5.10pm: The Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald, has welcomed the €2.54bn funding announced in Budget 2017 for Justice which means, among other things, an extra 800 Garda recruits.
The total, an increase of €85m, will also support the recruitment of up to 500 civilians to support the Gardaí.
A total of €71.5m has also been allocated for Garda overtime.
The Tánaiste said: “This Government restarted Garda recruitment in 2014 after a time lag of five years.
“I can now announce that the Government has approved my proposal that by 2021 the Garda workforce should comprise a total of 21,000 personnel; to include 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Garda Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. Appointments will also be made to the Garda Reserve of approximately 300 in 2017.
“I also welcome the funds totalling €71.5 million in 2017 for Garda overtime which will facilitate the continuation of large scale operations targeting gangland crime, burglary and terrorism.
“I have also secured €1 million for a new round of community CCTV schemes in line with the Programme for a Partnership Government commitment to provide investment in CCTV systems along the road network and in urban centres.”
3.50pm: Fianna Fáil has hit out at the Government’s controversial decision to link the new first time home buyers €20,000 grant to tax history, saying it will block returning migrants and low-paid workers from benefiting in any way.
The main opposition party’s finance spokesperson Michael McGrath made the remark in a speech responding to budget 2017 which saw him repeatedly refer to Brexit and the post-election stand-off in a bid to avoid in-depth discussion of a document his party helped to write.
Speaking in the Dáil today, the Cork South Central TD said he was deeply worried the help to buy policy will also simply see property prices sky-rocket.
Under measures announced by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, house hunters will be given 5% of the price of their new homes – capped at €20,000 on a €400,000 home – in a bid to increase new builds in the country.
Those buying houses worth between €400,000 and €600,000 will also be able to receive the money up to a cap of €20,000.
The move is attempting to help people struggling to buy a home, and will be linked to the last four years of taxes paid by applicants in order to help fund the policy.
However, speaking in the Dáil, Mr McGrath said the move is unwise, not thought through and risks causing a fresh increase in house prices that will only benefit developers.
“This scheme also raises fundamental issues of fairness. If you are a returning emigrant and you haven’t paid taxes in Ireland in recent years, are you denied the right to benefit from the scheme?
“If you want to remain in your local community and there happens to be no new housing supply there, are you denied the right to benefit from the scheme because you’re forced to buy a second hand home?
“What if you are on modest income and haven’t been enormous tax in recent years, are you denied the right to benefit from the scheme?
“For a young couple tired of bouncing around the rental market the appeal of big bang financial support is irresistible. The government should know better. But those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
“Fundamentally, we must address the underlying costs that are keeping house prices beyond the reach of young people and not stoke up the market even further,” he said.
Mr McGrath was also critical of the Government’s Brexit response in the budget, branding it “pathetic”, and warned that while “only time will tell, on the evidence of today it’s not looking good”.
While saying his party “did not get everything we wanted”, he welcomed the €5 increase for pensioners, USC cuts and confirmation Government will continue to protect the 12.5% tax rate.
The opposition spokesperson also took the opportunity to repeatedly stress his party “did not write the budget” – a phrase repeated by Fianna Fáil public expenditure minister Dara Calleary – in an attempt to side-step likely opposition rival criticism of Fianna Fáil’s deal with Fine Gael.
While his speech was in response to the budget, Mr McGrath spent much of his time discussing the “back-drop” which is Brexit and the 10 weeks of post-election negotiations which he claimed saw all other parties back away from ensuring “stability” for Ireland.
3.45pm: The country’s reliance on corporation taxes from a small number of companies is as risky as the reliance on stamp duty before the crash, the Dáil has heard.
Sinn Fein’s Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty criticised what he called the short-termism in the Budget by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
He said Fine Gael and Fianna Fail only do gimmicks, tax breaks and short-termism. “It is reckless, dangerous and they know it,” he said,
He sharply criticised the Government’s Help to Buy scheme which he said would do nothing to help those first time buyers who are looking to buy a house.
“It is not a Help to Buy Scheme, It is a Help the Banks scheme, a Help the Builders scheme,” he said.
He called on Finance Minister Michael Noonan to scrap the measure and called on Fianna Fail to block it.
Update 3.40pm: The Government have been accused of rewarding the old and neglecting the young in allocating changes to welfare-linked payments for next year writes Irish Examiner Political Examiner Juno McEnroe
Pensioners, carers, widows and the disabled among others will get a €5 rise in their weekly social social benefits as part of a €301m package agreed for Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar.
While welfare claimants will also see comparable increases in general under the budget, younger recipients will only get around half the rise in payments compared to their elders.
The changes will be put on hold though until March, after it was decided the delayed introduction would allow payment increases to be spread more evenly among groups.
The state pensions, widow’s pension, invalidity pension, carer’s benefit, maternity benefit will all go up by €5
However, different rates will apply for changes to jobseeker’s allowance rates. Unemployed people aged 18 to 21 years of age will get €102.70 as opposed to €100 now. The same increase will apply to those aged up to 24. Those aged 25 will get an extra €3.80 while people on jobseekers allowance over 26 years of age will get an extra €5 a week.
AAA TD Paul Murphy highlighted the disparity during budget speeches in the Dail today.
Elsewhere though, Fianna Fail and the Independent Alliance have tried to claim ownership of the budget benefit wins for pensioners and carers among others.
Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath said his party had not written the ministers speeches but that they had influenced budget spending for next year.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe defended the welfare increases, saying several groups had not seen rises in payments in seven years.
“The collapse of the economy meant that we could not increase such payments. The return of growth and the economic recovery of the last couple of years are the reason why we can now afford to begin to change this.”
But Opposition TD Paul Murphy told the Irish Examiner: “The Government has doubled down on discrimination against young people by neglecting to give them even the meagre €5 that they claimed to be giving to all social welfare recipients. They are outrageously expected to survive on 102.70 a week.”
Earlier: Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on Jobs has addressed the Dáil.
Dara Calleary says they didn’t get everything they want in the Budget but they will support it: “There are areas we disagree strongly, but we have a responsibility to this country to provide political stability at a time of great challenge.
“We have married that mandate of responsibility, with the mandate of fairness given to us last February.”
Earlier: Fianna Fáil say they didn’t write today’s budget, but they did influence it.
McGrath: we didn't get everything we want in this budget, but we made significant achievement in certain areas #iestaff #budget17
— Fiachra Ó Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) October 11, 2016
Their Finance Spokesman Michael Mc Grath claims their presence in the minority Government has improved policy: “It is evident today the voice of the ordinary people of Ireland has brough about a marked change in budgetary policy.
“As a party we work for and campaign for a more fairer Ireland.”
FF's Michael McGrath: fairer Ireland is not just a catchphrase, it means public services is a priority #iestaff #budget17
— Fiachra Ó Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) October 11, 2016
