The debate we are having is very welcome and I thank Independent Ireland's group for putting it forward. With the economy, we have to radically reset how we are doing things and the next budget has to be different. Over €9.5 billion extra was given out last year in measures but none of it went to the disabled, the self-employed or PAYE workers. They were left out. The disabled finished up €1,400 a year worse off. The upcoming budget has to change that. We need a democratic, left republican budget this year. Income tax thresholds and tax bands need to be adjusted to favour middle- and low-income workers. Any one-off winter energy credits must be targeted and go to households that are on below €75,000 gross. I understand everybody cannot get everything and we should not do that but we should favour middle- and low-income families. Retrofitting of homes has to be accelerated. I welcome the progress that has been made but some of the grants need to be improved. Some 880 homes in Laois added solar in 2024 to 2025 and 1,100 homes in total got some energy works in that period. That is welcome but out of over 30,000 homes that needs to be accelerated. We need the rent credits to be improved but most importantly we need measures to calm rents, reduce them and cap them. Affordable childcare must be addressed. For businesses insurance costs continue to be high. VAT changes we had in the last budget are going to favour large hotels and the big fast food companies. The changes should be altered and I propose a graduated scale, so it is 9% on the first €5 million of turnover and after that 13%. Let us favour the smaller coffee shops, businesses and hotels. That would benefit them. On agri supports, we must face that we need added value. Of course we need financial supports for farmers but there also has to be added value if we are going to keep modest-sized family farms going. That is the reality. We have not even got off the blocks with anaerobic digestion. Farmers need to be getting a second income from their produce. We have a huge farm waste problem and there is an opportunity for pelleted fertiliser, which has been done in other countries like Italy, but we have not even started doing it. I welcome the proposal from the Government on flour production. Some counties, including Laois, have a big tradition of growing wheat. One of those flour mills needs to be located there. We need to boost organic production. On haulage, we have to recognise the reality that there is an absence of an alternative there but we have biofuels and for some reason we are charging very high VAT on HVO, which is being used in trucks. That should be looked at. I am aware there is a European directive there but we need to go back to Europe on that.

Sentiment score: 0.21

The last thing is that on government procurement, we need to get better value for money. We cannot keep spending €336,000 on bike sheds, €2.5 billion on the children’s hospital and €1.4 million on a security hut. We need to spend money better.

Sentiment score: 0.48