I thank all the Members for their very helpful and informative ideas and contributions. We will certainly take many of them on board. The Appropriation Bill 2025 sets an amount that we appropriate for supply of services of €91.5 billion. This reflects the Estimates voted by the Dáil over the course of this year, including Revised, Further Revised and Supplementary Estimates. In gross terms and taking into account expenditure on the Social Insurance Fund and the National Training Fund, the total gross voted expenditure made available this year is €109.9 billion. As Deputy Ó Murchú said, the Appropriation Bill is a technical piece of legislation that authorises in law all the expenditure that has been agreed by way of Estimates during the year. The House will be aware the passage of the Bill is required to ensure it is possible to make payments in 2026 in respect of services that were funded from voted expenditure this year, including jobseeker's allowance, disability allowance, non-contributory State pension, nurses pay, Garda pay, teachers pay and all those who pay on pensions funded from voted money, payment of suppliers for goods and services, including SMEs. Of fundamental importance to those who depend on our essential public services is the passage of the Appropriation Bill which will allow for the payments required to deliver these public services to continue in 2026. Government continued investment in our ongoing critical public services during 2025, with a significant proportion of gross voted current expenditure allocated in the areas of health, housing, social protection, education and justice, all of which provide essential front-line public services. The funding provided this year will support a sustainable delivery of public services and infrastructure, providing a clear vision for the continuous improvement of public services, living standards and the infrastructure. This expenditure will ensure investment in better public services, anticipating and meeting the needs of our growing and changing population, and investment in digitalisation and climate initiatives. To address our infrastructure needs, Government has made clear capital investment is a priority for the years ahead. As part of this prioritisation, Government has completed a review of the national development plan which was published in July of this year. The NDP review is the most ambitious investment plan launched in the history of the State. The review provides us with the potential to transform our built environment, through permanent and sustainable interventions focused on the medium- and long-term health of our economy and country. Taking into account the total gross voted capital expenditure for 2026, set out in the budget and the addition of capital carryover in the Appropriation Bill, over €19.3 billion will be available for capital spending next year. The increased investment plays an important role in delivering much-needed public infrastructure across Ireland and the sectors such as social housing, education and higher education, primary healthcare, public transport, water infrastructure, climate change adaption and mitigation. In 2024, due to an unexpected shortfall in appropriation-in-aid not matched by consummate savings and expenditure subheads, an excess Vote of €9,680 was recorded for the 2024 Appropriation Account for Vote 14 - State Laboratory. This led to a net deficit in the Vote, which the Comptroller and Auditor General referred to at the public accounts committee. At a committee meeting on 9 October 2025 the Comptroller and Auditor General referred the excess expenditure recorded for Vote 14 to the committee. The committee noted the Accounting Officer had stated that the State Laboratory has implemented appropriate procedures to prevent a similar situation arising in the future. In light of the assurances from the Accounting Officer, the committee saw no objection to this sum being provided by Excess Vote. The committee agreed an interim report at its meeting of 9 October 2025 in respect of excess expenditure incurred by the State Laboratory, indicating that the committee saw no objection to the sum provided by excess Vote. Our social protection system seeks to provide an effective social safety net for the more vulnerable members of society and when expenditure on the Social Insurance Fund is included, the 2025 gross expenditure allocation for social protection is €27.5 billion. This allows delivery of an adequate and sustainable social protection and pension support system and better outcomes in tackling poverty through providing a wide range of income support schemes. It helps to support the standard of living of the most vulnerable in our society. In particular, funding provided in 2025 enabled improvements in the social welfare system for people on a range of income supports, as well as providing additional support for families and people on illness programmes, disability programmes and carers' programmes. For example, 2035 funding enabled a €12 increase in core weekly social welfare rates, an increase in the weekly rates of child support payments by €4 for under 12s and €8 for over 12s. There was a €60 increase in the working family payment income thresholds and an extension of fuel allowance to those in receipt of carer's allowance. There was also the introduction of a €280 newborn grant for each child born in the State to help parents with the initial costs of parenting. On housing, to the end of quarter 3 2025 there were 24,297 home completions, an increase of 12% over the same period in 2024. In 2024, 10,581 new social homes were delivered, including 7,857 new-build homes, 1,501 acquisitions and 1,223 homes delivered through the leasing programmes. In the first six months of 2025, 3,918 affordable housing options were delivered, which represents 61% of 2025's delivery target. This is a 44% increase in delivery compared to the same period in 2024. The biggest drivers of affordable delivery were first home schemes with 1,558; vacant property refurbishment grants, 1,334; AHB cost-rental, 497; and local authority affordable purchase, 359. Education funding in 2025 provided an appropriate school place to over 975,000 students in primary, post-primary and special schools around the country. To support the education of these students a record number of teachers totalling approximately 78,000 are employed by the Department of Education and Youth. In addition, over 700 new teachers were employed in September 2035 for the commencement of the 2025-26 school year. To support the education of students with special educational needs over 400 new special classes were sanctioned for the 2025-26 school year. This brings the total number of special classes to over 3,700. Five new special schools were confirmed for the 2025-26 school year, bringing the total to 129 special schools, catering for approximately 9,000 children and young people with complex special educational year. Alongside this increase in special classes and special schools is an increase of the number of SNAs. There was an increase of a further 1,600 special needs assistants in September 2025, bringing the total number of SNAs working in schools to over 20,000. Capital funding in 2025 will amount to €1.6 billion to support a continued progression of the circa 300 building projects in the school building programme that are currently at construction stage. In 2025, funding for the Department of Transport has enabled delivery on a number of key projects. There was a continuation of the fare initiatives, the 20% adult fare discount, the 50% discount and a 90-minute fare which reduce the cost of public transport and encourage modal shifts. Progress was made on the construction of the first 12 BusConnects phase 4 bus corridors, with a second due to begin in early 2026. A number of key public transport projects have been progressed through 2025, with railway orders for Dart+West, Dart+South West and Dart+ Coastal North, and procurement under way. Construction on key projects also included the M28, Cork to Ringaskiddy, Adare bypass and the N5, Ballaghadereen to Scramogue. There has also been a lot of very good announcements on the N4, Longford to Mullingar and the N17. I thank all the contributors for today's debate and thank them for their help and information.

Sentiment score: 0.32