That is not the question I am putting to you. I am asking: do you believe we are making that choice?

I want to thank all the Deputies who contributed on this debate. I have stayed for all of Second Stage to hear the different views that have been raised and I look forward to dealing with these matters in more detail on Committee Stage, beginning in two weeks. I will now deal with some of the different charges and debates around the Finance Bill. As some speakers have recognised, this is the first of five budgets this Government will bring in. This budget aims to lay the foundations through a higher level of invest…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Orders 103 and 188.

Introduction Budget 2026 will invest in our future while securing the jobs, prosperity and stability of today. It will tackle the serious challenges of meeting our housing and investment needs. At the same time, we are preparing for tomorrow. This budget builds up our resilience and will help us to adapt at a time of historic challenge and change for our economy and our society. This budget is the first of this Government’s term. We will continue to deliver for our citizens over the course of the next four budgets …

The additional revenue arising from the carbon tax increase is estimated at €121 million in 2026 and a full-year additional yield-----

-----of €157 million. These measures will be ring-fenced to ensure that carbon tax policy is progressive.

We will spend this revenue on social welfare measures and other measures to prevent fuel poverty and to ensure a just transition, with a socially progressive national retrofitting programme, and to encourage and support our farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way.

For example, the allocation for the warmer homes scheme, which provides completely funded retrofits to low-income households, has seen an eleven-fold increase relative to where we were in 2020. We are also making huge progress on solar generation. Today, there are over 140,000 households with solar PV installed, providing greater energy affordability for these homes, both by reducing their own energy demand and allowing them to sell excess energy into the grid. Support for the Adoption of Electric Vehicles In suppo…

In the spirit of Deputy Doherty having raised an important issue on a point of order, I will respond to what he has said and will then take time to respond to his additional question. I agree with him that what is happening with regard to the flotilla is a very serious matter. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are currently in New York, concluding their work at the United Nations annual assembly. They have raised that matter within the European Union and with other Heads of Government. I have been informed that the Tánais…

I gave Deputy Doherty the opportunity to confirm or at least explain to the House whether Sinn Féin is still making the case for an energy price cap, which it did in the last Dáil. I notice that he did not answer that question.

Indeed. In relation to the matters that Deputy Doherty has just raised, we are well aware of the challenge that the cost of living is posing for so many. I would make the point that for every budget I have brought into this House, he has always criticised me for not spending enough. He has always criticised us for running budget surpluses. If we had taken his approach in recent years, we would not have had the ability to intervene and help as we did in the last two years, let alone the ability to help again. The Go…

I thank Deputy Nash for raising this matter. When I was preparing for Leaders' Questions here today, part of me thought it was unlikely that I would get a question about the Government spending too much money. I am really glad that the Deputy has raised this because it gives me an opportunity to respond on what are very important issues. First, on the sustainability of our public finances and where we are, there is nobody more aware than me - although I suspect that Deputy Nash is nearly as alive to it as me - of w…

Deputy Nash knows I have the height of respect for him and the points he raises. He is correct in saying that the Labour Party is a rare exception on the Opposition benches in being willing to support, at times, sensible policies to broaden the tax base. He asked me my views on broadening the tax base. I will talk about what we have already done and what we are yet to do. There are: the changes with regard to PRSI to ensure that our pension plans will be better funded in the future; the changes we have made to carb…

I thank the Deputy for raising, as Deputy Doherty did, a really important issue regarding the protection of citizens on international seas and the rule of law with regard to them. The Government, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are keenly aware of this. What are we doing with regard to it? We are taking diplomatic action. We are raising this matter with other governments within the European Union and at the international gatherings happening in New York. I reiterate that the protection of international law must be a…

For a country with our long-standing tradition in the context of respect for human rights and our neutrality, diplomacy is the way we conduct our affairs. It is also the way we seek to influence the world and protect the rights of our citizens. Words are not powerless. Words are not an absence of action. Words do not represent a lack of effort. Words and diplomacy are the way we seek to make our case with the respect we have for international law and with our long-established values. Words are our means of action a…

I thank Deputy Collins for raising this important matter. Before I respond to the important and specific questions he raised in respect of the school transport scheme, it is important to put the matter in the context. In that regard, this is the scheme that, in 2024, the taxpayer funded at a cost of €512 million. In 2019, the cost was €219 million. The cost of this scheme has doubled in a short number of years, which, in terms of the rate of public expenditure growth, is way ahead of spending on many other policy i…

When we speak of children who are left on the side of the road, acknowledging there are issues we need to address, I emphasise to the Dáil that nearly 180,000 families and their children get support and the service they need through this scheme. This is at an overall cost to the taxpayer of more than €0.5 billion in recognition of the issues raised by Deputy Collins today and raised often by Deputies on this side of the House. Regarding his particular point on age, I assure him that assessment is being carried out …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. We are now very much in a phase where not only is the number of people living in our country growing, which is a great gift to the ability of our economy to grow and our society to grow and flourish, we are also seeing more people who are older and have the level of care need to which the Deputy referred. Growing life expectancy in our country - the growing length of life many of us have to look forward to - is unreservedly and positively a very good thing but it brings w…

I thank the Deputy. Of course, the sustainability of our social insurance scheme is an important concern of Government. What are we doing in relation to it? First, it is important to acknowledge the Social Insurance Fund is in healthy surplus and is a big part of our overall healthy public finances at the moment. Second, this is the very reason we are going ahead with the auto-enrolment pension scheme. As we roll it out next year, it will pose challenges and costs because it is a transformational scheme. However, i…

I have seen at first hand the important role our SNAs play in classrooms all over the country, giving that little bit of additional support and help to young girls and boys who need it as they begin their school life and throughout their educational journey. There are 23,000 SNAs in our country. Compare that with where we were a number of years ago. In 2011, we had just over 10,000. There are now over 23,000. In the past five years, the number of SNAs has increased by 43% and they are needed. I just want to put tha…