I thank Deputy Cairns for raising a very important issue. We value the work of carers. Michael Woods brought in the carer's allowance quite a number of years ago. He was a Fianna Fáil Minister for social protection and at the time it was a novel concept. It was quite innovative. It started at a very low level, but incrementally things have improved significantly. We committed in the programme for Government to eliminate the means test. There is a tendency in the House to deny any progress at all about anything, and the world always seems to be miserable. There are huge challenges out there facing people and there are particularly huge challenges facing carers. Nonetheless, there has been progress. There are about 100,000 people now in receipt of carer's allowance. The numbers are increasing every year. The number of recipients is up from about 63,000 in 2015, which is nearly a 62% increase. Expenditure has gone from about €611 million to €1.24 billion. It can be more, but that does not suggest nobody cares on the Government side. We need to reconcile the Parliamentary Budget Office's estimate of €300 million with the Department of Social Protection, which is saying €600 million. That is what is being estimated in the current round of Estimates. The Department is saying it could even go up, because obviously there would be an additional increase in the numbers. That is something which needs to be reconciled in terms of the actual cost. The Government proposes to phase in the removal of the means test. Broader progress will be made on income supports more generally. For example, the income disregard went up in July from €450 to €625 for a single person and from €900 to €1,250 for carers with a spouse or a partner. That was a result of last year's budget measure. That means more and more people can avail of the carer's allowance payment. In terms of the respite, the carer's support grant itself has been brought up to about €2,000. That is up significantly from where it was some years ago. It is up about €300 since 2021. In the budget there will be a series of measures in respect of carers. Carer's benefit has been extended to the self-employed for the first time since January. Furthermore, the Minister for Social Protection will be bringing proposals to the Government, in the context of the budget, specifically on carers. That series of proposals will be in the context of an overall welfare budget that could be in the order of €1.7 billion or €1.8 billion. However, other categories of social protection have to be looked after as well, in the context of the budget.

Sentiment score: 0.18

The Deputy is correct when she says we have choices. Everyone in the House has choices. The estimated cost is around €600 million. We also want to increase domiciliary care allowance and other categories of social protection, which the Minister will bring to the Government in the first instance and then the measures will be announced on budget day. It will all come under an overall amount that will be allocated to the Department of Social Protection. If we increase one category, by definition other categories may not get a similar increase or may not get an increase at all. We have to balance this and that is why it will be done incrementally. We have made significant improvements in the disregards in the past two to three years and that should be acknowledged. However, we want to go faster now in moving to a position where we can eliminate the means test in its entirety. The commitment is like that in the Social Democrats manifesto, which I looked at before I came in. It did not say that this would be done in one budget. It indicated that it would be done over the lifetime of the Government.

Sentiment score: 0.19

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for a very significant industry in the country. He spoke eloquently about the west Cork experience. As he will know, the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, has been hounding me on this issue, as has the Minister, Deputy Foley, from the Kerry perspective. All the counties where hospitality is particularly strong in the summer period have been strong advocates for an initiative along the lines of the one the Deputy is proposing. The budget will be an investment in the future of the country. The first phase of that was announced in the national development plan in terms of infrastructure, water, electricity, energy, public transport, road transport and digital health. These are fundamentals that simply have to happen for the future of the country. The other area is competitiveness, stronger investment in research and development and also competitiveness of certain sectors like hospitality. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment did a study over a year ago on the impact of increased labour costs and increased costs generally on small businesses. It was accepted that the hospitality sector bore the brunt of many of the extra costs such as the bank holiday cost, the additional sick leave, the minimum wage increases and the approximation to the living wage, and found them difficult to absorb. That is well documented in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment’s document. The Restaurant Association of Ireland commissioned the economist Anthony Foley to do some work on the correlation between reduced VAT rates in the past and job creation in a specific sector. A lot of work has been done on that. I am not in a position to indicate what will actually happen on budget day itself but I recognise that this is a very important issue. In the context of the global situation - the turbulence, the tariffs and all of that - investment in infrastructure is key. We are putting a lot of money aside too. By the end of next year, there will be €22 billion in our Future Ireland Fund. That is a substantial fund despite what is being said about our being reckless with the public finances. We are putting substantial amounts of money to one side but we want to maintain competitiveness in domestic industries such as the hospitality sector. We will certainly be examining all of the issues the Deputy has identified. I think we need a bit of perspective in the debate as well. I am not quite sure everything in some of these establishments is nightmarish. I spent a few evenings in west Cork. I had better be careful what I say. I was not able to participate in any lock-ins for obvious reasons, but that might be what is behind the Deputy’s reference to nightmarish experiences the following day. It was a very pleasant experience. People need a break in terms of viability and that is where we are focused.

Sentiment score: 0.19

I understand the issue the Deputy is raising. The costs increased significantly for the sector. I acknowledge that. The data we are getting in is not showing any significant decline in employment, but there could be churn. Some people could be in difficulty while other new businesses are established and opened. We want long-term sustainability for the industry and the hospitality sector. You could have a crowded restaurant but the margins might not be great when it comes to the owner’s bottom line. A lot of hard work goes into this industry and maybe the yield has not been what the hard work would deserve in terms of margins and so on. We are looking at viability in a number of sectors. More generally in terms of the budget itself, Deputy Collins understands that I cannot announce the budget today as it is not the norm. The Deputy's representations are heard, along with those of his colleagues. Although it applies to both urban and rural Ireland, there is no doubt there are certain counties, particularly given the seasonal nature of rural Ireland and holiday areas, such as west Cork, Kerry and the west of Ireland, where it is a significant issue.

Sentiment score: -0.05