Simon Harris

The Irish electorate are sophisticated. Funding for an additional 35,000 places has been provided. A cap will be put in place for next September for those with the highest fees. We are extending the footwear and clothing allowance for the first time to children in preschool. I am sure this is something that the Social Democrats must support but did not fund in their alternative budget. The elector…

They listened when the leader of the Social Democrats promised that VAT for the hospitality sector would be set at 9% and then walked away from it.

This is because the Social Democrats do not believe that cafés in my constituency - in Greystones, Delgany or Bray - deserve the VAT cut that they promised during the election and which they are now walking away from. There is a pub-----

I can produce the image. The Social Democrats are going to vote against a measure to help with jobs in towns and villages across Ireland and I do not think that was very good thing to do.

I will not accept that at all. I will accept that we will do what we promised the people we were going to do to in the general election. Not too many of us in here, including myself, have had to lie awake at night wondering how we are going to pay the wage bill. Not many of us have to wonder that if we get sick and cannot run the café where our income is going to come from. Not too many of us have…

We have very different economic ideology and I will not debate that in the two minutes available to me. As the Deputy rightly said, 75% of the businesses in the hospitality sector employ fewer than ten people. If I walked around the Deputy's constituency with him, which I would be happy to do some time, it would be a brave politician who stood on the floor of the shop, café, restaurant or pub that…

No, it would not. To be clear in case Deputy Newsome Drennan has not read her own party's alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposed this as well, so Sinn Féin is in favour of this and agrees with us on this one. The rate of 9% is supported by Sinn Féin as well, so I thank her for that support. Deputy Healy does not support it and that is his right. On balance, we think this is the right thing to do.…

We are not going to agree on this, so no, the Government does not intend to reverse the commitment it gave and is delivering on, but it needs to be seen in context. This is an important measure to back business and jobs in regional and rural Ireland. It is also just one of a number of measures. The budget allocated a hell of a lot more to childcare, disability, education and health than it did to …

Please do not mislead carers. Family carers deserve to know the truth and this is the truth. We have frozen VAT at 9% for gas and electricity for the next five years and we are making sure an extra 50,000 households throughout the country will benefit from the fuel allowance. We are extending the renter's tax credit. We have the back of Irish people and the back of businesses. Crucially, the meas…

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. It is fair to say he raises these issues on a very ongoing basis. Recently I was at Kildare Chamber of Commerce with Deputy Neville and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, where we had a good chance to sit down and talk with the Kildare Chamber of Commerce. What I heard very clearly from it was the growing frustration that the county, not dissimilar to my co…

I agree with Deputy Neville. It is important that local government, national government and State agencies work in partnership to try to drive forward the delivery of this infrastructure which is much needed in north Kildare. It is stark when Deputy Neville makes the point that when we look at Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth together there is a population of 53,000 people. As he says, it is almost…

I thank Deputy Doherty very much for raising this issue. I had the opportunity to visit Donegal in the not-too-distant past and I met some of the fishing organisations and fishers in Killybegs. I know what a worrying time this is for people, as do the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who has specific responsibility for the area. There is no doubt that the proposal…

That is disgraceful to hear. I am not going to endeavour to justify it. It is not acceptable. These sorts of things drive any right-thinking person absolutely berserk. That is appalling. I suggest that anybody who thinks there is not a clinical need should go spend an evening with Josh, as his family does in caring for him. I will ask the relevant Minister to follow up with Deputy Lawlor and the H…

Deputy Hearne is captured by an ideology that believes private investment in the housing market is bad.

Yes.

What the Deputy said about me was completely untrue. It is not pleasant, is it?

We are taking every step we possibly can to endeavour to increase housing supply. There is a viability issue when it comes to apartment construction. Anything that can assist in the construction and sale of apartments is a good thing. Of course, this is only one of the many things we are doing to try to help.

I do not know why the Deputy keeps saying "billions" when the total cost of the measure is-----

You cannot just say a million here and a million there comes to a billion.

Half a billion is not the same as a billion.

The Deputy came in here and said that we were giving billions for completed apartments.

We are not. That is misinformation.

The total package is millions. The proportion that will go to completed apartments is presumably a very small fraction of that.

It is nowhere near billions. Accuracy matters when one is talking about taxpayers' money.

After disagreeing with Deputy Healy earlier, I find myself more in agreement with him in relation to this matter. As the Deputy knows and has alluded to, we have allocated extra money for the disabled person's grant in the budget. The question he is asking is a fair one, namely, whether we can do anything between now and the end of the year in relation to Tipperary. We always keep these issues und…