I thank Deputy Lowry for raising a fundamental issue insofar as it affects the livelihoods of our citizens across the country, workers, those on pensions and so on. We rarely get opportunities to discuss the wider economy in this House. I was struck that earlier this week we had a significant investment by Intel of up to €5 billion in its site in Leixlip, and there was not a whisper in this House about it. It kind of tells us a story about the degree to which this House is divorced from the reality of economics and the economy, and how to sustain the economy and stay competitive. There is rarely a discussion in here on any of that. If we take trade, for example, the main Opposition party is opposing the trade deal with Canada. Our exports to Canada have gone up fourfold since that trade deal came in provisionally. This has led to many jobs for SME companies in Ireland, as well as multinationals. Yet Sinn Féin’s response is to take it to the courts to try to get rid of it. This is the sort of extraordinarily bizarre take on the economy that we have to listen to in the House sometimes. We do not really have a proper to-and-fro debate on it. Ultimately, we have a responsibility to try to provide jobs. We are doing that, and the growth in employment has been phenomenal. At the moment, we are at about 2,794,500 people working, as of the first quarter of 2026. We have a growing population. It now stands at over 5.5 million people, which is an increase of 10% between 2020 and 2026. There has been an incredible increase of 53% between 1995 and 2026. Being straight-up about it, there are pressures that have come from that. We have to have a budget that reflects the need to sustain that level of work in our economy so that people will have access to jobs. The AI issue is causing a lot of concern. I take heart from the investment announced by Intel this week, which will be AI-propelled, actually. That industry is now looking at an upward curve in the context of semiconductors, sensors and so on. The Deputy is correct in saying that the conflict in the Middle East has had a huge impact. In the budget, we will endeavour to ease the pressure on families. There will be a package relating to income tax for families. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, is working on the cost-of-disability payment issue. That will be groundbreaking. It has never happened before. It is complex; it is not simple. There had to be public consultation in respect of it. We will do everything we can in the budget to try to alleviate the pressures on people brought about the Middle East war, the shock to supplies it has caused and the inflationary impact on fuel prices in particular to which it has given rise.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I appreciate the point. This is a pro-enterprise Government. That matters. I believe in nurturing and supporting companies and people who start their own businesses. Those people take great risks. In many instances, for the first ten years of a new company, they have to work 24-7. An issue we discuss with Enterprise Ireland is how to enable those companies to have capital to scale up. Part of our European Union Presidency programme is around competitiveness and giving a better break to SMEs in particular and giving them greater access to capital. Supporting the self-employed will continue to be a commitment of Government. It is an issue we keep under constant review. There is a cost-of-doing-business forum which comes under the remit of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment and which is looking at what we can do to reduce costs, clarify and simplify regulation for SMEs in particular, which would go a long to helping them, and enhance the research and development tax credit in terms of making it available to and accessible by SMEs.

Sentiment score: 0.34