Simon Harris: Calls Sinn Féin No-Confidence Motion a Stunt

Thank you Ciann Comhairle. 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're guided by that mission today as much as we were on the day we took office. Let me be direct about what's actually happening here. Sinn Féin decided to table a no confidence motion before they even saw the details of the government's package of supports. A package of supports which factually is far more comprehensive and strategically responsive than anything they have proposed or anything they're working on in the Northern Ireland Executive. Were their motion to tear down this government successful, the financial resolutions which we will pass in this house later this evening would fall away and the measures we have agreed on behalf of the Irish people over the weekend to try and help hard-pressed people would not take effect the very same hard-pressed people they purport to represent. In other words this no confidence motion is just another one of their stunts and in the cold light of day people know that. Ciann Comhairle, we're in a position to take this additional set of measures because of our budgetary strategy and because of 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 getting free school books, hot school meals in our primary schools, fuel allowance worth over a thousand euro per winter with one in four households now qualifying including those on working family payments, VAT on gas and electricity cut to 9%, 300,000 people accessing free HRT, increased weekly payments to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, the minimum wage up 40% since 2020 to make sure work pays, back to school allowance expanded to pre-school children, the largest ever increase in child support payments, more than 55,000 families with children in third level paying no contribution fee at all and that number growing. Auto-enrolment introduced supporting 763,000 workers build retirement security and for the first time public investment in a public model of child care to build and overhaul our child care systems. 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're implementing the largest infrastructure program in the history of the state and capital investment is projected to exceed 200 billion euro over the next decade and thankfully we're seeing clear progress now with almost half, 49% of the country's electricity generated from renewables in March, 58,000 homes retrofitted last year and recent changes we've made to state schemes have seen a strong surge in applications, applications of course being funded by carbon tax which some of this house seek to abolish. We're seeing record demand over 29,000 applications already this year across SEAI schemes because government has made it more attractive and more financially possible than ever before for households to upgrade their homes. We're seeing applications for heat pumps surge by 95%, roof insulation by 81% and cavity wall insulation by 62%. We're accelerating delivery particularly for those most in need while continuing to support tens of thousands of Irish homeowners with upgrades. We're also delivering at scale for the most vulnerable with over 8,100 homes completed last year under the warmer home scheme, the highest number ever. There's always more to do Ciancórla 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 pandemic, we did it together through the war in Ukraine, we've done it together through the cost of living crisis, we've done it through the tariff induced uncertainty and we will respond and work together again while others seek to just tear it down. We've provided financial and other supports to households and businesses in a range of ways. We've deployed the state's balance sheet to maintain jobs, livelihoods and incomes. Each challenge that the world has thrown at us Ciancórla we have emerged stronger from despite it. The strength of the Irish economy is clearly evident in our labour market. Unemployment has remained below five percent for 16 consecutive quarters. This is a remarkable achievement given the global headwinds. That means that over 450,000 more people are now in employment than just before the pandemic. Around 57,000 of those jobs were added in the past 12 months alone. Over 200 jobs every working day. The strength of our labour market mirrors developments across the wider economy. Business investment up, consumer spending resilient, signs of continued confidence in our economy amongst firms and households despite a more uncertain backdrop. And as well as stewarding the economy through the challenges of recent years our public finances are in good shape. The choices that matter most often get the least attention. In 2012 Ireland's public debt stood at 163 percent of national income. Today it stands at 62 percent. 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've established two long-term saving funds. The Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure and Climate and Nature Fund. We now have the fiscal power to respond to external shocks. That wasn't always guaranteed. The external environment that we face is clouded in considerable uncertainty. Whatever the developments in the Middle East over the coming days, the economic fallout of the conflict is likely to persist given the lasting and real damage to energy infrastructure. As a result the supply demand imbalance in energy markets is likely to continue for some time. Although we cannot of course know the scale of the imbalance it will depend on an array of factors. Ireland as a small open economy will always feel these global shocks but we are better prepared than we have been in the past. We entered 2026 from a position of relative economic strength. We expect the Irish economy to continue to grow albeit at a slower pace than previously envisaged and my department will shortly publish its updated economic assessment. At moments like this it's always been abundantly clear that we have an opposition which has no shortage of spending plans but no strategy for growth. No thought is ever given to how they'd fund their endless commitments. For a week the airwaves were filled by those who shout the loudest and command the most attention online. In an age shaped by social media algorithms and 24 hours news cycles it's easy to mistake that volume for consensus. People face real pressures but no one in this republic gets to restrict the right of anyone else to move or go about their business. Beneath the noise we had the cancer patient who couldn't get to their chemo. We had the expectant mother who didn't get to their check-up. We had the man who didn't get to his dialysis appointment. We had the worker who lost a day's pay because they couldn't get to their job. We had a parent stuck in traffic with screaming kids. We had the business owner who couldn't open because of a lack of stuff. And while we mightn't have heard from these people much we know too that they're feeling the pressure. These are people who feel the pressure every day. They get up in the morning, they go to work and they try to get on with it. There are genuine hard-working people concerned. People who joined the protest too because they're feeling the pinch. Decent people who need our help and need our assistance. They will remain our focus. They'll remain our focus every day including in our resolutions tonight. That's what fairness looks like. It's what a strong economy can deliver. Real outcomes, a good job and security for you and your family. This government has acted. It's acted decisively. It's using its economic strength wisely. Together we will get through this challenge but we won't get through it by seeking to sow division and tear our country apart.