Micheál Martin

She should welcome the move we have made in that regard. We have to do more, but there is a €300 million package alone for the lowest income. Look at the objective assessment. The Labour Party should acknowledge that the two lowest-income deciles will benefit the most from this budget. That is the reality. In terms of disability, there are significant increases in a range of payments, particularl…

No, I said during the election that I wanted to maintain the enterprise economic model that we have, which Deputy Murphy resolutely opposed.

That was a big choice in the election and people voted accordingly in terms of that fundamental principle.

That is why we have invested in public services. This is a €9.4 billion budget. A lot of economists are saying it is too high and we should not be expending as much as we are spending.

Sorry, that is what a lot of economists are saying to us. We disagree. We think the expenditure increase is in line with the basic premise of an expenditure rule, that this represents real growth of the economy-----

-----and a change in price levels. That is the Government's position. It is a very substantial investment in public services. On the second tier, some of the models for the second tier would result in thousands of children losing out. What we have opted to do, in a more straightforward way, is to substantially and unprecedentedly, in terms of the scale of the increases the Minister, Deputy Callea…

It is not a question of we cannot do everything. We have provided very effective measures in respect of child poverty in this budget, which the Deputy seems to have deliberately ignored. There is a weekly increase of €16 in the child support payment, to €78, for children aged 12 and over. That is now up to €4,056 per annum. There is a child support weekly increase of €8, to €58, for children aged …

The Minister, Deputy Browne, sought that. The increase in allocation to enable 10,000 houses to be built, as opposed to any additional leases and so on, is also very significant. With respect, the Deputy cannot say it is about the market being king in terms of housing because the Government is the biggest single investor in housing at the moment.

Where I disagree with her is, if we want to get to 50,000 houses, we will need the private sector involved. We will. There is a tendency in the Opposition to decry builders or people who will have to build the houses. The bottom line is we have a problem with the viability of apartments. That is well known. There are 40,000 apartments with planning permissions, but they are not being built because…

-----the Minister has taken, in addition to the VAT-----

-----will, combined, enable us to get apartments built. We need the private sector in-----

-----to complement what the State is doing. The market is not king according to my philosophy because, in the past four to five years, we have substantially increased the State's investment in housing. This budget does so again with very significant increases.

If we want to get to the level we want to get to, however, we absolutely have to have a combination of public sector investment in housing, along with private sector investment in housing.

The Social Democrats' policies would, in our view, shut out completely the private sector-----

-----contribution to the housing issue. On the cost of disability payment, as I said, we took steps to enhance the disability allocation by 20%. Also, the domiciliary care allowance is going up by €20 per month, which will be important for those families.

There are 177,000 people on disability allowance who will get a minimum of an extra €520 in 2026. There is an increase of €618 million in the disability budget. That is not a minor amount. It is a very significant increase. By the way, last year, the Social Democrats supported a VAT reduction for hospitality. They did. Yet, they come here today and say they are all against it. They voted against i…

You did. You said hospitality should be split between accommodation and food for a 9% VAT rate.

On 9 November, that is the statement that was made.

The Deputies come in here today and attack the Government for doing what they asked us to do the previous year. That is inconsistent.

I could use worse language to describe it but I will not do that. It is essential for this country that we invest in our future and that is what we are doing. The capital budget is very significant here in terms of roads, energy and housing. We have allocated substantial funds.

I have to disagree with the Deputy. The VAT cut for the hospitality sector is overwhelmingly a support for small businesses and the businesses he talked about in Mallow and Glenville.

I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, could tell the Deputy about the impact the cut in hospitality VAT will have in west Cork, which his colleague, Deputy Collins, sought as well.

The Deputy needs to be consistent. Right throughout west Cork, there will be many cafés and restaurants thrilled with that decision because it will underpin jobs-----

-----in those areas throughout.

People go on about fast food chains and McDonald's. These are all franchises run by local people. Even though you see the McDonald's or Burger King sign, it is still local people employing young people and so on. That is what we are talking about. We are not talking about money for the big chains.