I welcome a group of transition year students who are with me today into the Gallery. They are aspiring TDs and are very welcome. This Government is budgeting like there is no tomorrow. It seems that prudent Paschal was actually profligate Paschal. Mr. Donohoe goes to Washington and leaves behind an overspend climbing towards €4 billion in 2025. In his second week on the job, the Tánaiste has had a rap on the knuckles from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. IFAC has once again pointed out what is plain for all to see. The Government’s budget is a work of fiction. The Taoiseach has just said that the Government is competent on the economy, but it does not even have a fiscal plan beyond next year. Were the Taoiseach a CEO coming before a board of directors, it is frankly hard to see how he would be allowed to continue in his role. He castigates the Opposition for calling for investment, and Government spokespersons in the media today painted a picture of perfect prudence. He claims to be balancing the need to run a society as well as the economy. That is right. Of course he should. However, what has the Taoiseach got to show for the running of society? There are more than 5,000 children homeless, unaffordable rents and house prices, a creaking health service and massive under resourcing of public services like special education for children, and our Defence Forces. Those are just two examples. As my colleague Deputy Sherlock said today on RTÉ, it is not just what you spend, it is how you spend it. The Government's failure to invest in sustainable infrastructure leaves people’s living standards at the mercy of the market. That is the Taoiseach's philosophy to governing too. For example, we train world-class healthcare workers and then lose them to emigration. More than 3,500 HSE jobs are vacant. There are much-needed therapist roles vacant across the country. Meanwhile, the Government will spend €750 million on agency staff this year. Is that prudent? The housing disaster is the civil rights issue for the generation of TY students with us today, yet the Government refuses to unleash the power of the State to build. Last year, councils and approved housing bodies built barely 300 social homes, but the State has spent €2 billion buying homes on the market – a model that costs 20% more than direct build. It is siphoning public money into the bank accounts of private developers, pricing ordinary buyers out of the process. Is that prudent? Was the budget giveaway to burger barons and big builders really prudent? It is a subsidy for the wealthiest in society with no evidence it will save a single job, and the new finance Minister's fingerprints are all over it. IFAC’s report is a damning indictment of the Government's economic judgment. It provides further evidence of an abject failure to plan for the future. Will we see anything resembling a credible plan by the end of this year?

Sentiment score: 0.05

I was genuinely taken by surprise yesterday when the Taoiseach was not here. However, I said it was a nice surprise to see the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, taking his place. I stand over what I say. Prudence is not being miserly. It is spending responsibly. It is about responsible spending. We are told that one of the Tánaiste's first meetings last week as the new Minister for Finance was with IFAC. The question is if he learned anything from this. What we have seen are persistent delays in producing a medium-term spending framework. The Taoiseach has said, as has the Tánaiste, that it will be produced by the end of this year, I think. The Taoiseach might clarify that. However, there has been a huge delay because that was supposed to happen after the last election. We are also seeing a dipping into windfall corporation tax jackpots to lavish cash on burger barons and big builders. The Labour Party stood against that VAT cut. We stood against a narrowing of the tax base. We supported Government on the legislation setting up rainy day funds. We cannot be accused of being profligate, but we are asking the Government to be more prudent.

Sentiment score: 0.12