I am amused at your carry-on. You have broken every rule in the book and every rule of the House so far.
Sentiment score: -0.03
You have broken every rule of the House so far.
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You have broken every rule of the House so far.
Sentiment score: -0.48
You should respect the rules.
Sentiment score: 0.48
I know you are.
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Táim ag éisteacht leat. Táim ag éisteacht.
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Tá Gaeilge fhlúirseach agam.
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Táim ag cloisint.
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Déanaim comhghairdeas le gach Ball as a gcuid óráidí ar an díospóireacht thábhachtach seo. I thank the Labour Party and Deputy Nash for bringing the motion before the House today. It is important, in the context of the debate we are having, to make three points. I know the Opposition has to play a certain role and I appreciate that. I have been a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas for 19 years, have dealt with many of the Members here and I appreciate that. There is a commonality here because all of us are on the side of the people and the gnáthdhuine. We must accept that. Second, while I know it is a great line - the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach used it very well when she spoke to this motion - to say we are out of touch, aloof or immune or whatever, we are not. We have our life experiences and that of our families, friends, neighbours and the people we meet at our clinics and offices every day. We know full well that people are faoi bhrú, under pressure, with the cost of living. That is why this debate is important. We may disagree about the rubrics of the scaffolding by which we all move forward but let us not lose the tenet that what we are doing on this side of the House – I am speaking as a Member of these Houses for 19 years – is representing our people. There is merit in many of the suggestions we have heard today and it is our job to forensically go through them in the context of the debate we are having. That is why this debate is important. I am a former teacher. Deputy Cummins discussed education. Under the Minister, Deputy Naughton, initiatives are now under way to address educational disadvantage to help children and young people realise their potential through education. I spent most of my life teaching the leaving certificate applied programme as an adult education director. This is about the power of being able to see the investment in education, upskilling, training and reskilling in order for people to meet life’s needs. That is why there is a €48 million investment in the new DEIS strategy and DEIS plus scheme. Are we seriously saying in this House that we should not have that? Of course we are not. These measures represent a significant investment by the Government in a ten-year plan to tackle educational disadvantage and promote equality across our education system. Equally, we have seen the DEIS plus scheme advanced where we now have 181 schools in our education system being able to be supported under this scheme. This morning, I spoke with students participating in the think big programme in Stillorgan. These are wonderful young people coming together with ideas and creativity. Understandably, people are frustrated, angry and upset at the rising costs. However, if we were to have an objective analysis, which does not always suit the narrative some want to portray, it would tell us that we must be clear and responsible in our administration of public moneys. All of us are acutely aware of the energy price shock. It did not take a protest or a blockade to tell us that. That is why the Government acted. I am serious; we did not need to hear that. We knew it.
Sentiment score: 0.17
Perhaps we did not communicate it properly or engage quicker. I accept that. I am not living in an ivory tower, as I said. I accept that point. We acted to insulate households and businesses from the worst impacts of rising costs. That is why we have two packages with a cumulative cost of €750 million. It is the second highest or highest package in Europe. That budget surplus was not conjured up out of magic money. This package supports the most vulnerable through lower costs at the pump and supporting key sectors of our economy. It is great to go off and tax and spend, but what happens next October or November if we are still where we are? That is why I agree with Deputy Heneghan. Let us hope this war is over because it has only got one outcome, that is, it is negative for everybody. That is why the Government has been clear around de-escalation. Some of the propositions from the Opposition are to spend it all now, which would leave us with no buffer for the winter or anything to last us into the next couple of months. Where would we be then? Members of the Opposition would come into the Chamber and say that we were irresponsible, imprudent and did not manage the economy carefully. In that scenario, hey presto, we would have no resources on hand to budget for unforeseen shocks. As the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, said, if we were to respond to every demand asked of us, we would have no surplus and be in a far more exposed position. We would be back to the budgetary position we were in at the time of the crash between 2007 and 2010 and beyond. That is why this is important. I have great faith in people like Deputy Nash. I admire him greatly, having served with him in both Houses. He has that ability to look at the national economic dialogue and engage constructively. He was in government. He knows what it is like when there is nothing in the cupboard and when you are hiding under the cupboard to try to find a few bob. He never shirked his responsibility, nor did the Labour Party to be fair when it was in government. I will always have admiration for people in the Labour Party because when the country needed it in the tough times, the party was there. We should never forget that. My view is very clear in that regard. The budgetary economic process has begun, as we know. The priorities for the next budget are beginning to be unfurled. That is why I welcome this conversation around tax and taxation. The Tánaiste has initiated that conversation. As policymakers, there is an obligation on us, as Deputy Heneghan mentioned, to strike that balance between the competing priorities that we all rightly commend and speak for. We all represent different interest groups and people. At the end of the day, those interest groups are representing people, and we should never lose sight of that. We must strike that balance so that we can responsibly manage our public finances and invest in childcare, disability, education and infrastructure. I understand the political game. It is back and forth and sometimes, we have to try to appease, win and excite people. However, do not for one second think that those of us on this side of the House do not recognise the difficulties people face. We understand them fully. That is why we intervened. Many of us in our parliamentary parties engage with our Ministers and leaders about them. The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach referred earlier to the greatest hits of the Government. This was not about the greatest hits; it was about interventions to address the impact of costs on people whom we all represent and understand. I will not list the measures introduced but people are seeing a benefit now. Are they totally immune? No. The Taoiseach said here many times that we cannot provide that blanket for everyone. What we are doing, however, is putting in place packages that reduce the rate of inflation and costs on people. Let us be clear: there are choices to be made, and those choices have consequences. The Government has been careful in its deliberation and calibration of the response. This is not a letter to Santa. We cannot write, “Dear Santa” and the wish list will be got. As we all know, someone pays the bill for Santa at the end of the day. The measures we have taken are targeted. They provide support to the most vulnerable and assist the people and sectors of our economy where there is a need for jobs, job security and growth. They are proportionate measures. I know it is not sexy or glitzy to speak about the sound management of the economy. When I think about the Ministers for Finance we had in modern times, people like Ruairí Quinn, Brian Lenihan jnr, Paschal Donohoe, Michael Noonan, Jack Chambers and now Simon Harris, and Joan Burton when she was in social protection, I often wonder how they would have reacted and what would they have done. It is about providing benefit to householders and businesses so that we can keep jobs going, we can sustain that sustainable position on our economy, and we can use our funds wisely. If we are genuinely sincere in the way in which we continue to budget and continue to manage our economy, we must have sustainability and we must be wise and prudent. I certainly do not want to go back to 2007 or 2010 when we were in this House and the Upper House. This is why the national development plan has a clear roadmap for investment. Proper budgetary planning must be done in a measured way to represent people, taking into account the pressures of today but also the longer-term perspective. I thank the Labour Party for bringing the motion before the House tonight. I believe the Government is getting the balance right. As I said in the past, it is a sensible approach to the medium and long-term budgetary position. I thank Deputy Nash for bringing the motion forward.
Sentiment score: 0.18