I join with the Taoiseach in moving this motion of confidence in the Government. This Government came together to form a stable majority with a clear mission to work hard to build a secure and prosperous future for the people of this country across five budgets. We are guided by that mission today as much as we were on the day we took office. Let me be direct about what is actually happening here. Sinn Féin decided to table a motion of no confidence before it even saw the details of the Government's package of supp…

In the cold light of day, people know that.

We are in a position to take this additional set of measures because of our budgetary strategy and the position of the public finances.

It has enabled us to do many things which are helping people in the here and now and things which are in place for the long term. One million children are getting free school books. There are hot school meals in our primary schools.

The fuel allowance worth-----

-----over €1,000 per winter, with one in four households qualifying, including those on working family payments. VAT on gas and electricity has been cut to 9%.

Three hundred thousand people can access free HRT.

There are increased weekly payments for pensioners, carers and people with disabilities.

The minimum wage is up 40% since 2020 to make sure work pays. Back to school allowance has been expanded to preschool children. There has been the largest ever increase in child support payments. More than 55,000 families with children in third level pay no contribution fee at all, and that number is growing. Auto-enrolment has been introduced, supporting 763,000 workers to build retirement security and, for the first time, public investment in a public model of childcare to build and overhaul our childcare systems…

Ceann Comhairle, when the noise stops-----

The energy price shock does also highlight the importance of reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels and accelerating the climate transition. As long as we remain, in this country, dependent on fossil fuels from imports we risk our economic security and well-being. We are implementing the largest infrastructure programme in the history of the State and capital investment is projected to exceed €200 billion over the next decade. Thankfully, we are seeing clear progress now with almost half - 49% - of the co…

-----across SEAI schemes because the Government has made it more attractive and more financially possible than ever before for households to upgrade their homes. We are seeing applications for heat pumps surge by 95%, roof insulation by 81% and cavity wall insulation by 62%.

We are accelerating delivery-----

-----particularly for those most in need, while continuing to support tens of thousands of Irish homeowners with upgrades. We are also delivering at scale for the most vulnerable, with over 8,100 homes completed last year under the warmer homes scheme, which is the highest number ever. There is always more to do and challenges will always come but in a time of enormous and rapid change, the one constant has been a Government working to secure the well-being of the Irish people. We did it through the Covid-19 pandem…

We have provided financial and other supports to households and businesses in a range of ways. We have deployed the State's balance sheet to maintain jobs, livelihoods and incomes. Each challenge the world has thrown at us we have emerged stronger from, despite it. The strength of the Irish economy is clearly evident in our labour market. Unemployment has remained below 5% for 16 consecutive quarters. This is a remarkable achievement given the global headwinds. That means that over 450,000 more people are now in em…

Today it stands at 62%. That reduction did not happen by accident. It happened because successive Governments, including this one, have run structural primary surpluses, have treated windfall corporate tax receipts as temporary rather than permanent revenue and have made deliberate decisions to sterilise those receipts into long-term saving funds. Our positive fiscal position-----

-----has given us the ability to respond to the energy price shock and other countries and other executives, including in Northern Ireland, have not been in a position to respond similarly.

We benefit from having acted-----

-----to address the structural challenges that lay on the horizon.

To enhance our economic resilience we have established two long-term saving funds, the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund.