The Order of Business is No. 1, motion re the arrangements for the sitting of the House on Tuesday, 10 October 2023, which is budget day; and No. 2, the Animal Health and Welfare (Dogs) Bill 2022 – Committee Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and to adjourn on the conclusion of the proceedings in respect of section 1 of the Bill or 45 minutes thereafter, whichever is the earlier.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
It is important that we will be discussing the upcoming budget. People from Ballinasloe had an opportunity on “Morning Ireland” today to voice their concerns about the cost of living. People spoke about the importance of supports for college students and the challenges posed by rising costs. There was a young man in the solid fuel business who was trying to change his business operation. Representatives from Solid Fuel Merchants Ireland came to Leinster House to meet us.
The Deputy Leader is knowledgeable about the transition period and has fought hard in that respect. The just transition fund, which is being run by Fáilte Ireland, is open now, but it has strict eligibility criteria for the businesses that can apply, in that they must be in tourism, which is important, or hospitality. This is about supporting low-carbon and low-skill activities, for example, certain types of accommodation, but digitalisation funds are also available. Digitalisation is important for all types of business, particularly in those counties impacted. We either need to examine the eligibility criteria or consider what other funds can be used for businesses in impacted areas, for example, Roscommon and the Ballinasloe municipal district in County Galway. We need to ensure that entrepreneurs who are trying to make a change and a difference are supported. Just transition is about leaving no one behind, but that cannot be the case where someone has been left behind.
Others who spoke this morning talked about the impact on farming. Some of them were people from the mart in Ballinasloe. The bad weather has had an impact. We all know how difficult it has been for farmers who are trying to prepare for winter by getting a cut of silage. It has not been an easy time. They also spoke about other challenges like rising costs in fertiliser and so on.
It is crucial that we examine how the budget delivers for people and puts money back into their pockets. That is what this budget has to be about. It has to be about how we support people who face these costs every day. They face them when filling up their cars, going into shops and buying food. The voices that we heard this morning were a flavour of the concerns we hear from people on the ground in towns across Ireland. They want to see supports like those we saw in the previous budget, for example, the expansion of the fuel allowance’s eligibility criteria so that more over-70s could access it and stop being scared about putting the heating on at home over the winter. These are the types of support we need to see in the budget that will be announced next week.
Before I commence, I extend my condolences and sympathies to the friends and family of a woman who was killed in a hit-and-run yesterday evening on Phibsborough Road. I appeal to anyone who was in the Phibsborough area to contact Garda with information. It is very sad.
We will have the budget next week. Yesterday, the largest Opposition party published its version of a budget. I will speak to the issues of housing and homeownership. Sinn Féin’s alternative budget is alarming for renters, first-time buyers and anyone who wants to own his or her own home. It is proposing to double the stamp duty on the purchase of any new property.
It proposes to scrap the €30,000 tax refund that first-time buyers can get from taxes they paid to use as a deposit to buy their own home. It proposes to scrap the first home equity scheme. It states in its own document that house prices are rising and it knows that the cost of construction has risen by more than 37%, yet it wants to scrap it and stop the State from providing people with up to €100,000 of equity to buy their own homes. It is promising to scrap grants that allow people to turn vacant and derelict properties into homes. It proposes to scrap the vacant property grant of €50,000 and the derelict property grant of €70,000.
I live in Dublin Central, a constituency represented by the leader of Sinn Féin. I go out canvassing with our local and European parliamentary election candidates. A chilling element that is really upsetting people in my constituency, in which there are a lot of local authority housing and Dublin City Council tenants, is Sinn Féin's proposal in its alternative budget to somehow persuade people 55 years and over to surrender their homes if they have a spare bedroom and move into prefabricated homes in inner-city infill sites. I spoke to a man yesterday who lives in a modest Dublin City Council two-bedroom home. He is the third generation to live in that house and has significant medical conditions. Relatives stay in the spare bedroom from time to time. His question to me was what methods will Sinn Féin use to persuade him to give up the house. It is a real question being asked by elderly people, and not all of them are elderly. You only have to be 56 according to the Sinn Féin budget proposal. I am not far off it. It proposes to use emergency powers to persuade people to surrender their homes. I would like the Deputy Leader to write to the leader of Sinn Féin, the Deputy in Dublin Central, to ask her to explain what methods Sinn Féin will use to persuade people aged 55 years and over to surrender their homes.
I have spent the best part of two and a half years trying to get people to listen to the shambles that was the previous search and rescue contract and the future search and rescue contract. As we know, it has gone sour, with legal action between the incumbents and the incoming contractor. Imagine my anger this morning when I read an article in the newspaper concerning the directors of Bristow, who I assume had a champagne party and danced around the office after getting the Irish contract of €800 million, because they are after ordering new helicopters costing €135 million. I am not 100% sure what they will do with the rest. At the Deutsche Bank leveraged finance conference in Arizona, Bristow noted that the margins on search and rescue contracts are roughly double those generated on contracts servicing offshore energy assets such as oil and gas. Happy days for Bristow. It is dancing around the place. I heard my colleague, Senator Dolan, talk about putting money in people's pockets. We are taking money directly out of people's pockets and putting it in the pockets of multibillionaires in America to service our search and rescue system.
Congratulations to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, who both wrote to me and told me they did not know what was going on when the contract was being negotiated. Is it any wonder we are in the mess we are in. Yesterday, I stood in the Chamber and defended the Minister for Health over the Children's Health Ireland, CHI, scheme. I will not defend the Minister for Transport over this. He was obliged to have oversight of what was going on. Why did we not buy the helicopters and just contract in the staff? We could have bought the helicopters from AgustaWestland with a full maintenance contract. Bristow is laughing all the way with the €135 million cost. CHC lost the contract and is leaving with five helicopters we paid for. It does not make any sense. The people who take the flak every time for this are the politicians. Our civil servants negotiated these contracts. Do they even know what is going on in the world? Have they any idea what competition is about? This is outrageous.
I wish to finish by remarking on marine pilots, a tiny group of 30 people responsible for bringing ships into shore. Some 95% of all goods imported and exported go through marine channels. Those 30 men are responsible for the marine. I want to make a callout on that today. Fair play to those guys. We need to give them an awful lot more support.
I want to raise an issue which I must admit is very close to my heart. I have done two reports on the horrific conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I have visited both countries. I was not allowed to visit Azerbaijan earlier this summer. It did not want anyone to go and see what was happening in Nagorno-Karabakh. I wish to express my horror that a former Member of this House presented himself with the Azerbaijan delegation last week and announced that he wants to be the consul for Azerbaijan. I can tell the Deputy Leader first hand, because I have the videos on my phone, that when those 100,000 people were ethnically cleansed in the past fortnight, there were dead Armenian civilians with their ears cut off and decapitated so these people could use trophies on social media. Children have been murdered. They are the most horrific actions on a par with anything we have seen, for example, in the war of Russia and Ukraine. A total of 100,000 people were ethnically cleansed and a former Member of this House who was here until around the last term is now championing that regime. I know how Azerbaijan works, and while they are very generous people, this is a regime that is not democratic. It executes and imprisons opponents. The former Member happens to be a Fianna Fáil member - I will not name him out of respect for the House, but everyone knows who it is - and this is what he is doing.
I must ask, in all conscience, can we do something collectively? If we do not stand up in relation to this issue, we are all to blame. I could not share those videos. They are just too horrific. I know first hand, however, from people from the region I have got to know over the two or three years I have been working on this issue the horrors inflicted on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I ask everyone to speak out in relation to this. It cannot be acceptable that a former Member of this House can now parade himself - prostitute himself - in relation to a regime like this. This goes above and beyond party politics. I find it hard to talk about this because when you speak, as I have, to people whose loved ones have been murdered in that way, it is incredibly emotional. I cannot express the horror in relation to what this former Member of the House is doing. I hope, on this occasion, that we can all agree and make a call that it is entirely unacceptable and brings all of us into disrepute. We should condemn that former Member of the House unreservedly and stand by the people of Armenia, just as we have stood by the people of Ukraine and elsewhere.
It is also an opportunity for us to engage with that person to outline the views Senator Gavan articulated and to press the case that he is making. We have an avenue that we should not be afraid to use. To be fair, Senator Gavan has raised points. I have spoken to representatives of that regime and impressed upon them the need to live up to their responsibilities. The point Senator Gavan made was well said. We could all use his presence to articulate and advocate and be champions of the causes Senator Gavan outlined.
That is a great suggestion. I thank the Cathaoirleach.
I wish to ask if people remember where they were on this morning exactly ten years ago.
At a count centre.
You may, for slightly sad reasons, remember, because yesterday ten years ago was the day of the referendum which proposed to abolish this House and this was the morning of the count. Most of us here, I imagine, were either at a count centre or tuned into the radio listening to some of the early tallies.
Part of the commitment that was given ten years ago, when the people took the decision to retain the Upper House, was that there would be significant reform. I pay tribute to the Cathaoirleach and his predecessor, the Leas-Chathaoirleach, for some of the reforms in how this Chamber operates. There is still a need for much broader reforms. The Deputy Leader will be aware of the Heneghan case that Tomás Heneghan has taken. I have a Bill that is winding its way through this House.
I know this issue has been raised with the Taoiseach as well. Before the next Seanad elections, we need to look at a move around expanding the franchise. Apart from internal reforms in how we operate, there needs to be a move to address the views that have been expressed in the Heneghan case. We need to, at the very least, look at expanding the university franchise as was committed to. We need to move on this quickly because we are probably facing a general and then Seanad election in 12 to 18 months. It is critical and I ask the Deputy Leader to facilitate a debate on the broader issue of Seanad reform or indeed to specifically look at the Heneghan case and the response.
I raise the alarming report that was on the front of the newspaper today. Leaders in transport have raised with the Minister for Transport the stalling of many road projects and the fact that they expect it could lead to anything up to 77 deaths and 400 to 500 serious injuries. When I went through the report, the Garda figures were that people had only reported 7,000 to 8,000 serious injuries in the last number of years, but hospital figures showed there were about 15,000, so some people are not even reporting it. It is stark.
There are many roads in my neck of the woods. It has been said that the Limerick to Cork dual carriageway will progress. I am not sure that it will be a motorway, which is most disappointing, because for people having to travel that road daily, it is not very safety. There are many bends and twists in it. It is not conducive for people who are using it daily for work. There are many other roads. The road from Waterford to Tipperary, the N24, goes through Cahir and on to Limerick. The roads are necessary. We can all use public transport, which I am a firm believer in, but many of these roads are crucial. The Government is pushing the development of the regions. I would like the Deputy Leader's support in saying that the Minister for Transport needs to push on with these roads as soon as possible.
I am calling for a debate with the Minister for Transport on an issue about which I have been in touch with him over the past few months. That is the extension of the cycle to work scheme to those with disabilities that affect their movement. Obviously, the scheme does not discriminate explicitly against such people, but rather it is a sin of omission. I was contacted over the summer by Councillor Gabe Cronnelly. He and many with disabilities would love to get a helping hand from the Government in order to green his transport to and from work. However, he has a physical disability which prevents him from using a bicycle. He would need a different form of vehicle, such as a hand-pedalled tricycle or an electric sports wheelchair. These are currently not covered by the cycle to work scheme, so no financial supports can be availed of by persons looking to purchase a climate-friendly form of personal transport which suits their particular needs.
To be honest, it seems like an oversight. I cannot imagine that anyone would have decided to leave out these people when this scheme was being designed. As we approach the budget, I thought that perhaps the Minister might want to make a small change for inclusivity and equality. I emailed him about it over the summer and was told that, as it is a funding issue, I should approach the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. However, where I have done that, I have been told that requests for such a change to the scheme would have to be made to the Minister for Transport and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, had received no correspondence. A reminder was sent after that, a couple of weeks ago, and again there was no response. It really is frustrating how hard it is to get things done in here sometimes. I feel that over half of the responses you get from Departments are them fobbing you off from one Department to the other. If they cannot pay attention to one small quality of life change to an existing scheme, what hope do we have for solving the bigger things?
I congratulate the director of the Hugh Lane Gallery for organising a major collection of the works of Andy Warhol, which is opening tomorrow. This was a huge undertaking. It took nearly five years to put it together. It will be the most specific exhibition of the work of the strange, controversial genius that was Andy Warhol. It gives a great opportunity to art lovers and the general public. It will be a huge tourist attraction for Dublin in the coming months.
The Deputy Leader, the Cathaoirleach and many others here attended the launch last night of Rough Beast, the story of Máiría Cahill and Sinn Féin, in Hodges Figgis last night. It is a compelling account of her treatment at the hands of the Provisional IRA's kangaroo court system of justice. It was a very well-attended event with representation from almost all the main political groupings in these Houses. This would not be unexpected, since we are talking about a former Oireachtas colleague and indeed, for us here, a former Seanad colleague. What cheered me mainly was the presence of so many people of the loyalist persuasion, former parliamentarians included. It just goes to show that when it comes to decency, there are no boundaries. We must learn from Máiría's brave account. Not many have her courage and determination but perhaps this book will encourage others to come forward. Her story is not unique. There were other victims of Provisional IRA abuse at the launch and every one of them is still traumatised and damaged.
It must be remembered that most of her trauma took place after the Good Friday Agreement. Like the Quinn and McCartney murders, it must be borne in mind that there is still a lot of evil. This can never again happen in any part of our shared island. It is still not too late for the leader of Sinn Féin, the successor of Gerry Adams, to come clean and issue a comprehensive and unequivocal apology to Máiría and the other victims. I ask our Sinn Féin colleagues here in the House to use their influence to bring this about.
I ask for a few minutes of the Deputy Leader's time to speak about the difficulties people have in getting support to put solar panels onto their houses. I held two clinics recently, one in Ballinasloe and one in north Roscommon. In all, I had 14 people. Eight of the queries were from people who simply cannot afford to do this work. Basically, to have any saving on electricity, one needs to spend about €15,000, from some research I have done. The grant is for €2,500. It is completely inadequate. If we are really to be serious about green energy and climate change, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, needs to address this issue. That grant should be tripled. In some countries, people get a full grant to do this work. Some €2,500 is totally inadequate, particularly when there is a cost-of-living crisis and people are finding it hard to survive. So many people want to do this work.
We were also told at an earlier stage that there would be some arrangement of a low-cost loan, maybe at 2%, which I thought might work through the credit union. From speaking with people in the credit union, I think they would be more than willing to accommodate that. Basically, until the Minister and his Department change their attitude to this, many people will not be able afford to do the work. Again, we are talking about low to middle-income people who are getting hit a lot. They want to do this because they believe in climate change. The Minister with responsibility, and I am not being disrespectful to him, and I have asked him about this before, is not going where he should with this.
We need to have those grants trebled. We need a cheap loan brought in if we really want people to adopt this because, I can tell the House that people want to do it.
Addressing the Deputy Leader, last week in the Chamber I raised significant concerns on Second Stage of the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill which would grant powers to an Garda Síochána to use body cameras. Sometimes, I feel like I am a bit of lone voice in how concerned I am about how these can be used and abused. Specifically, I argued that the absence of rights-based provisions in the Bill for civilians who come into contact with body cameras meant that the Bill was not fit for purpose. The Bill leaves the use of the recording devices to the absolute discretion of gardaí who may or may not operate the cameras based solely on their own reasonable beliefs about a given situation. By contrast, a civilian has no right to request that a body camera be turned on if they themselves feel threatened by a garda.
Two days after I gave that speech, the BBC published the results of a two-year investigation into misuse of body cameras by the police in the UK. The investigation found that police are widely misusing body-worn cameras. It found that 150 reports of abuse were made where police officers are switching off their body-worn cameras when force is used, as well as deleting footage and sharing videos of vulnerable persons in WhatsApp groups. I encourage everybody to read that investigation in full before this Bill comes back into the Chamber as it seems to confirm the very risks I highlighted. I have written to the Minister about this and have asked her to look at the reports of the abuses which have come out in the UK in respect of this.
In the correspondence, I highlighted that the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill, as currently drafted, risks creating a regulatory environment around body cameras which is very similar to that of the UK and, therefore, subject to similar risks. For example, police use of body cameras in the UK is governed by a code of practice which is very similar to the code of practice proposed in the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill, which is also a code of practice we have not yet fully seen, and we are told that it will be published as the Bill progresses. We have not even seen the codes of practice.
The fact the police in the UK are breaking their code of practice so widely hardly inspires confidence that such a code would be effective in preventing misconduct here in Ireland. Before that Bill comes in, I urge people to look at that report because it clarified somewhat the concerns I had with the use of body cameras. It shows how easily they can be misused, and that a civilian does not have the same rights as to how that recording device is used. The Minister's response at the time was that the gardaí would have to explain why they did not turn the device on. That seems a bit weak and does not explain the position because at the end of the day, whether they explain it or not, the evidence is still changed and the information is still not there. This is something we should all look into with regard to that report by the BBC which came out last week.
Well said.
Before I ask the Deputy Leader to reply, I join with Senator Fitzpatrick on my own behalf and that of Members in sympathising with the family of that lady who was killed tragically overnight and to urge anyone with information to come forward.
As Cathaoirleach, on my own behalf and that of Members, I extend our sympathies to the family of Edmund Lynch who passed away yesterday. Edmund Lynch was an activist and was a member of the LGBTQI+ community who had been in Seanad Éireann on a number of occasions as part of different delegations. He was here recently for the debate on a Private Members' motion on the 30th anniversary of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 and in this regard he was an extraordinary person and was a champion, like Senator Norris, of the LGBTQI+ community. In his retirement, he took to recording oral histories of members of the LGBTQI+ community. We are saddened today at his passing and we thank him for his work. May he rest in peace.
I call on the Deputy Leader to speak now, please.
We all join with the Cathaoirleach in passing condolences to both families and friends of the people who passed away yesterday.
Our colleague, Senator Ruane, has again highlighted the concerns she raised last week with regard to the report on the body cameras. I will make two suggestions to the Senator. One suggestion is that she might send the link to the BBC report to all Members by email because that will ensure that we do read it. I can also suggest to the Leader that we do not take the next Stage of the Bill until the processes are published, so we can specifically ascertain what is going on. There is always a view that sometimes it is very simplistic, that this kind of legislation is going to be in everybody's best interest and that if people are not doing anything wrong, then they have nothing to fear. That is a very simplistic view. Sometimes the very serious debates we have here, particularly the nuances and intricacies of them, do not reach people's dinner tables. One hears, then, that there is nothing to worry about and that this will be grand, whereas the concerns which Senator Ruane is raising are real and are a reality and practice in very similar jurisdictions to ours and I believe we should be very mindful of them. Being forewarned is to be forearmed and I will make that request to the Leader.
Senator Murphy spoke about his desire to have the solar grant tripled. I am sure there would be plenty of people who would be delighted, not the ones who have already have these installed but plenty of other people who genuinely want to change their practices. I will certainly make the Minister aware of that.
Senator O'Sullivan spoke with pride of his excitement about the Andy Warhol exhibition, which is coming in the next couple of weeks. It is an enormous initiative and it took a great deal of work to put together, so I hope it is very well received and well visited. He also spoke about the launch of our friend, Máiría Cahill's book Rough Beast. I have nearly finished reading the book and, notwithstanding that it is a harrowing story, the events of the year in which she was raped, and the events of years of ill-treatment thereafter, which to me was so needless, nobody except the man was responsible for the events that occurred in her aunt's house. However, there were plenty of people who were responsible for choosing the hierarchical structure of organisations ahead of the interests of a young vulnerable girl. It is just disgusting. It is a very good read and she has turned into an absolutely super writer. I wish her continued success. I note her Twitter handle is Cahill Books, which means I hope to God it is not the only book she will write and that she will keep writing because she is very good at it. I thank Senator O'Sullivan for having raised that this morning.
Senator Keogan has asked for a debate on the bike to work scheme and particularly for those people she feels are excluded from it and I will organise that.
Senator Maria Byrne spoke about a chilling report by the State agencies responsible for delivering roads that their directive from the Minister to have fewer cars on the road, resulting in these agencies constructing fewer roads, or repairing the roads we have, is going to lead to significant death and injury. We all need to wake up. We rightly saw a response from Government in the past number of weeks to the increased loss of life on our roads over the summer. Some people said very swiftly that we should move to reduce speed limits around the country to save lives.
This is as obvious as the nose on our face. If we have roads which are in disrepair, or are not being repaired properly because of money being held back, that is a disgrace. That is particularly the case if we have roads which are not being built where dangerous roads currently exist. That is an even bigger disgrace. We all know we have climate targets to reach but that does not mean that we should continue to allow and stand over unsafe roads, where people's lives are being lost, in an attempt to somehow thwart development and to reach targets, where practices are the way we reach targets.
Senator Malcolm Byrne reminded me this morning that ten years ago, yesterday and today, the count was happening for the referendum to abolish the Seanad. I can remember Enda Kenny saying to journalists in Dublin Castle that day that sometimes the public give you a wallop on the face. It was probably a very welcome wallop and we have had a few more wallops since then. I say this with genuine respect, but I remember debating during that referendum and saying the Seanad will not reform and does not have the capacity to reform itself. I remember the people who were fighting to retain the Seanad viciously cutting the legs off me because there was no way that this was the case. Yet, here we are ten years later still having a debate. We all know the reasons why and that it is not just the responsibility of one particular party or another, because Senator Byrne has been a champion looking for reform since he walked into this House. It is incumbent on us now that a general election and a Seanad election are probably no more than a year and a bit away to ensure that we all have it in our manifestos, in sincerity, that we want to change the voting franchise for this House and to change the practices in it which many people have raised over the past number of years, and, indeed, for many years before that. It would be an ambition for all of us to ensure that it is in our party's manifestos. Therefore, whoever is in government thereafter will ensure that it gets into the programme for Government. I thank the Senator for having raised that this morning.
I do not know how to answer the request made by Senator Gavan other than to just acknowledge his absolute sincerity and heartfelt conviction when he speaks about this because he has been speaking about it for a long time. I, to my shame, have only in the past number of weeks paid any attention to this issue because of the videos and images of the children and women which are mostly always affected in situations like this. It is abhorrent that anybody, and I mean anybody, would stand up for regimes which would inflict such brutality, such mercenary behaviour and such downright inhumanity.
We should take up the Chair's suggestion that a small cross-party group meet with the former Member, maybe just to have a conversation as to how we feel, not to allow an explanation, because I do not think an explanation is required, but just to try to appeal to that person's better nature that they not do this, for all the reasons that have been outlined heretofore. I will see if we can arrange that.
I welcome the students from Coláiste Dhúlaigh, Coolock, who are guests of Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. They are very welcome. I thank them for being here. I hope they have a very pleasant visit. Sorry, Deputy Leader.
Not at all. The students are very welcome.
I probably could not even count the number of times Senator Craughwell and I have spoken about search and rescue here. For the past number of months, he and I have attempted to get the tender process he has, to be fair to him, been aggrieved about for the past number of years on the work programme of the Oireachtas committee. We have invited in the Secretary General, the deputy Secretary General, the Minister and the Minister of State. Nobody wants to talk about anything. Nobody wants to talk about the process for the past number of years and nobody wants to talk about the resulting awarding of a contract that uses a helicopter we excluded our own Coast Guard from using. Senator Craughwell was therefore right to talk this morning about millions and millions in State money being used to pay for the last round of helicopters we have used for the past 20 years, and now we will pay for the next round of helicopters - the same helicopters our own Coast Guard could have used in providing search and rescue. This has a long way to run. It is not about depriving any company of millions it may make - good luck to them - but there is a real question to be asked here as to why we excluded our own men and women, our own airline pilots, from doing the search and rescue for our own people to the benefit of foreign companies. It just does not make any sense to me. I am sure the Senator will not let it go, nor will I.
Senator Fitzpatrick spoke about the Sinn Féin alternative budget announced yesterday. Well done and fair play to Sinn Féin for announcing it, but it does obviously show the massive differences between its policy and the current policy, which absolutely is working and which will deliver 30,000 houses this year and 37,000 houses next year. Most notably, scrapping all the schemes Sinn Féin proposes to scrap, I am not really sure how it proposes to help people to buy their first home. Also, given that Sinn Féin will use the same builders the State is currently using, I am not sure how it proposes to build the extra 7,500 homes next year. Anyway, we have these debates in the round, and it is to be hoped the people buying the houses will win out in the end.
Senator Dolan started our contributions today by kicking off the budget negotiations in the Seanad. We have a full evening booked for next Tuesday, after the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform announce the 2024 budget, when we will all get an opportunity to welcome the good things, I hope, and maybe point out some of the things we might have liked to see in the budget.
Order of Business agreed to.