Budget 2023 (Public Expenditure and Reform): Statements Seanad Éireann — 2022-09-27 ============================================================ Aidan Davitt (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel I am delighted to welcome the Minister of State. As I discussed with the Cathaoirleach, I shared my time earlier with Senator O'Loughlin. I commend this very balanced budget. Several things have been pointed out by Senators. The funding towards childcare is a very prudent and forward step and is something I have talked about on numerous occasions in the House. To follow on from that, Senator Lombard mentioned the grants for college fees and also the free books scheme for schools. I believe these are three very prudent moves in regard to education in particular, and they take in all cohorts of education. I want to recognise the work that is being done in that regard. With regard to small and larger businesses, the 40% reduction in the cost of power for business up to a cap of €10,000 is a very prudent move and it will certainly keep the lights on in many small businesses, for want of a better phrase. I will not delay the House. I appreciate the earlier latitude from the Cathaoirleach with regard to time. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-09-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:04+00:00 Sitting date: 2022-09-27