending, tax trends and labour market developments all corroborate that Ireland’s economic fundamentals remain strong. This is probably best reflected in employment, where we have seen continued increases for 15 successive quarters, resulting in an additional 180,000 jobs since the trough in 2012. There are now over 2 million people at work for the first time since 2009. There has been a corresponding reduction in unemployment, which fell to 7.9% in September from a high of over 15% in 2012.

Turning to the outlook, the Department of Finance’s forecasts for the economy, which have been endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, show GDP growth of 4.2% this year and 3.5% next year. This is lower than was expected when the stability programme update was published in the spring and reflects the impact of the uncertainty arising from the Brexit decision and slowing international growth. Employment is expected to increase by around 2.6% this year and a further 2.1% - 43,000 extra jobs - in 2017. The average unemployment rate for this year will be 8.3%, falling to 7.7% in 2017. The external environment, which is so important for our export performance, is characterised by increasing uncertainty. Forecasts for the international economy are being revised downwards, most recently in last week’s IMF World Economic Outlook. The weakness in emerging markets is a continuing cause for concern. The UK's vote to leave the EU, the recent indications that the UK is tilting towards a hard exit and the consequent weakening of sterling have heightened those concerns. These factors underline the need for caution but also the need to adapt our approach in order to meet these challenges.

The deficit target for 2017 is 0.4% of GDP and follows the projected deficit of 0.9% of GDP this year. This will keep us on course to achieve our medium-term target of a balanced budget in structural terms, defined as a deficit of 0.5% of GDP in 2018. It is worth reflecting that not too long ago, in 2010, we had a headline deficit of 32% of GDP and, when banking-related measures were excluded, an underlying deficit of 12% of GDP. We have made a lot of progress since then and it is critical that we continue to build on that. The budget target for 2017 will ensure that, while using the additional resources available to us, we do not lose sight of the need for prudent fiscal policy. However, it is appropriate that we should enhance our fiscal shock absorption capacity. The rainy day fund announced in the summer economic statement will start in 2019, once we have achieved a balanced budget in 2018 as envisaged. This will be a counter-cyclical measure to avoid overheating and will also enable us to deal with the initial effects of any shock that may occur.

We need to look beyond this. While our debt ratio has fallen from a high of 120% in 2013 to an expected 76% this year, it remains high in value and by comparison with others. The Government has therefore decided to set a new domestic target of a debt-to-GDP ratio of 45%, to be reached by the mid-2020s or thereafter depending on economic growth, which is well inside the 60% required by the Stability and Growth Pact. This is to take account of the particular risks that Ireland, as a small and very open economy, faces.

Senators will be familiar with the announcements today by the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Donohoe, on budgetary policy and taxation and expenditure measures. I do not propose to go through all the measures but I will focus on elements which address key Government priorities including those relating to housing, rewarding work, fairness and preparing for Brexit.

Ireland’s tax system is highly progressive with high marginal rates applying to relatively modest earnings. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, is allocating €330 million in 2017 to reducing each of the three lower USC rates by 0.5%. This addresses the Government’s target to phase out the USC over time. It will have a material impact on the disposable income of lower and middle-income earners. It should also help to encourage highly-skilled emigrants to return and migrants to take up employment opportunities here.

The changes to the capital gains thresholds for gifts or inheritances from parents to their children announced by the Minister today addresses the problems caused for families from the combination of reduced capital gains thresholds and rising property prices.

Our commitment to retaining the 12.5% corporation tax rate is clearly stated and understood. The rate will not change. It is nevertheless prudent to keep our system under review, to ensure we continue to meet international standards while also maintaining competitiveness. In this context, the Minister has announced that an independent economist, Mr. Seamus Coffey, will undertake the review of our corporation tax code announced in September.

Housing is a key priority for the Government as the programme for Government and Rebuilding Ireland, the action plan for housing and homelessness, make clear. The Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Donohoe, have announced a number of complementary measures in this area aimed at increasing supply and alleviating costs for specific groups within the housing market. The Minister for Finance has announced an important new initiative for first-time buyers, the help-to-buy scheme, applying to new homes only. This addresses the fact that the Central Bank macroprudential rules have resulted in a funding gap, which many prospective first-time purchasers found difficult to bridge. We expect that the building industry will respond to the resulting increase in demand for newly-built homes by increasing the supply. The announcement of the phased restoration of full interest deductibility for landlords, the increase in the ceiling that applies under the rent-a-room scheme and the removal of the size cap on the Living City initiative are aimed at encouraging increased supply of rental accommodation. The extension of the home renovation incentive scheme will help improve the quality and size of the existing housing stock and will also complement the rent-a-room scheme. The Minister for Finance has also decided to extend mortgage interest relief beyond 2017 to 2020 and details of this will be announced in budget 2018.

On the expenditure side, the €1.2 billion in funding provided to the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for 2017 will allow for continued implementation of the housing action plan, which aims to deliver 47,000 new social housing units by 2021. The capital allocation for the local infrastructure housing activation fund includes funding to accelerate the provision of local public infrastructure to support the delivery of up to 20,000 private houses to 2019.Additional funding for the housing assistance payment scheme, along with the capital allocation provided for housing, will enable more than 21,000 applicants for social housing to have their housing needs met next year. In addition, the allocation for emergency accommodation for homeless people has been increased.

Climate change is the global challenge of our generation. The Minister for Finance has announced a number of tax measures to assist in the transition to a low-carbon economy, including an extension of several existing reliefs and the introduction of a full relief from carbon tax for inputs to combined heat and fuel plants, which are by far the most energy-efficient way of generating electricity. On expenditure, the increased allocation to the new Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment will contribute towards our carbon reduction, energy efficiency and renewable energy targets, support energy efficiency in the business and public sectors, assist those in energy poverty and enhance the affordability and attractiveness of electric vehicles. Funding for the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has also been increased.

The Government's commitment to a healthier Ireland is reflected in the further increase in tobacco excise duties and the announcement of a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, to be introduced in 2018. On the expenditure side, the substantial resources already allocated for health services have been further increased for 2017, bringing the total to some €14.6 billion. This is an increase of some 7.4% compared with the budget 2016 provision. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has emphasised the Government's commitment to ensuring this significant allocation is managed effectively to ensure the twin priorities of better care and better accountability are achieved.

One of the principal themes for this budget is to make Ireland Brexit-ready. A key element of this is to continue to manage our economy and the public finances to enable us to meet the challenges that present. The Department of Finance has been working on the economic impacts of Brexit since well before the UK referendum. This included funding an ESRI study, which was published in November 2015. The Department today published a document, entitled Getting Ireland Brexit Ready, which provides an overview of the key issues and concerns as well as the policy responses introduced in budget 2017 on the issue. The continued adherence to prudent fiscal and economic policies, the rainy day fund and the revised debt target already mentioned are central elements in this strategy, along with a number of specific measures announced today. These include reduced capital gains taxes to help entrepreneurs, extension of the special assignee relief programme, extension of the foreign earnings deduction, an increase in the earned income tax credit to support indigenous entrepreneurs and small businesses, extension of the reduced VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality sector, and the introduction of a "step-out" facility for farmers who have opted for income averaging. In addition, it is proposed to introduce a new SME-focused share-based incentive scheme in budget 2018. Such participation can increase competitiveness, thereby supporting employment. This scheme is subject to European Commission approval under state aid rules.

On expenditure, measures will include continuing to invest in Food Wise 2025 to aid the development of Ireland's agrifood sector and strengthen it in the face of what could be more difficult market conditions for exporters to Britain. Additional resources have been provided for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, in the context of Brexit, to enable them to assist indigenous companies and attract overseas investment, in a business environment that will offer both challenges and opportunities. The Estimate allocations also provide the resources required in the key Departments to quickly build the expertise, capacity and capability across Government to deliver Ireland's Brexit-ready strategy

Financial services is an area that is frequently identified in any discussion of Brexit. Ireland has a successful track record of competing for and winning global foreign direct investment. One of the key pillars of that success is the growth of the international financial services sector over the past 30 years or so. Ireland is now recognised internationally as a leading global centre for internationally traded financial services. In March of last year, the Government launched the lFS 2020 strategy, a whole-of-government approach to driving the growth and development of the international financial services sector in Ireland. The strategy sets an ambitious target of growing our international financial services sector by almost 30% over the five-year period to 2020. My appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for financial services sent a clear signal that the sector continues to play a vitally important role in the Irish economy. The IFS 2020 strategy has a clear vision for Ireland as the recognised global location of choice for specialist international financial services. Ireland is in a strong position to build on its successful track record and compete for future mobile investments in the IFS sector. In a post-UK referendum environment, the Government will continue to prioritise the implementation of IFS 2020.

There will be opportunities for Ireland arising from Britain's decision to leave the EU. We will of course seek to take those opportunities, many of which already form part of IDA Ireland's marketing strategy. The lFS 2020 strategy provides a clear roadmap to maximise any opportunities that might arise. The second annual European Financial Forum will take place in Dublin Castle on 24 January 2017. Given the result of the UK referendum on the EU and the potential implications for the financial services industry in that country, the forum is an opportune time to bring more than 600 financial services executives and policy makers from around the world to Dublin. Ireland's infrastructure and regulatory capacity is well prepared to meet any potential influx of new business post-Brexit. There is a strong pipeline of commercial office space coming to the market. The recently announced housing strategy will boost the supply of domestic housing. The Central Bank has made clear it is ready and open for engagement should there be a material increase in authorisation applications in the aftermath of Brexit.

The emphasis on fairness in this budget is already evident in the focus on universal social charge changes on the lower-income and middle-income ranges. On the spending side, the State pension is being increased by €5 per week from March. All weekly payments will rise by the same amount so that the unemployed, carers and those with a disability will also benefit from March next year. This represents the first increase in many of these payments for seven years. In addition, there will be a Christmas bonus payment of 85% for all social welfare recipients in 2016.

The importance of supporting the development of affordable child care is recognised by the increase of 35% in early years funding and the provision of extra funding for the full-year costs of the extended early childhood care and education scheme.

The additional resources for education announced today underline the importance of increased educational attainment in developing our society and preparing to meet our future challenges. The additional funding will fund extra mainstream and resource teachers for our schools. Additional funding is also being provided for the critically important third level sector, the first such increase since the economic collapse.

The importance of the arts is recognised in the decision by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, to maintain a significant portion of the funding provided for the highly successful 1916 commemorations in the arts provision for 2017.

Today's budget is the first in a series of at least three over which the Government's priorities will be implemented. It represents the continuation of the prudent fiscal and economic policies that have served us well in recent years. Within the limited level of additional resources available, we have managed to address the key priorities of improving fairness and reducing the tax burden, improving housing provision and dealing with the growing challenges we face, most particularly Brexit. This has been achieved while maintaining fiscal discipline and staying on track to reach our medium-term objective of a balanced budget in 2018. I commend the budget to the House.

Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for engaging with us today. He is probably the Minister who is here most often, dealing with both finance and public expenditure matters. Fianna Fáil is committed to facilitating a budget that invests in public services and targets tax reductions on low-income and middle-income earners. We are providing real leadership to create a stable and fair Government, unlike the political paralysis and uncertainty we see elsewhere in Europe. We are committed to the fiscal space and prudent financial planning to secure the centre ground of Irish politics.

Through the confidence and supply agreement, Fianna Fáil has already secured a shift in Government policy, with this budget being based on a 3:1 ratio of services to tax cuts. We have forced Fine Gael to abandon its US-style taxes approach. Fianna Fáil's guiding principle in approaching tax policy is that tax reductions should be focused on low and middle-income earners to ensure they get a break. In contrast with the US-style approach Fine Gael called for in the election, we have emphasised a minimum 2:1 ratio of investment to tax cuts and ensured it is enshrined in Government policy. This budget has met a 3:1 ratio because of the efforts of Fianna Fáil.

This is a Fine Gael budget but we have worked to achieve significant progress on key priorities set out in the confidence and supply agreement. Other parties such as Sinn Féin have played no constructive role in forming a government or giving real leadership on the budget. They threatened to plunge the country into another election, but Fianna Fáil stood up to the mark to ensure we had a stable government. This means we have avoided the political paralysis we currently see in Spain, which is facing into its third election in 12 months. Another election here would cost the State €40 million. We are committed to having an impact, not simply shouting about it. Thanks to the sacrifices of the Irish people, the economy is performing strongly, with an anticipated 5% growth rate in 2016. This means there is €1.3 billion in additional spending available in 2017.

However, a two-tier recovery clearly remains and new challenges have emerged that demand real political action. Brexit and the European Commission's Apple ruling mark fresh threats to Ireland's economic growth. Domestically, mounting industrial unrest and public spending pressures on areas such as health, housing and social protection present additional challenges. The Sinn Féin budget fails to recognise those challenges and instead proposes to hike up taxes by €1.7 billion. There is a net fiscal space of more than €1.3 billion available for additional spending in 2017. This was belatedly increased over the past week from €1 billion.The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has endorsed the use of €1 billion maximum in the fiscal space in 2017, although it points out the total increase is €2.4 billion when demographics and the Lansdowne Road agreement are added in.

This is the first budget of three under the confidence and supply arrangement and is new ground for all parties. Fianna Fáil has secured key progress and will continue to hold the Government to account as an independent Opposition party. We do not expect to achieve everything in year one but do require substantive progress. Fianna Fáil has sought and achieved funding in key areas identified under the confidence and supply arrangement. These include tackling homelessness and securing affordable homes; decent jobs and enterprise; cutting family costs and improving the services on which they rely; and tackling crime and developing community services. We have placed our stamp firmly on this budget and its priorities.

There are several policies which directly reflect our confidence and supply arrangement and subsequent budget discussions. These comprise a 3:1 investment in services-to-tax reduction ratio; a €5 increase in the State pension; a €5 increase in working age payments; a new €15 million National Treatment Purchase Fund, a fund which was there under previous Fianna Fáil Governments; targeted universal social charge cuts by 0.5% across three rates; increase in Leader, CLÁR and RAPID programme spending; the expansion of the rural social scheme; the reduced capital gains tax rate to 10%; increased home care packages by 950; increased funding for the Irish language; increased €150 million capital funding to address the housing crisis; and a €55 million increase in rent supplement.

However, while Fianna Fáil has played a strong role in shaping the policies, this is a Fine Gael budget. There are several issues of which we are not supportive. There is the failure to reform the capital gains tax relief rate chargeable gains level from €1 million to entrepreneurs to ensure we can compete with the UK. The first-time buyer's grants scheme will only stoke up house prices and risk another boom and bust. It is a scheme which will only promote demand rather than increase supply. We also need to tackle construction costs. There have been minimal measures to cope with the fundamental challenge of Brexit. The presentation of a Brexit-proofed budget is simply more Fine Gael spin. There is a failure to address pupil-teacher ratios. The additional teachers announced will only deal with demographic demand. Other shortcomings include the failure to increase areas of natural constraint payments to farmers and the reduced funding to the arts, which has fallen by €1 million.

Capital expenditure has long been the Cinderella of budget day. The additional €250 million announced today above the pre-budget expenditure ceilings is a drop in the ocean compared to what is required to overhaul and future-proof the country's infrastructure. The current 2016-2021 capital plan lacks ambition. It is an exercise in electioneering, rather than a genuine effort to grasp the nettle of long-term planning. Its extension over six years is essentially used to manipulate the figures to bolster the appearance of significant increases in investment. In reality, the previous Government underspent in infrastructure every year and left Ireland lagging behind.

The confidence and supply arrangement outlines a commitment to a full review of the plan in mid-2017. This was a critical part of the overall agreement. It is vital that this review gives an opportunity to take crucial decisions on pivotal infrastructure projects designed to address areas such as housing, transport, broadband, flooding and the broader threats such as climate change. Fianna Fáil's election manifesto called for the establishment of a national infrastructure commission to take a long-term view on our capital spending over the next century. This commission should be tasked with planning over a 25-year period and moving Ireland towards decarbonising while achieving a gross domestic product investment of 5% in capital infrastructure. Post Brexit, it is imperative the EU moves to ramp up capital expenditure. EU rules around spending should be revised with a view to enabling member states to target investment in crucial infrastructure projects. This will help ensure the EU thrives in the aftermath of Brexit and is of most relevance to Ireland.

We see the budget as a work in progress and the start of the first year of the three-year confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fáil. In as far as it goes, we welcome it.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

Contrary to what my colleague, Senator Gerry Horkan, has just said, the world and its mother knows this is the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent Alliance budget.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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Is Senator Craughwell feeling left out?

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Everyone will be allowed their turn.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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Let us not play games. At the end of the day, the Minister of State would not be sitting here unless Fianna Fáil agreed with the budget put before us today.

Before I deal with the budget, I will deal with the issue which led up to it, namely the 2016 general election. Whether the Minister of State likes it or not, the Fine Gael Party, and to a certain degree other parties in this House, overheated expectations to the point where people today were expecting wonders from the budget. Instead of that, we have got a relatively flat and mediocre budget. That is not to say all of it is to be condemned but it is mediocre, to say the very least, offering nothing great for people.

I am not so sure people will welcome the 1% change in the universal social charge, although it involves a 2:1 split on public services. The pensioners will be dancing at the crossroads tonight at the expectation of their €5 increase in the State pension next March. Then they will be able to buy 20 fags and have a little change. However, it will not be quite as much change as they would have had before the budget because the Government has put the price of fags up by 50 cent.

Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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Proper order.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The bottom line is that the increase is not great.

The threshold figure for the new income tax rebate on the home-to-buy scheme comes to €400,000. I believe, along with many others, that this scheme will overheat the housing market again. I have evidence myself of a builder who has completed houses, ready to go on the market but he is holding them back in the expectation of an increase in prices. In the period he has withheld these houses, they have already gone up by €100,000. Where does that leave our assistance to buy houses up to €400,000? As someone already said, one is not going to get a whole lot for €400,000 inside the M50 belt. I do not believe this will help.

The Christmas bonus is to be welcomed. It means a whole lot to pensioners. It gives them that extra few bob to put a bit of food on the table and, maybe, buy one or two presents for grandchildren. The bonus is worth it.

The funding of €15 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund concerns me because, to a large degree, the same consultants will carry out the work in their private hospitals. We will pay them on the double for the work they will do. Some will agree and others will disagree with my point. However, that is the truth of the matter.

Last week, I dealt with the public service pay commission with the Taoiseach. I am delighted the Government is putting such a commission in place. However, it will not be until the middle of next year while the Government has a crisis on its hands today. Tomorrow, the House will debate the impending Garda industrial action. Gardaí and nurses are knocking the door while teachers are in crisis. Our public service deal, the Lansdowne Road agreement, needs to be brought back to the table. All the parties need to be brought back in and we need to re-slice the cake. The bottom line is that, again, expectations were overheated and we now find ourselves in a situation where there is industrial unrest all over the place. One cannot wait until next year unless one wants to see the country grind to a halt.

It is marvellous to see that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has got transport going north, south, east and west across Dublin city. What about the school bus system, which is not capable of dealing with kids who need to get to school? The bottom line is that, maybe, the funding put into transport should have been divided out in a more egalitarian way across the country.

The reduction of the DIRT rate is to be welcomed. However, if one considers the many pensioners who got their lump sums on retirement, put it into a bank and expected to have a return on their investment, they are getting absolutely zero return now. The other day, I spoke to a pensioner who had a couple of bob in the post office. After four years, he got €100 back. I know the Government can do very little about that but that is part of the situation in which we are living.

I welcome the increased spending on housing of €1.2 billion. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, is doing the best he can with the resources available to him. He is to be applauded for the efforts he is making. I hope we are not making promises which cannot be fulfilled, however. Every time I hear the Minister speak, I am impressed by the plans he has. I sincerely hope we are not being sold a pup. If we are, then it will come back and bite us all.Regarding the increase for health of €497 million, perhaps I missed something but I cannot see a figure for the number of practitioners on the ground, particularly nurses, whereas I can see such a figure for teachers and gardaí. Maybe I missed something somewhere.

The additional 2,400 teachers is to be welcomed, with 900 of those going into resource teaching. However, my big concern is that traditionally when we hear announcements about 2,400 whole-time equivalent teachers, we find there are 5,000 or 6,000 teachers employed on part-time contracts. That is not the way to run an education system. I would be the first person, as a former teacher and practitioner, to say that we must go back to the universities and look at the way we are training teachers. The typical problem we have with teachers now is that when a teacher retires who may be carrying three or even four subjects, and we seek to replace him or her with a graduate from the teacher training colleges, we find that the graduate may only be carrying one or two subjects that are of value to the school. This means that the school must hire two teachers to replace one retiree and the hours have to be split. There is a bit of work to be done in that area. This is an issue which we will be raising directly with the Department and the Minister for Education and Skills in due course. I hope that what we are talking about here is whole-time equivalent teachers on full hours being employed in schools around the country. Senator Horkan is correct that the new teachers will not increase the overall numbers employed but will merely pick up the slack. We need to reduce the pupil teacher ratio across the board. I know that the INTO sought such a reduction at its recent briefing.

The €36.5 million for further and higher education is to be welcomed. I commend the Government for putting that money into the higher education system. If this country is to continue to have opportunities in the international market for foreign direct investment, it has to have a properly funded higher and further education system. One of the great disappointments is that we are funding people up to primary degree level but are not funding them for postgraduate studies. I would like to see some effort made to reintroduce the grants that were taken away from postgraduates.

The increase in garda numbers is to be welcomed but I hope we do not see them training in Templemore and then resigning immediately because they cannot afford to live on their salaries. The Prison Service is a joke. The revolving door in the prisons is so fast now that prisoners cannot get through it. We hear people on the radio saying that they are going up to Mountjoy Prison to get their dinner and then they will be sent home. The half paragraph in the Budget Statement on the Defence Forces is derisory. The Defence Forces are understaffed and in a state of crisis.

Overall, it is a budget with which we can live.

Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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I commend the budget. It recognises that people have come through very difficult times. The rebalancing in favour of spending over tax cuts in a 3:1 ratio is a recognition that we have come out of those difficult times and are now in a position to invest in order to drive further job creation and to provide proper services. It is a family friendly budget for a number of reasons. The reduction in USC which applies to everyone will help families. The home care credit has been increased by €100 and mortgage interest relief has been extended. I also welcome the fact that interest relief on rental properties will increase from 75% to 80% and will increase by 5% increments over the coming years. Hopefully landlords will pass on that tax relief by not increasing rents. That is hugely important.

I welcome the changes to the rent a room relief scheme which mean that people will now be able to earn up to €14,000 per annum tax free. I agree with the imposition of a ceiling on this because if the amount was higher, that would encourage landlords to increase rents. The ceiling will ensure that landlords do not use this as a way of charging higher rents. The home renovation incentive scheme has been extended for another two years which I welcome.

The capital acquisitions tax relief has been increased by €30,000 for class A recipients, namely, family members. I hope this is the start of a process. The relief was significantly higher a few years ago and it must be considered in the context of succession planning and so forth. I welcome the fact that deposit interest retention tax, DIRT, is coming down by 2% per annum for the next four years. This tax was increased in difficult times and I welcome the fact that it is now being unravelled. People should not be penalised for saving. There are lots of people, particularly the elderly, who have savings and the interest they were earning was being taxed at a very high rate. I welcome the changes in this regard.

There are a number of budgetary measures relating to family farms. Farmers are taxed on their profits in a particular way, known as income averaging. In recognition of the fact that they are currently going through hard times, farmers can effectively opt out of that system for this year. In the context of the rapid approach of the preliminary tax deadline, that is a very welcome measure. I also welcome the scheme to be administered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, under which farmers will be able to get loans at 3%. That measure may have to be reconsidered in future years. Consideration must be given to the depreciation of sterling against the euro and the implications for Ireland. Obviously various Departments are rolling out their plans but I would like to hear about the practical measures that will be taken to combat the negative consequences.

The issue of child care is one about which I feel very strongly. I welcome the fact that an affordable child care programme will operate from next September. The affordable scheme will be targeted at children between 6 months and 15 years but there will also be a universal subvention paid to families. While the amount itself is not enormous, it will make a difference to families on a monthly basis. I welcome the fact that those in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance will now be entitled to a medical card. This was a huge issue with people on the ground. Families with children who are ill should be given a medical card regardless of their circumstances.

I welcome the fact that the means test for the farm assist payment is to be relaxed. I also welcome the fact that the lone parent disregard is being increased by €20. We must find mechanisms that will facilitate lone parents returning to work. Lone parents are a group for whom I have a huge amount of time. They are rearing children in very difficult circumstances. We must support them to get back into education and back into work. Many of them get caught in poverty traps very early in their lives and find it impossible to get out of them. It is in that context that I very much welcome the aforementioned measure.

On a general note, I wish to refer to the investment elements in the budget. I welcome the fact that we will have 2,400 extra teacher posts coming on stream as well as an additional 800 gardaí and 500 civilian members of the force by the end of 2017. These are investments which, particularly in respect of teachers, will help families. The same is true of gardaí in terms of crime prevention. I would like to see a lot of those teachers and gardaí being employed in Limerick, which has lost a lot of such personnel in recent years. I ask that when the new gardaí are coming out of Templemore many of them will be sent to Limerick.

In the context of people with disabilities, I welcome the fact that money is to be put aside to help those who are transitioning from school to adult life.It is a big issue for me on the ground and I feel very strongly about it.

I will make two general points. The reduction of the debt to GDP ratio from 60% to 45% is very welcome. The 3:1 shift towards spending shows that we are getting back to normality. I want to see two areas dealt with. We need to see the detail on the measure relating to section 110 and vulture funds regarding how it will work in practice to ensure a situation does not arise where these people do not pay tax on Irish property. In respect of practical measures relating to Brexit that I would like to see, the largest issue for the SME sector will be the fluctuation in the value of sterling. We must find a mechanism whereby these businesses can stay afloat. Many of them will come under increasing pressure. We do not know how sterling will fluctuate. It is very possible that we may have parity and that is something we must guard against. I would like to see the detail in respect of that.

I commend the budget and think it shows that we are very much getting back to some normality, that we recognise the hardships people have had to endure and that we are putting the funding in place to ensure we can generate jobs, investment and public services.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I call Senator Gavan.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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It is Senator Conway-Walsh.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I apologise. I took it because the Senator was sitting in that seat.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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That is no problem at all. Senator Gavan will have something to say.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Unfortunately, we do not have recognised seating here yet but we should have.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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I thought this was a day when we could not add any more to the confusion regarding whether it was a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael budget. I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to come in to us. There are two things I would like to say about this budget. The first is that it will go down in history as the triple F budget - the Fianna Fáil budget, the Fine Gael budget and the dilemma of what to do with the other "F", which is the famous "fiver". It gives me no joy to say that.

I note the usual nonsense from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael regarding the clearly costed alternative that Sinn Féin produced recently. We make no apology for closing the tax avoidance schemes and for asking those earning over €2,000 per week to pay a little extra on the amount over €2,000. They used the same language they have used for the past ten years, namely, that we have no grasp of economics. Our document detailed each and every figure on how much money we had to spend, where it would come from and what we would spend it on in the years ahead. I remind Fianna Fáil that it cost us to the tune of €64 billion. I have a 15-year-old son who will be 54 years of age before we are finished paying off the Fianna Fáil debt. That is a burden to him and all 15-year-olds in this country. We have paid almost €40 billion over the past five years in interest alone. We are squabbling here over €1.2 billion. We pay €7 billion servicing the debt of Fianna Fáil economics every year so I will not take any lectures from Fianna Fáil about economics and budgets not being costed. I regard Fianna Fáil criticism of our economics as a compliment and take great comfort that we in Sinn Féin differ so much from the party that drove this country to the ruin that it would like people to forget about.

The only figures in the Fianna Fáil alternative budget were the page numbers at the bottom of each page. Many Fianna Fáil representatives protested that it was not their job to produce an alternative budget giving their unique position in supporting this minority Government. If that is the case, they urgently need to be honest and clear with the people. The budget read out a couple of hours ago was their budget. If, as they say, it does not reflect their ideology, they should vote against it if their ideology is worth anything. All of us here choose to enter politics of our own free will. Those of us in parties choose which one to join. Politics is about choices. Peddling a lie that there is no other choice available is a trick as old as politics. Today's budget was presented as such. That Fianna Fáil may abstain from the vote is another get-out-of-jail card that has been floated. As a public representative for the past seven years, I can say that I have had to deal with the truly awful situations that people were in after it drove the economy into the ground and yet managed to hold on to power. I am certain that many, if not all, of these people now wish it had abstained from Government before it closed our hospital beds and savaged so many other areas that have still to be fully restored.

Many of the major issues I have been contacted about have not been addressed today. Much is made of the small decrease in USC but this means very little to those who have seen their car insurance premiums double, treble and quadruple in the past number of years. The USC cuts will erode the tax base by €5.6 billion by 2021. That makes this measure very regressive for such a paltry gain. A worker struggling on €20,000 per year will get €1.90 back every week. The Nevin Economic Research Institute tweeted during the Minister for Finance's speech that it was a disastrous move and there was no foundation for a recovery. The issue of rents was not addressed and rent certainty was absent. Indeed, it fell to Sinn Féin to introduce it to the Dáil and I look forward to the Bill being debated in the Seanad tomorrow. This will be an opportunity for Fianna Fáil to show the public that it is not the same as Fine Gael and to vote in favour of the Bill in accordance with its manifesto.

The Minister announced a €5 increase in the old age pension to take effect in five months' time. These are five long winter months where the increase could have helped with money for fuel, which is hardly covered by the twenty odd euro per week in fuel allowance. I spoke to a pensioner from Castlebar earlier today and asked her what she thought of the budget and what she was going to do with the €5. She said that there was only one thing she could say, which was that it was disgusting. She said that the Government did not think it worthwhile to give pensioners the Christmas bonus - 85% of it was given back - in the same way it did not think pensioners were worth one full hour of home help. It is either 15, 30 or 45 minutes.

There was also an opportunity to reverse some of the cuts that have cruelly impacted upon the most vulnerable. The 15% cut in funding for children with special educational needs could have been reversed but instead this will have to wait. I went down to Limerick with a disabled child to get physiotherapy two weeks ago, which involved an 80-mile round trip. The litmus test of this budget is whether that child and their family will be helped. Today does not give me confidence that they will be helped.

The package for first-time buyers, which will supposedly be worth €500 million, will not see one extra house built. I am beginning to think that even after six months, the Government does not fully understand that we have a housing crisis. The problem is with supply so these measures will do nothing to relieve the imbalance between supply and demand.

The Sinn Féin budget would have seen a capital investment of €1.23 billion. That is the stark figure that should be compared with the weak and disappointing investment plan announced in the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael budget today. The real test of this budget will be whether it will take the elderly and sick people off trolleys in our hospitals. Will it give one child an extra seat on the school bus? Will it give young people anything more than €100 per week whereby they are told to get out and seek employment on €100 per week? Will it take those young people out of poverty? If this is the best that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil combined can offer 100 years after the 1916 Rising, it is surely time for an alternative. This should have been a budget where we clearly demonstrated that we cherished all the children equally - north, south, east and west.

John Dolan (Independent)
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I wish to share my time with Senator Grace O'Sullivan.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Four and four - is that agreed? Agreed.

John Dolan (Independent)
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Budget 2017 has bypassed people with a disability and there is no drive out of the recession in it for them or their families. Recently, I called on the Taoiseach to put in place a €300 million package to support people living with disabilities, chronic ill-health, special needs, etc., and their families. He indicated afterwards that it would not happen, and it has not happened. I made the case that this modest but significant funding could be put to best effect by being targeted where it was most needed across rural and urban areas by children, young people, adults and older people. That has not come to pass simply because a deliberate decision has been made and executed in the budget.

The slide rule of populist support was run through every line and every page of this budget. There is no brave opening up of hope for the 600,000 people with a disability and the 200,000 carers in this State. I said to the Taoiseach last Thursday week that disability brings poverty. It deepens poverty, brings exclusion, and marginalises. Where is the start of a fairer Ireland, which we are told is one of the themes running through this budget, for these people and their families? The Government could have started down a different road today, but it deliberately chose not to do so. We should think of parents struggling to cope with disability and probably also trying to support their parents, or being thankful that their parents are fit and able to be of support to them. These are the real squeezed middle in Ireland today.

There will be an extra 56,000 to 60,000 people with disabilities by this day next year. All the analysis and the talk tonight and tomorrow will be about the winners and the losers and who has more income than they had before the budget - the single parent with two children, the two people on modest incomes, the professional, etc. - but that will not be the case for those newly diagnosed or those who currently have disabilities. No matter what extra few bob is in their pockets as a result of the budget, they will still be big losers because the services are not there.

There was some focus on disability, but will the 21,000 social housing units include appropriate accommodation for over 1,000 people with disabilities next year? Where is the €30 million fund to assist in housing adaptations? Will the €497 million increase in health spending restore the €159 million that was taken out of disability health services and other areas during the recession? There is no funding to provide for the extra daily cost of living with a disability. What was sought was an investment of €20 per week. People of working age, older people and people with a disability are being given €5. How are we to be happy about that? Should we have been left behind when others got the extra fiver? The extra cost of disability is not there, although the preschool provision for children with disabilities will ensure that they are not excluded from now on and that is to be acknowledged.

I acknowledge the medical card coverage for children on domiciliary care allowance and I acknowledge the home care credit, yet the intent in this budget was to do something rather than take the real opportunity to make a focused impact with the funding available for those with disabilities. How is it that throughout Ireland so many people struggling on a daily basis can still count for so little? Populism has trumped public benefit at the end of the day in the Budget Statement.

Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party)
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I support the words and sentiments of my colleague, Senator John Dolan, on the Government's lack of real support for those with disabilities in budget 2017.

I am a naturally positive person. I do not intend budget day to change that and I am happy to welcome some of the better aspects of the budget. The fact that we are emerging from the dark days of major budget deficits and cuts is good, as is the Minister, Deputy Noonan's announcement of a three-to-one ratio of increases in public spending to tax cuts. The worst of the recession has ended for many and the priority now is restoring public services that have been badly affected and damaged.

A sugar tax, even a needlessly delayed one, will contribute to improving the health of our youth and ending the madness of sugary processed foods being cheaper than fresh nutritious ones, as is the case in parts of the US and elsewhere. A grant for single parents to return to education will give greater freedom of career choice to parents in the long run and families to live better lives with more opportunities. An increase in the earned tax credit for the self-employed is a small step in supporting micro and SME enterprises and self-employed sectors. The extra €28 million assigned to additional emergency homeless accommodation has been welcomed by the Peter McVerry Trust, and I second that.

There are also serious gaps in this budget. We have heard much about the concerns of the usual interest groups, as Senator Dolan stated, but little of those of the people bearing some of the highest burdens in our society, including not only the 18-to-20 year old cohort but those in their 30s who currently contribute so heavily to the economy and the tax base. As a group facing spiralling rents, huge housing costs and expensive commutes, they have received no coherent well-thought out assistance.

A case in point is the grant for first-time buyers purchasing newly constructed properties. This has been roundly condemned by all those commenting on the housing sector as a boon for developers that will be instantly absorbed by the increased housing prices it will foster. Ireland's young people are not fooled. They know this scheme will not deliver an affordable path to home ownership for them. Meanwhile, there is nothing for rents left paying significant amounts. Have we learned nothing from the housing boom and bust cycles? The Government's duty must be to do what it can to increase supply and control costs, not blow another bubble through price subsidies. We need to consider how to increase the available housing stock in areas where people want to live through the construction of social housing by local authorities and the release and activation of existing unutilised and under-utilised properties and land through appropriate taxation and other policies. We also need a real spatial and regional development strategy that helps us to move away from the overwhelming primacy of Dublin in national economic life. We need to facilitate those who do not wish to leave their homes through adequate economic and sustainable transport development outside the capital.

Young parents in the main are not well served by a proposed child care system that seems to ignore the valid and valuable choice taken by stay-at-home parents. The Green Party leader, Deputy Eamon Ryan, will focus on this later in his budget speech.

Young people are most significantly failed by this budget in its absence of a strategy to create the significant change we require in our economy and our way of life if we are to mitigate and adapt to a future of human induced climate change. Despite some green baubles, such as the extension of the subsidy schemes for electric vehicles and home energy efficiency, and the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme, there is nothing to improve active transport, such as walking and cycling, reduce the cost of public transport or improve safety on our roads, despite the spat of recent deaths. There is a wholly inadequate provision for flood prevention and there are no changes to the empty box-ticking system of consultation.

Altogether this budget shows a lack of vision, imagination and ambition, and change is required if Ireland is to seize the opportunity of decarbonising our economy and guaranteeing a healthy life for the people of Ireland, young and old. This is not reflected in budget 2017.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and I thank him for his words of wisdom earlier. It was great to listen to the budget earlier.

The first announcement I would like welcome is the forecast that GDP will grow by 4.2% in 2016 and 3.5% in 2017, and the fact that we have over 2 million people in employment. Being parochial about it, we have had five job announcements over the past five Mondays in Limerick and close to 600 jobs announced in that time.As I am my party's spokesperson on education and skills, I will confine my remarks mainly to the area of education. In creating these jobs, employers referred to the high skills and the high level of education people had in the area. Accessibility to Shannon Airport also encouraged these businesses to locate within the city centre. Investment in our education is the way to go for our future.

The €458 million increase in the budget for education is the highest ever and is to be welcomed. It will lead to the creation of 2,515 additional posts in education, 900 resource teachers and 115 additional special needs assistants, SNAs. These are measures that Members across all parties have called for over many years and they are to be welcomed.

There will be an extra €160 million over three years to target initiatives to provide for skills support and access to higher education. For those who do not want a third level education, there is greater emphasis now on skills development through SOLAS courses and so on. To be parochial for a moment, we have a very good range of skills courses on offer in Limerick through the education and training boards and the former FÁS, which is now SOLAS.

In terms of Brexit, funding is being put aside to attract researchers. That is very important because many companies coming here to create employment are looking for highly-skilled researchers.

I welcome the restoration of the full maintenance grant for 1,100 postgraduate students on low incomes and the expansion of the apprenticeship programme. We took the emphasis off apprenticeships for a long time and it is welcome that they are now being brought to the fore and encouraged.

There is provision to implement the new international education strategy and increase the value of the sector by €500 million per year. This will bring in 37,000 additional students from abroad by 2020. There will be a new comprehensive and ambitious multi-year funding package for the education sector from 2018.

Another important point is that we are reducing our unemployment figures. We have brought in a new annual €500 cost of education allowance. This will be made available to back to education allowance participants. This will encourage participants with children to go back to education. They will also receive the famous increase of €5 a week, as it was described earlier, but that €5 goes a long way for people on any sort of benefit.

From September, young jobseekers will also receive a back to education full payment of €193. That is to be commended because it is currently €160.

Over 50,000 children will benefit from the school meals programme in the coming year. One hundred guidance counsellor posts will be restored. When we tie in education to job creation, guidance teachers are very important.

The fact that sports capital grants will be announced shortly is welcome. The 85% Christmas bonus was knocked by speakers on the other side of the House. I would point out that that bonus will benefit 1.2 million people in receipt of long-term social welfare payments.

Many areas have been covered in the debate but I refer to the VAT rate for charities, which will be examined. Currently, charities cannot claim back VAT. I am aware the Minister is committed to reviewing that but it is an issue that is vitally important to many charities across the country.

Gerald Nash (Labour)
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I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on today's budget. This is a unique budget. It is the first, and possibly the last, of its kind. It is, in reality, the first ever Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil joint budget, and Fianna Fáil should do the decent thing and vote in favour of the measures it managed to negotiate.

It is said that this country's annual budget is the primary opportunity for a Government to set out its political agenda. It allows the Government of the day to give character, as it were, to its ambitions and to provide for important financial measures. However, there is very little by way of a central narrative to this budget. What was presented to us today was a hurriedly cobbled together patchwork of pet projects designed to buy off some vested interests, for the time being at least. It is a budget that was hammered together by a party that is in office, but not in power, supported by an outfit that lusts for power but is incapable of taking responsibility, at least until it becomes top dog, and with the pointless passengers from the Independent Alliance in the back seat, who do not seem to have much of a clue about how to manage the power they have. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, appears to believe that his Department is that much of a doddle, there is no new transport funding whatsoever. He must be entirely satisfied with how things are going.

Hard choices and decisions have been put off. In a budget where everybody gets something small for fear of alienating one group or another, we run the risk of doing little of any real value to our society as a whole. There is no shortage of quick fixes, but there is a lack of a real and coherent vision. As we all know, any vision for a better, fairer society must be paid for because it costs money.

For my part, and that of my party, I am sending the message we believe was sent to us by the electorate in February, and that was sent to everybody else, that we are firmly of the view that the demands for continued investment in public services, housing, education and health services, and welfare systems are far more compelling than the need to deliver the equivalent of the cost of a cup of coffee to someone on the average industrial wage in terms of USC cuts.

The Labour Party is proud of the role we played with Fine Gael in restoring this country's economic fortunes, fixing the economy, getting people back to work, and starting again that process of reinvesting in our public services. We know there is still some way to go to sustain our economic recovery and put it on a sound footing, but nowhere is the struggle to make ends meet for working families more challenging than in the area of affordable child care. The Minister, Deputy Zappone, a politician for whom I have the utmost respect, today announced a new approach to supporting families with children in child care. There are some aspects of this scheme which are laudable, but there are also elements of it that surprise and concern me. My party has proposed, in our alternative budget, that a genuinely universal scheme for all children under the age of 12 should be introduced, capping the cost to parents at €4.25 an hour for up to 40 hours per week. Importantly, we also proposed that we would build on the paternity leave system we introduced recently by adding an extra two weeks of shared leave.

Not only is there no sign of that type of initiative from the Government, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, does not provide for the payment of a living wage, or anything near it, to those who work with our children. We know that about 60% of all those who work in the child care sector, some of whom are incredibly well qualified, are paid well below what might be considered to be a living wage of €11.50 an hour. That has to be addressed now. I am surprised that the Minister, Deputy Zappone, has not done so. If we value our children, we must properly value those who work with them, but perhaps we should not be surprised. After all, this is a Government that has awarded a paltry 10 cent increase in the minimum wage, which is due to come in on 1 January. We have 70,000 people currently working on the national minimum wage and their hard work pays them very little. This increase is next to worthless as it will be eroded by inflation in 2017. Someone working 30 hours a week in a national minimum wage job gets less of an increase than someone who is on jobseeker's benefit. I thought the Fine Gael Party wanted to make work pay. Today, we are no closer to the Government amending the governing legislation for the Low Pay Commission to allow this Administration reach its own target of €10.50 for the national minimum wage during the term of this Government. This budget represents yet another missed opportunity. The Government’s commitment to the low paid lies in tatters. I am pleased to see that social welfare increases will be provided for. It would, however, have been possible for Government to go all the way and restore the additional Christmas payment in full. There is an underspend of approximately €360 million across Departments and a €129 million underspend in the form of savings on national debt interest repayments. These resources from the 2016 allocation would be well spent on fully restoring the payment that Fianna Fáil abolished when it was last in government. My party would propose an additional €375 million for the creaking health budget. That would be €70 million more than the Government plans to spend next year. This would enable prescription charges to come down to a maximum of €10 per month - €1 per item capped at €10 per month and not just a reduction of a fiver in that cap to €20 for pensioners over the age of 70. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has been reported as saying that this is a victory for older people. If that is the case, I shudder to think what a defeat would look like in his eyes. The extra resources we would deploy, which we have costed, would lead to an additional €20 million being allocated in respect of home-care packages. The €10 million extra allocation that this Government appears to be targeting in that direction will not even clear the current backlog.

I am stunned that the Government has halted the work started by Labour in the previous Administration - and supported at that time by Fine Gael - to further reduce class sizes. This is a mistake and under-pressure teachers will be affronted by this failure. Reducing the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools by one point would cost approximately €6 million. I cannot find anything in the Estimates to suggest it is going to come down. I could go on about the poorly-designed and damaging tax measures targeted at first-time buyers which we all know will end up in the pockets of property developers and the shameful fact that overseas development aid does not appear to have been increased at all. We could not find any reference to it but I stand to be corrected if that is not the case.

With pension increases to kick in in March and not on 1 January, I advise that we all pop down to Paddy Power and put any spare fivers we have on an election in March or April because this budget offers "something for everyone in the audience" but no clear and coherent vision of what this society and economy should look like.

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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There has been wide-ranging debate in this Chamber and the Lower House in the aftermath of the budget. As so-called experts outside these Houses get their teeth into reality of the budget, some time will have to pass before its full effect can be categorised. According to the pre-budget statement of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, this budget is expansionary, with a €1.2 billion increase in spending. That is in addition to the spending on the Department of Health and other expenditure approved mid-year, bringing the overall amount to between €2.4 billion and €2.6 billion over the budgeted allocation for 2016 versus 2017. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council erred on the side of caution given the international threats facing this country in the aftermath of Brexit and other international uncertainties, such as interest rates, the overpricing of equity markets and so on.

I welcome some aspects of the budget. However, all of the budgets introduced in the aftermath of the financial crash have been similar to those that preceded it. In other words, the lines of spending have been increased with no overall outlook for the economy in respect of how money is spent and taken in. Buried deep within the budget documents is a €30 million cut to the value-for-money expenditure unit in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, a move that does not make me feel optimistic. We are cutting money where we should be allocating it if we are to behave with fiscal responsibility. That Department will have a greatly increased budget next year but the part of it relating to value-for-money unit is being cut. That is wrong.

There have been allocations in this budget to try to please many and the Government has a responsibility to govern. Those who criticise can do so but those who criticise today are the same people who stood back and made no credible attempt to form an Administration when there was a requirement to do so. The criticism in both Houses today is tongue-in-cheek in nature, particularly when one considers the fact that there was previously a solemn obligation on all Deputies to either cobble together some kind of Government or go to the country again. I do not think the electorate really wanted the latter. The Government has an allocation of money to preside over. We all disagree and have varying opinions. There were missed opportunities in this budget, particularly in respect of Brexit. The financial services sector in the United Kingdom is worth €65 billion in tax income to the British economy. That is 10% of all tax revenue in the UK. Some of the companies involved in that sector want to relocate but there are no incentives built into this budget to try to bring some of them here. Where will they go? Other EU countries will be considering that.

I have a problem with the manner in which the housing loan scheme is structured. Built into it is an incentive for people to bury themselves in debt because they have to take out a mortgage of 80% of the price of a property or greater in order to get the loan. That is wrong and no Government should bring in a scheme that incentivises debt. That is what this loan is doing. It is a failed attempt. We had an alternative proposal, built on the British model, over a four-year period to incentivise saving and for the Government to top it up. This scheme has many drawbacks and I urge the Minister of State to see that this is drastically overhauled prior to the passing of the Finance Bill 2016. This scheme will do nothing but drive up prices and bolster the property investors. It will not work.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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The budget pie has been cut so thinly that no one is going to get fat on it. The Seanad does not have the power to introduce Money Bills. I am somewhat perplexed by the complexity of this. For the past few weeks we have been told about the Government’s engagement with Fianna Fáil to work through a budget. We heard earlier on "Morning Ireland" that there was ongoing consultation. The choreography looked great. I am somewhat surprised. A woman stopped me as I was crossing the street to discuss several issues and asked what good is a fiver for an old age pensioner and what is anyone doing about the local property tax and the hundreds of euro that a widow has to pay because the previous Administration introduced that tax, which is remaining in place under the current Government.Where is the issue of local government reform? What is the cost? Let us put away the fancy figures and talk some simple language. What does the budget do for carers, new entrants to the Garda Síochána, new primary teachers and new nurses? There are ongoing pay disputes with many of these groups. What will happen? Let us talk basics. How many shillings are going to be in people's pockets at the end of the week? I am not too sure who the citizens should be annoyed with, the Government or the main Opposition. I understand the politics. On the radio today, somebody talked about stability. This is not about stability for the economy, the nation or people. It is about political stability for the politicians, to secure themselves in their seats and offices for a little longer. If one calls that success, it will be successful.

I turn to the main Opposition and ask what they will do. To abstain is to acquiesce. If they wanted reform, they had their opportunity, and they should have done something about it. They come here and go to the other House and bellyache about a missed opportunity. I do not want to hear the words "missed opportunity". They have had loads of opportunities. The Government and the main Opposition are in it together. By abstaining, they acquiesce. They should amend, do something. I understand the politics and the distance that must be kept so the Opposition can never be contaminated. They must always be right and ready. The strategists on the fourth floor in Leinster House 2000 might have another plan or vision. This is about reality and politics. We have to leave here and return to our constituents and talk to people about the real effect of the budget and the people who are hurting. I have a neighbour who sits on a wall every week waiting for her pension and has not got a bean other than her pension. Who cares about her? What is being done for her? It is very important.

On a positive note, I thank the Government for its proposal of €1.2 billion for the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the vision of rebuilding Ireland. I single out the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, who has demonstrated his commitment, vigour and enthusiasm to deliver. There is no question of it and if we are honest we can agree. However, while the plans are great, he must deliver and we must see the money. The increase in the tax free allowance for room rental from €12,000 to €14,00 is to be welcomed. The pension issue is a joke. It is the little things that matter. Last week on the Commencement debate, I challenged the Fine Gael deputy leader and former Minister for Health, Senator James Reilly, who was in the Chamber when he said he would be extremely disappointed if the Minister did not come into the House next week - that is today - and restore the telephone rental for old age pensioners. It has not been restored. What does this say about the chairman of Fine Gael who stood up in the Seanad and said he would be disappointed if it did not happen and that he expected it maybe over two years. He has not delivered. It is a terrible thing. A simple measure that could have been done was to deliver the telephone rental to old age pensioners and he had not done it. It is a mean, lousy thing, like the €5, like restoring the Christmas bonus to only 85%. These are little things but they mean a lot when one is vulnerable and lives on the edge. It is up to us as politicians to hold the Government to account and, week in week out, demand it delivers in terms of its programme for Government and budget. I thank the Minister for taking the time to come here and listen to us.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister and thank him. I welcome the opportunity to have the debate and speak and have a real debate on the budget. To listen to some of the people speaking here today, one would reckon we were in the land of Charles Dickens. As I said on the Order of Business, this is the first of three budgets by the Government. Let us put it in the context of where we have come from. We can all eloquently humanise and personalise the stories of our neighbours, family members and friends in terms of disability and health care. Let us put it in context. Today, our country has a budget in which we can give money to people, whether it is investment in public services, home care packages, home help hours or, as Senator John Dolan discussed, increasing disability programmes whereby we can allow all people to have a quality of life, or in the provision of child care and preschool education. I made the point to the Members opposite that they are for nothing and against everything. Their party is the party of high tax. I have had their budget read and analysed by friends who are accountants.

I will repeat what I said on today's Order of Business, because it is worth saying. This is about ensuring the quality of life of all our citizens is improved. It is about ensuring the lives of people are a little better and, hopefully, better in spades, whether through the provision of special needs assistants in schools, the recruitment of more gardaí and nurses, the building of more schools or the provision of capital investment in infrastructure in many of our constituencies. As a social democrat, I have come to the conclusion that Sinn Féin has gone to the left of left. While I have good time for Senator Paul Gavan, he should go to Cuba and stay there and build up the health service and economy, and return to us and say he has done it in Cuba. Sinn Féin did not do it in the North of Ireland and it does not do it here. Sinn Féin members are going to budget meetings in councils across the country and voting "Níl". Sinn Féin comes here every day and has spending proposals bigger than the county hall in Cork. It would want to have the budget of the World Bank to keep it going.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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Our budget was costed by Senator Buttimer's Department.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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It is called voodoo economics.

Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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No, it is not. Senator Buttimer will not get away with that anymore.

Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein)
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Is that as opposed to leprechaun economics?

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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At the same time, we have a Minister for Social Protection announcing a budget with an increase to all people. People complain that the Christmas bonus is only 85%. It was gone until the Government came back. We restored the Christmas bonus. We increased the minimum wage; we did not cut it. More people are at work, some 2 million people. Someone, I think Senator Ó Clochartaigh, mentioned Apple in Cork. He should come down to my city of Cork. I will bring him down with me. He should talk to the men and women who work in Apple and they will tell him about the Apple tax rate and the jobs they are in.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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They are not the people who owe us €13 billion.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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The Senator will get his answer.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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It is about companies paying fair taxation.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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He should come down and talk to the people who, today, will benefit from the sports capital programme being reintroduced. He should come and talk to the hard-pressed men and women who work and who are in the child care sector. They welcome today's budget.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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There are no wage increases for them.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Let us have a debate about the USC, which will increase take-home pay, which Sinn Féin probably opposes.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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What about the increase in the Taoiseach's pay?

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach's pay is not being increased.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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It is, of course, by €40,000 over two years.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Let us have a debate in real terms. If Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh had his way, we would be back in the 1950s waving people off at the dock in Cobh. Today, we are welcoming them home and telling them they can come back and work in our country. I am proud that the Ireland that takes my past pupils, for whom I had to write references when they were leaving between 2007 and 2011, to come back. I take pride in seeing them come home. The budget is not the perfect solution. It is the beginning of the restoration and improvement of the quality of lives of our people. The only party that wanted to go into government was Fine Gael. The rest of the parties said, "No, thank you". It is easy to shout from the sideline. When one makes the decisions in government is where it counts.The Senator's colleagues in the North, whether one likes it or not, do that and take the hard decisions.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Absolutely, on behalf of the people.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Man up and do the same down here.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Senators should allow speakers to contribute without interruption. They can make contradictions in their own subsequent contributions.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State. Today is significant in the history of the State, to be fair, as we have just witnessed the first Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition budget. It is a landmark moment in which the right-wing parties of this State finally come together in a formal coalition of neoliberal politics. The Minister of State is quite a legend in neoliberal politics and the trade union movement is always fascinated by his comments. It is good that Senator Ó Domhnaill is here as just two weeks ago he advocated the privatisation of all public bus services in the State. We can see a natural match between the two right-wing parties. They are two peas in a very right-wing pod, the Irish conservative party in all but name. Like their Tory brothers and sisters across the water, their priorities are the landlord class and the wealthy elite.

The political divide between left and right in this State has never been more salient than today. No longer will those two parties be able to hide behind the safety net of Civil War politics when they go before the electorate. From today, the politics of the State are very clear; it amounts to right-wing and conservative politics from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael versus a left, progressive and republican alternative.

I understand Deputy Micheál Martin called Fine Gael a very right-wing party at the weekend but the media got the wrong end of the stick. Deputy Martin was not complaining about Fine Gael but rather he was eulogising them. That is why his party is supporting today's right-wing budget. One may sit down and play with figures, tinkering with the system here and there, but at the end of the day, the system under a Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil Government remains the same. It is unstable, prone to cycles of boom and bust and has a nasty tendency to produce ever-increasing levels of inequality in our society. The process collapsed eight years ago and Governments have spent the past eight years trying to fix it rather than debating how to change it. Today, the Government has again invested in the very same principles and broken system.

The facts are staring us in the face. According to research from the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, TASC, based on Government figures, 29% of our population live in deprivation, which is double the 2008 rate. Over a third of our children experience deprivation, which is double the 2007 rate, and 58% of lone parents suffer deprivation, which is again double the 2007 rate. I was touched by Senator Ó Domhnaill expressing concern for lone parents but he must have forgotten that his Government slashed payments for lone parents in its last term. Some 35,000 young people emigrated from this country last year, which is a higher number than we saw in 2010. We have 800 fewer hospital beds today than in 2008. Things are not getting better for many people and they are instead getting worse. It is pretty clear this has something to do with the economic choices the Government keeps betting on.

Currently, this State has the lowest levels of capital investment in the history of the State at just 2% of gross domestic product, GDP. Sinn Féin in its alternative budget committed to a major capital investment programme of €1.23 billion, delivering 7,000 new homes, building schools and hospitals, providing flood relief and improving our water infrastructure. Ireland currently has the lowest levels of the 28 countries in the European Union of both government expenditure and revenue as a percentage of GDP. It is currently 35.1%, which is lower than the 2015 level of 38.6%. I am amazed to hear people saying it is a great idea to bring our debt-to-GDP ratio back down to 45% when the EU requirement is only 60%. Such people are actively advocating a monetarist straitjacket for the next decade. We need to change how we view government investments and public expenditure. It is not a cost to the State but rather an investment on which one will see a return. Sinn Féin is committed to investing €630 million in health, €278 million in education, €252 million in child care and €503 million in social protection.

The child care proposals are, frankly, not good enough. We need universal provision and, as usual, Fine Gael had nothing to say about the wages of child care workers. There is nothing to address the issue in its proposal. The average pay in the sector is €10.26 and many workers are on the minimum wage. That has an impact on quality; how can we have quality child care when there is high turnover because people cannot afford to work in the sector? People get more money making sandwiches for lunch in Centra than working as a child care worker.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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The Government has done nothing about that. It should speak with people in SIPTU who represent child care professionals and listen to what their coalition has to say. It has not done that.

This is a regressive budget, a landlord's budget, a building developer's budget and a budget for those people who drove the economy off a cliff. In other words, it is in the best tradition of Fianna Fáil.

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin is waiting for Santa Claus. The policies will not deliver what its Members propose.

Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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Is that what the Senator is waiting for?

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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I will gladly debate the point.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Allow Senator McDowell to speak without interruption.

Michael McDowell (Independent)
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I want to make a few points and I do not want to become involved too much in the cross-aisle banter taking place. References have been made to increases in Deputies' salaries, which is not part of this budget, but some people seem to be forgetting that they are already arranging their internal party arrangements to relax the average industrial wage rule and grant themselves increases privately. Some people in the House should remember that.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Michael McDowell (Independent)
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That is all I want to say on that as I do not want to be more acrimonious. There are two points to make about our current position. With Brexit we must be cautious as we live in a period of uncertainty when foreign direct investment is not a given and the rate of foreign direct investment is decelerated by the uncertainties that currently exist.

I will speak about the self-employed and their treatment at the hands of successive Governments. A self-employed person earning over €100,000 is now paying at the margin 40% tax, 4% PRSI and 11% in universal social charge, amounting to a 55% rate. People should understand what that means. If people are charging 23% VAT, it means that with every additional euro a person receives, the Government is taking 64 cent and the person ends up with 36 cent in his or her pocket. That is a very important point. I am not talking about a wealthy barrister but perhaps a person running a business who is thinking of expanding. He or she will ask the very simple question about whether to take further risk by going to a bank and borrowing money. If these people think a market exists for the service they provide and invest further, they know the State will take the most from their potential success; it will take two thirds of the extra income generated by the investment and they will be left with 34 cent, 35 cent or 36 cent in the euro.

Marginal rates matter in this regard. That applies generally but to Sinn Féin I argue that dynamism in the economy is dealt with at the margin. It is about people applying for overtime in work or somebody thinking about expanding a shop or taking on extra work or business. They make the growth change in our economy. We do not live in a static Marxist world. The incentivised side of the economy is very important.

I will echo another point mentioned by Senator Boyhan on the local property tax. If nothing changes, in two years all properties will have to be revalued. I will put on the record a point I made recently in a newspaper article. For a sum of €400,000 or €500,000, within the purview of the first-time purchasers' assistance package announced today, one would get something very small and nothing grand in south Dublin, Dún Laoghaire and north Dublin. For the same amount, on www.myhome.ierecently I noticed a 3,500 sq. ft. luxurious restored Victorian mansion on five acres in County Laois.The family in a €500,000 house in Dublin may have a mortgage of 80% or, in some cases if they were unfortunate enough to borrow at the wrong time, a mortgage of 100%. The family living in the mansion down in Laois may have no mortgage at all. One family may be a lot wealthier than the other and my point is that many people are walking towards a financial cliff. They are not wealthy people but are pensioners and the like who are living in houses that they do not want to sell or get out of in Senator Boyhan's neck of the woods in Dún Laoghaire. They are not the wealthy class. They are not the people who are living in 3,000 sq. ft. houses on five acres in County Laois. These are ordinary people who are facing a financial cliff. All I am saying is that the alarm bells are now ringing for them. Unless the local property tax is reformed, there will be a very serious attack on their well being and their capacity to support themselves and to live a reasonably frugal existence.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I very much welcome this budget and the €1.3 billion that is available to spend. As a Member of the Oireachtas for the past six years, it was very clear to me that we had to make very tough decisions and cuts year after year as we tried to regain our economic and fiscal sovereignty. The decisions that had to be made were by no means popular. We have reversed that situation in a very short time and all of the stakeholders, particularly the people of Ireland who have gone on this journey with the Government, must acknowledge our success.

A lot of the comments so far have been meaningless, mean and pointless. One begins at the point where we have so much to spend. We only have that amount to spend because Government policies have been about creating wealth and stimulating the economy. Without the tax take and income to the Exchequer, we will not have money to spend on public services.

I note Sinn Féin's mantra that they have costed their alternative budget. They may have costed it but they are talking about imposing €1 billion of new taxes in an economy that is exposed to Brexit. How reasonable is that?

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Only on the people who can afford to pay it.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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Their plan to increase employers' PRSI is literally a tax on jobs.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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That is only for those being paid more than €100,000.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I note that notwithstanding all the parading along the Border-----

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Please allow Senator Mulherin to speak. Senators who had their five minutes want to butt in again. They should allow the Senator to speak and if they want to rebut her arguments, they should do so in a calm way. It is not the normal procedure in this House, unlike at a council meeting, to constantly interrupt speakers. We are running out of time and a Senator from the Opposition side of the House will not be allowed to speak. If Senators keep interrupting, they are simply delaying the process.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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We all know that Brexit poses a huge danger to our economy and our exports, particularly with the fall in the value of sterling. However, Sinn Féin has no plan in its budget to incentivise, encourage or support businesses in that context. Instead, the party is looking at the gains in the economy, the money available to spend and how to spend it. Sinn Féin would spend ten times more if it could and we would be back to square one. It is pure populism and there is no rhyme nor reason to it.

This is a sensible budget and I would not belittle any of its measures. There are a lot of demands for increases in expenditure but any such increases must be sustainable. We cannot make long-term public expenditure commitments based on capital taxes as we did in the past. We have issues in health, education and housing as well as those relating to Brexit and the list goes on. There are so many demands.

I very much welcome the announcements relating to social welfare payments, which will increase by €5. There has been a lot of grandstanding by Fianna Fáil about this but if that party had its way, we would not have seen those with disabilities, carers and other vulnerable groups who rely on social welfare getting their €5. Fianna Fáil was grandstanding on when the €5 increase would be introduced. There must be equality and fairness across the board and this budget recognises the need to give something back to people. Nobody here is claiming that this budget is the be all and end all. This is a process and we must stick with that process because we know there are difficulties ahead, Brexit being one.

I ask the Cathaoirleach to indulge me, given that I was -----

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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If I indulge Senator Mulherin, then the two other speakers -----

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I am just making the point that I was interrupted.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I have allowed for that.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I will be as quick as possible.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I will allow the Senator one minute to conclude.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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Thank you. I very much welcome the provisions for the farming and agrifood sectors and rural Ireland generally. One of the biggest challenges facing us is the fact that people are leaving rural Ireland, leaving the land and moving to cities. This is not just a problem for Ireland but also for Europe and the rest of the world. People are leaving rural areas which is resulting in the creation of super cities, with pressure on housing, schools and so forth.

We have an opportunity to develop a model which makes living in rural Ireland sustainable. We must support sustainable development in rural Ireland in areas like tourism, agrifood and so forth. I welcome the increase in the rural development programme and in particular the payments to farmers by way of the €25 million sheep scheme and the €211 million increase for the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. I also welcome the low-cost loans that will be made available to farmers. There are a number of other supports which will particularly affect people from the area where I am based, where there are a lot of marginal farms. There are approximately 8,500 farmers in receipt of farm assist payments and the cuts to that scheme have been reversed. I also welcome the increases to the rural social scheme. All of these will have a very significant impact. I know that we will have further debates on this but the future of rural Ireland and the vision for rural Ireland is something we must press on with. We must get real results or people will continue to leave rural Ireland.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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There are nine minutes remaining.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, I would like to ask the Acting Leader to extend the time available for this debate so that all Senators who are present and who wish to make a contribution can do so and so that the Minister will have ample time to respond.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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That is not a point of order. Furthermore, it is a matter for the Leader rather than the Acting Leader.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, I would ask that the Leader be called back to the House so that -----

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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We are simply delaying now. Senator Warfield is next with five minutes. According to the rules, I must call a Minister to respond by 6.55 p.m.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, we have done this on many occasions in the past when time has been added for debate. There are -----

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Well, it is a matter for the Leader and if someone can get a message to him, so be it. I am constrained at the moment unless he comes back in. Senator Warfield has five minutes. I am happy to stay here until 9 p.m. It does not matter to me but I cannot make the decision. I am only the Chairman.

Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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As a young person I listened with interest to the issues concerning people in my age group today, one in six of whom have left Ireland and many more of whom remain on social welfare payments. Today with the changes to the jobseeker's rate the Government continued a policy of age discrimination, which is a shameful indictment of this Government's attitude to our young people. Young people aged between 18 and 24 will see an increase of €2.70. Cheers for that. It will go a long way for those between 18 and 24. It will increase their payment to €102. Separately, 25 year olds will receive an increase of €3.80, from €144 to €147. Why, as our economy recovers, are young jobseekers still facing discrimination on the basis of age? Rather than nominal increases, all of our citizens seeking jobs deserve the standard jobseeker's allowance rate. Instead, young jobseekers continue to struggle to make ends meet with insufficient supports for living expenses and no support for seeking work. If the Government places such a value on young jobseekers, what message does that send to the private sector and to those employing our young people? Young people under the age of 26 should be entitled to equal payment.

Cultural activists have, since the beginning of this Government's term, tried to make their voices heard as they called for decency, fairness and acknowledgement from policy makers. These are the voices of artists struggling to make ends meet, most of whom earn less than €10,000 per year. Artists, like the majority of our society, deserve a break. They want the cost of living to be reduced. They are crippled by water charges, the property tax, child care costs and a broken health system.Sinn Féin has called for called for and budgeted for increased investment in public services, fair taxation and a reduction in the cost of living. No citizen can go about their day without availing of public services. No citizen can go about their day without experiencing and engaging with the arts. The arts have a transformative effect on the individual and society and I often wonder why the Government does not acknowledge that effect. Is it because the Government knows that artists critique society and social norms? Is it because the Government knows that a resourced artist threatens the establishment? Does it know that the arts have an incredible ability to empower citizens to mobilise for progressive change? Maybe it is none of the above. Maybe the Government will not acknowledge the power of the arts because those making policy have never experienced the transformative effect for themselves. It is common sense to invest in public services. It is common sense to invest in society. It is common sense to invest in our cultural landscape because when we do invest in the arts, we benefit the economy, tourism sector and the health of society and communities.

Hidden at the back of today's budget book, in budget 2017, are cuts of €30 million to the programme area of arts, culture and film. That amounts to cultural vandalism. No citizen can go about their day without experiencing the arts. Instead, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have moved to shrink the tax base ignorant of the need for a fair economy and just society, and one in which public investment delivers for Ireland's future. Despite the need for capital investment, budget 2017 significantly reduces capital spend by more than €34 million when programme areas of the arts, culture and film, as well Irish language, the Gaeltacht and islands are combined. That reduction in capital spend could have been used to support growth and animation in the film industry. The funding could have addressed regional imbalance among cultural institutions, thus truly recognising their mandate as national. It could have supported works and preservations at museums, galleries, libraries and institutions. It could have offered artists the security of tenure in urban areas via State support for spaces.

Budget 2017 proves that its authors in Fine Gael treat the arts community with contempt and disdain and are oblivious to the benefits that investment in the arts can bring to society, the economy and our tourism offering.

Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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The Leader of the House blamed Sinn Féin for claiming that we live in Dickensian conditions in this country. He needs to open his eyes because such conditions exist for many such as the homeless and people awaiting housing. People with a disability have been given an insulting extra €5 per week even though there are greater mobility costs for them. Senator Dolan is more able than me to talk about the costs associated with disability and gaining access. The Irish Wheelchair Association made an impressive presentation and told us that it costs an extra €200 per week for people with mobility issues to live their lives.

Sinn Féin asked for the USC to be retained. The Government has portrayed us as basket cases when it comes to economics. I put it to the Government members that it is they who are the basket cases as they have allowed the USC to be whittled away. Sinn Féin has prudently costed the property tax. There is nothing in the budget either about the abolition of the dreaded water charges, and Fianna Fáil has suddenly realised it can use the issue to best advantage. The water charges issue has not gone away and will return in March 2017. The Government can deal with the issue in its own way at that time but people will protest on the streets.

Every single housing agency has come out against the help-to-buy scheme. It will only enrich the builders and speculators. We are returning to an era of boom and having a false economy. Have we not learned our lessons? Are we not clever enough to learn from mistakes? Is the Government trying to be populist, as Senator Mulherin has called Sinn Féin, keeping everybody sweet and neat and saying we can go on as we always have done?

Sinn Féin and I are about change and revolution. We have a different way of viewing society, nurturing society and nurturing the social clause. Sinn Féin wants to nurture the idea that people gave in the general election just gone. Yes, we want more public services. We are not really into it for our own gain. We want to see this country ticking over happily pursuing happiness, as stated in the Proclamation. That is Sinn Féin's strategy. I will not take any more insults from the Government claiming Sinn Féin has basket case economics. We have costed our proposals but the Government has not even opened our document as it has no interest in doing so. It is the same old thing with Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and sometimes the Labour Party. We see the same faces time and again on budget day who give us the same old drivel and tell us to be grateful.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I call the Minister of State. There were two Senators here, one Independent and one from Fianna Fáil, who realised that they would not get to join the debate and so withdrew. If I let in one Senator in then I will have to let others in.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, I would like to note that it is very unfair that all Senators were not allowed to speak on a very important day. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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That is not a point of order.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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It is the most important debate of the year and it is unfair that Senators are excluded, no matter where they come from.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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If I allow Senators to contribute in one debate then I will have to allow it for others.

Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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A few minutes will do.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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What about the two Senators who have left because I told them they would not get in?

Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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I shall leave it to the Cathaoirleach's superior wisdom.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I can give Senator Ó Clochartaigh two or three minutes. There were two Senators here, one from the Fianna Fáil side and Senator Ruane, who left because they felt that with the number of Senators present they would not get an opportunity to speak. I cannot have five speaking slots for Sinn Féin, two for another group and one for another group. I will let the Senator in for two or three minutes but I do not to be accused tomorrow of being overly flexible.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Tá mé an-bhuíoch duit, a Chathaoirligh, faoi dhá nóiméad a thabhairt dom.

The tax and spend measures in the budget today are continuing the same failed housing policies that have been mentioned before. The first-time buyer's scheme will drive up prices. Subsidies for private landlords are almost the same as funding for real social housing, with as much being spent on it. There is nothing meaningful in the budget for homeless families, families on housing waiting lists, those paying excessive rents or those unable to purchase family homes. Sinn Féin's alternative budget showed an absolute difference.

Ós rud é go bhfuil mé i mo urlabhraí ar chúrsaí Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta, teastaíonn uaim a rá go bhfuil sé náireach go bhfuil gearradh siar de 9% déanta ar bhuiséad na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta. Tá sé náireach freisin go bhfuil Fianna Fáil, a bhí ag rá go raibh sé ag tacú le pobal na Gaeilge, sásta glacadh le buiséad ina bhfuil ciorrú den chineál seo á dhéanamh. Ar an mbunús sin amháin, ba cheart go mbeadh an Seanadóir Ó Domhnaill ag vótáil i gcoinne an bhuiséid seo. Tá neart le rá aige ar an raidió faoi chúrsaí Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta. Cá bhfuil an €7 milliún a bhí geallta don pholasaí oideachas Gaeltachta? Nuair a bhí muid i Sinn Féin ag cur ár gcuid moltaí chun cinn roimh an mbuiséad, mholamar go mbeadh €1.5 milliún breise ar fáil do phleanáil teanga, €5 milliún breise ar fáil mar chaipitil d'Údarás na Gaeltachta, €4.5 milliún ar fáil mar chreidmheas cánach agus €7.58 milliún ar fáil d'Fhoras na Gaeilge.

It is ironic to hear handwringing from former barristers and people who have done very well for themselves.

Michael McDowell (Independent)
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I am a former barrister.

Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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And practising barristers.

Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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I did not think it was former.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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It was Senator McDowell who used the phrase "wealthy barristers". Given that there are those who are very much trying to make ends meet on the minimum wage, on zero-hour contracts or in precarious jobs, such as teachers may have precarious contracts, gardaí and so forth, it is ironic to hear others doing the ochón ochón for those who earn quite well. Any elements where we ask people to pay more only apply to people who earn more than €100,000 per annum. We ask them to pay only 7 cent extra per euro on anything earned above €100,000, which is very fair. Sinn Féin is willing to tax the wealthy. We are willing to increase the tax base but we want to do so in a way that is fair to people who have less than others.

There has been talk of bringing people home from abroad. We are bringing people home from abroad who cannot afford car insurance, get their children into schools and have issues with accessing many different things.

On issues for older people, the minuscule increases have been lauded. Sinn Féin would have spent €410 million, reinstated the transitional State pension, increased the fuel allowance by three weeks, reintroduced the bereavement grant at €600, put €1 million more into the warmer homes scheme and increased home packages by 10%. The delayed increase of €5 in the pension rings hollow when one considers the increases amounting to €14,650 that the Taoiseach will get over two years and the increase of €12,735 that Ministers will get. Those sums are more than what some people earn in a year. It is a disgrace that these moneys are not being used for the betterment of the people who need it most in society.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senators for the opportunity to speak on this important debate on the budget. I have a number of notes and I hope to get to every point raised by each Member. I will do my best to leave my party political hat at the door but it may be difficult at times. I will leave my neoliberal hat at the door anyway. I always thought I wore a Lakean neo-Wilsonian hat. That is what I used to parade around in back in my student days.

I want to speak first to the ratio of spending to tax reductions and the 2:1 ratio in the confidence and supply arrangement with Fianna Fáil. The arrangement was important in terms of putting a government in place and not falling into the risks facing other countries in Europe, which now face not being able to form a government. It has moved now to a 3:1 ratio. It is important to look to the programme for a partnership Government, the 156-page document, and the commitments arrived at between Fine Gael and Independent Ministers. They looked to moving to a budget with a 3:1 ratio, which is where this comes from. That is an important source for the change in direction since the formation of Government.

There was a comment on capital gains tax only being available up to €1 million. The reduction to 10% is important in terms of a step change in making ourselves as attractive a location as possible for the relevant types of investment when we look at the comparisons in the UK.

The measure for first-time buyers is not a pure demand-side measure when we consider the details because it can only be leveraged against new builds. That should incentivise supply. I was interested to hear contradictory remarks in the Chamber about it doing nothing to increase supply but also lining the pockets of developers. I am unsure how that adds up. Reference was made to the cost of new builds within the M50. This applies to new builds up to a price of €600,000. However, the tax rebate is capped at €20,000 and it applies at 5% up to €400,000. It will allow people to leverage their own additional income when buying a new build as a first-time buyer. We should remember they are leveraging their own income against the rebate. It will not work against people who are looking to buy new builds either outside the M50 or within it.

The budget has been Brexit-proofed in every sector of the economy. Let us consider the contingency planning that has gone on for a year or more. Everything the Government is doing across each sector of the economy is being done with Brexit in mind. There are specific measures, including increased funding for our diplomatic presence in different jurisdictions overseas and new posts for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Others relate to agriculture and measures for small and medium-sized enterprises and higher education. These are all designed with Brexit at the forefront because it is such a great challenge for this Government, as it will be for future governments in the coming ten or 20 years.

We have seen new investment in third level education for the first time since the crisis. The allocation of €36 million is a significant investment. It is welcome but we recognise we need to go further. There is a problem with the funding model for third level and if we do not get it right we will have far bigger problems down the line. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, referred to the commitment to increased investment in third level, as well as looking at the funding structure and coming with proposals later in the lifetime of this Government. Measures for additional teachers have been allocated in this budget, as well as 900 extra resource teachers. This is important in terms of ensuring we meet the needs of our students.

The capital spend represents an increase of 26% over 2016 and that is important. Of course we are coming from a low base in capital spending because capital spending was cut so dramatically when the crisis took hold. However, we are now trying to build it back as resources allow. Of course, every additional allocation of money spent on capital takes away from current spending and from the investments people want in pensions, education and health care. We have to find a balance. When we are considering budgetary choices and what we call the fiscal space and the European rules, we have to make choices. One is balanced off against another. If we call for an increase in capital spending, then we have to propose where to decrease current spending. A review of the capital plan is scheduled for next year. This relates to the plan announced last year. This is important because new resources are being put towards capital spending. We need to ensure they are being addressed in the appropriate areas. I agree that the EU rules should give greater flexibility when it comes to capital spending, public private partnerships and potential changes from EUROSTAT that might have a negative impact on our ability to leverage public funding and to get increased private investment into capital infrastructure projects.

Reference was made to the universal social charge cuts. This is important and people will welcome a lower tax burden when we see how the tax burden was increased for those fortunate enough to be able to remain in work through the crisis. Up to 300,000 people were unemployed and there was a vast cut in our tax base. Extraordinary taxation was put on people who were working. The economy is recovering and more people are going back to work. The figure is now over 2 million people, which is where we were before the crisis. This means we have scope to reduce that tax burden on people. We need to consider the difficult circumstances low and middle-income earners are facing. These include people with young families, lone parents and young students who are working. The USC cuts will help them to retain more of the money they earn from the hard work they do. That is why reducing the tax burden at low and middle-income levels is so important.

Cigarettes have gone up by 50 cent. Personally, I would have gone up a little more because of the extraordinary cost smoking has, not only in terms of the health and lives of people but also in terms of the economic cost for the State and every taxpayer.

We cannot do everything in this budget. We have to make increases and changes, particularly in areas like social welfare, where we can on a step-by-step basis. Of course we would have liked to increase the pension by more than €5, but what would that mean in terms of increasing other social welfare weekly payments? We are trying to be fair. We are trying to bring fairness to as many people as possible because everyone suffered in the crisis. We cannot do everything in one budget but we believe that in this budget we have made important changes for enough people and we have signalled that those changes will continue in future.

Health spending will increase more than 7% over 2016. The increase is more than €1 billion. That is incredibly significant. The important thing is that this money is spent in the right way. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform referred to a review next year of all spending, not only in terms of the increases announced each year but in how we put the €58 billion to work for social goods in our economy. That is really important and there is an important role for the health committee to play in targeting that spending to ensure it is being spent appropriately.

We have to work the Lansdowne Road agreement. It is important for industrial peace. The people who sign up to that agreement are bound by it and are working to it. Having said that, a commission will be established and will undertake important work in terms of mapping out the future as to what public sector pay and industrial relations will look like in the years ahead.

The gradual reduction in DIRT is important. We are moving it down to 33%, which will make it the same as the rate for capital gains tax. I think that is the right direction. However, we should recognise that because rates are so low in the banks, depositors do not get a great return from whatever savings they have at the moment. Anyway, the Government will do what it can to relieve the burden of taxation in this regard.

Rebuilding Ireland is an important plan and represents a strong commitment from the Government. The plan needs time in certain areas to allow it to work. There are other more short-term measures like the €200 million that was previously announced, €50 million of which is in this budget, to release potential landbanks and infrastructure investment. That is incredibly important in parts of Dublin when it comes to building new bridges across the Liffey and other landbank projects. It is also important in terms of building wastewater treatment and roads and other things we can do to ensure that our land, which is a finite resource, particularly around urban areas, is being used in the appropriate way.

Funding is being put in place to recruit new gardaí. This is being matched with funding to bring in civilian people to do administrative work in the Garda. There will be several hundred posts. This is important to ensure gardaí, who are so well trained and who know how to keep the peace, are able to work on the front line rather than being overburdened with administrative work. The Defence Forces were mentioned in the context of funding as well. They do incredible work. It says something important about the Government and the priorities of the Oireachtas that, with the scarce resources we have for defence, we chose to deploy them in the Mediterranean to save the lives of people who are desperate to flee harrowing circumstances in their countries. That says something good and it is good that we are maintaining that commitment in the Mediterranean and overseas.

The new measures under housing address a number of areas, including homelessness. The figures include €28 million for emergency accommodation and a 220% increase in funding for housing assistance payments. We have measures in place for students under the room-to-rent scheme as well. There are measures for first-time buyers and new builds. There are measures to renovate existing stock. Mortgage interest relief measures are being extended. All of these will work together, hopefully, to try to unlock the choke point in housing supply at the moment. That is vital not only for the homelessness crisis and people on social housing schemes or those trying to get on social housing schemes, but also for young couples and first-time buyers who are trying to buy for the first time to get some stability in their home lives as they build them. It also is relevant for people who are looking to downsize who have been caught in a negative equity trap that still has not realised itself and may not. Others may have growing families and may need to move in to different types of accommodation. We need to allow all of that to work and allow a proper market to function. We hope these schemes will work in tandem with the good work being done by the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney.

One of the important things in agriculture that will be of immediate significance to people in the sector is the ability to step out from the income averaging over five years. People need to be able to step out this year, if necessary, because of the difficulties encountered and the difficulties coming down the line in respect of the impact of Brexit and how it will hit our agrifood sector.

Sterling and currency fluctuations are of concern. There are further changes to come in terms of the relationship between sterling and the euro. Some companies have hedged. Some companies have natural hedging because they import but others are not in this position. We are trying to look after those exporting companies in this budget. There is a scheme in place, the foreign earned income, to help them diversify into foreign markets.I recently had the opportunity to do that in Asia with 12 Enterprise Ireland client companies doing excellent work there and looking to build new relationships on existing ones. That scheme will help. In its contingency planning, Enterprise Ireland has also flagged the potential need for some sort of a fund which could step in to deal with currency exchanges. The contingency planning we are doing around Brexit is a constant. It did not stop when the decision was announced. It was based on the 12 months’ previous work we had done and we are constantly reviewing it. There is a mechanism through the Taoiseach’s Cabinet sub-committee for us to report back in about different developments and changes we believe may need to happen, based on the feedback we are getting from the various markets.

A new spend transparency website, under the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and e-Government for which I have responsibility, was launched today. It gives as much detail as possible in real time not just to Oireachtas Members, but members of the public. When one checks the website for trends over the past several years, one will see the amount of money going to unemployment support has decreased, while the amount going to income and back-to-work supports has increased. The Government uses public moneys to invest in people who are trying to get back into work. That is the most productive way to do it. It is more beneficial for those individuals as well. The website is whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie.

The 45% debt to GDP ratio is an important target. It is important we state now how we look to the future and protect the economy into the next five to ten years. It is important we reduce our exposure to the foreign bond market, which can be unpredictable, and the need to borrow or service debt, in so far as being able to prioritise investment in our economy in the years ahead.

An amendment to the section 110 provision has been published by the Minister for Finance. Consultation is ongoing and further details of that will be worked out in the course of the finance Bill. On a separate note, increased resources will be given to Revenue for it to collect taxes efficiently. We are also looking at areas where Revenue can tackle tax avoidance. The Minister has also flagged potential changes to legislation as a result of the leak of the Panama papers. From that, we hope to collect quite a significant amount of increased taxation into next year and the year after.

In so far as how we tax people in our economy, I do not believe it is fair that a Government would take more than half of what someone earns in a given week. That acts as a disincentive to work and productivity in the economy. For those earning €50,000 or more in the economy, who are paying 81% of all universal social charges and income tax, is it fair to ask them to pay even more? I do not think so and it would be counterproductive in the economy. When one looks at how we structured the economy, we focused on getting people back to work. Through doing that, we have brought in extra revenue to the Exchequer. Through that, we have been able to reduce taxation for those working already. In turn, this has allowed increased investment in companies and jobs, as well as increased productivity in the economy. This is the means by which one gets extra taxation, namely, increasing activity. The more one taxes something, the less one will get from it. There is a point at which it becomes completely counterproductive. When we look at certain proposals from certain parts of this House, that is exactly what we would be walking into. The model we have used over the past five years has worked. There are over 2 million people back in work. We are now in a position where we will eliminate the deficit by 2018, bring debt to GDP ratios to a sustainable level and have money to increase investment in our society. I do not know why we would risk that model which is working. When one looks at negative and less than 1% growth levels around the world, and despite Brexit, Irish growth rates are forecasted at 4.2% this year, 3.5% growth next year and 3.25% the year after that. This model is working for us. I do not know why we would throw that out and risk it on some mystic, quasi-academic model which has not been proven anywhere.

Car insurance premiums are a concern. The working group of which I am in charge will have proposals in the next couple of weeks for the Minister to help combat increased premiums which are eroding the gains some are seeing in their income tax. We must ensure we come up with sensible recommendations which are going to solve the problem as we see it. I will have those recommendations for the Minister in several weeks and I would be more than happy to discuss them in this Chamber.

Disability is an incredibly important part of what we do as a society and how we invest in the social good. Millions of euro are spent in this area every year. Some contributors gave the impression that nothing is being done and taxes are not put to good use. Of course, they are. In this budget, we have seen an increase in the home carer’s credit, which is important, while dental and optical benefits have been extended. Significant investment is being made in the disability sector. The increase of €5 is something. This budget cannot go further but others will. The extension of the medical card to children and domiciliary care are important measures we are making in our social welfare spend.

There is a 35% increase in spending for early learning intervention. How we view young people is important and how we view an economic investment in our future by focusing on the early learning years. Great work has been done on this in my constituency. It is an important way in which we can structure our resources in terms of government funding. The new structures for child care will be announced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, in the Dáil later, if they have not been already. It will help low and middle income working parents who have such high child care costs.

A key part of Brexit-proofing is education. In terms of the international financial services strategy which I lead in the Department, we have made upskilling, education and apprenticeships a key pillar of our strategy to increase that sector by 30%. It will be in high-end jobs such as data analytics. We will achieve this by working through the National College of Ireland, the Central Bank and the industry. It is an important part of our commitment to education to ensure we are helping Irish graduates, as well as others at any point in their life cycle, to get good and new jobs. It will allow them to move out of one particular job they may not have liked and go into something completely different. The apprenticeship schemes allow four days in the workplace and one day in the college. It comes with a meaningful salary with a minimum of €35,000 on the first pillar and €50,000 on the second pillar. It is an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, learn and upskill, as well as the opportunity for new companies to come into Ireland because we have the educated staff they require. That then benefits the wider economy through indirect jobs.

Foreign direct investment created 187,000 jobs in this economy. Depending on the different multipliers and which sector one looks at, it has been worked out that as many as three indirect jobs in ancillary services, such as real estate or catering, are created by each direct job. All companies benefit as a result of foreign direct investment. We must ensure we are investing in education so that this can continue.

The sports capital grant for next year is welcome. Members know how a small investment in sporting capital grants will have a disproportionate positive impact for communities and people’s health and welfare. I am glad this will return next year. I hope it will be announced early to ensure we can have some investments made in advance of the summer season.

VAT and charities is an important area. It is good the Government is committed to examining this further as it requires further investigation. I hope we can do something on this.

There is new funding for transport in the budget through the public service obligation, capital road stock maintenance, finishing the Luas and certain road schemes referred to by Ministers earlier in the Dáil.

The introduction of paternity care is important. The fact that we are combining a universal and a means-tested element is important because we want to ensure the limited resources we have go the people who need them the most. People at the lower and middle incomes who are having difficulties can also get help. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, will speak on that, if she has not already. I do not want to pre-empt her remarks on the finer details.

The commitment to the low paid can be very much seen in the universal social charge reductions, the changes to the thresholds and how they apply to the second and third band. There is also another increase in the minimum wage. Although it might only work to counter an increase in inflation, it is still important. It must be recognised that the increases in minimum wage do not always necessarily benefit those on it. Sometimes people on higher wages experience more of a benefit in real terms compared to those in the minimum wage. We have to be careful when we talk about the minimum wage and not get it confused with the living wage, which is what the Government is working towards.

Is this an expansionary budget? It is important, and when we look at Brexit as well, that we find a balance in being prudent in how we structure our resources, rainy day funds and other checks and balances in spending.However, it is necessary to make investments to protect our economy from some of the threats from Brexit. We need to find a balance between the two concerns. This is a prudent budget that balances the need for investment to grow the capacity of the economy and meet people's needs in areas such as education and housing with the requirement to be cautious enough to protect us from any downturns or negative tailwinds in the international economy.

There is a range of incentives in place for international financial services and, in addition, we have several natural incentives in this regard. For example, we are another common law jurisdiction for companies moving out of the UK and we will, moreover, be the only English-speaking country left in the EU after the UK leaves. Our corporate tax rate has been very effective in securing jobs for the economy. Investments we have made in education have likewise helped to attract employment to the State. Other incentives include a programme to encourage high net worth individuals and companies to relocate here and bring staff with them and the knowledge development box to encourage research and development in the State. Many financial services companies are engaged in research and development projects relating to payments and financial technology, fintech. We are looking to relocate that resource into this country. There is a great deal of commercial space coming online to accommodate these developments. The provision of regional incentives, including in Letterkenny, Kilkenny, Tralee and Drogheda, have helped to build the very strong financial services offering we have around the country. We have good incentives, good clusters and good hubs. We will build off the back of that using the IFS 2020 strategy and other measures that are coming down the line.

The local property tax has been frozen in terms of increases and the recalculating of the base rate, which was due to happen this year. That gives us time to reform the tax and it is important we do so. It was introduced at a particular time in our economic history, a time when we needed to raise a certain amount of revenue. We have an opportunity now to reform it and that work will be guided by reports that have already been done and further work that will be done by the Oireachtas.

This budget demonstrates our ongoing commitment to assisting the low paid. Reference was made to what the last Government did or did not do in this regard. In fact, one of that Government's first actions, in its first budget in 2011, was to increase the minimum wage. We also took 700,000 people out of the universal social charge net and introduced caps for workers earning more than €70,000 to ensure they did not get a disproportionate benefit from tax changes introduced. The evidence does not support claims that certain budgets in the past favoured the wealthy. If we are to have budgeting that is evidence-based, we must maintain some type of respect for what actually happened in the past in terms of budget changes.

The self-employed will see benefits from this budget. SMEs are the job creators and retainers of our national economy and play an important part in local economies throughout the country. Anything we can do to help the self-employed and bring them back to some type of parity with PAYE workers is welcome. The provisions in this budget are just another step in a process that was initiated in previous budgets. We have further to go but we are heading in the right direction.

I am not sure I understand the point about age discrimination against the young. Some €36 million is being invested at third level, the first time we have seen any type of significant investment in that sector since the crisis. Young jobseekers will be better off after this budget. The first-time buyer's incentive disproportionately favours young people. The minimum wage increases and USC reductions will help young people in lower-paid jobs, be they students or otherwise.

The budget provides for a year-on-year increase of over €1 billion in investment in public services in 2017. We had a huge investment in the arts last year to do with the centenary commemorations. No single party should try to claim ownership over the arts. This is something which impacts us all every day, whether we realise it or not. My party has shown its commitment in this regard at every budget since 2011. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has done, and continues to do, a huge job. In the film sector, the quality of films being produced and made out of Ireland sends a message to people around the world. There are several exciting potential developments in this regard in respect of which we may see an announcement early next year.

I hope I have addressed all the points that were raised. I very much welcome the opportunity to engage with Senators on this important budget. There is more to come in terms of the finance Bill and other Bills, which will provide greater detail of what we hope to do in the course of 2017. As I said, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has indicated that a spending review will take place next year. While the budget provides for an increase in spending in 2017, there is a need now to review the entire stock of the €58 billion and how it gets spent, to ensure we are spending it efficiently and effectively. We must be certain the taxes that are raised from people's hard work are going towards the public good in a significant way, as we in the Oireachtas see that public good.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. When is it proposed to sit again?

Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.