Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that the most important legacy from Tuesday’s Budget was the “far-seeing measure” of the introduction of a savings fund.
“The biggest issue in the budget was what I think is a very far-seeing measure, the introduction of the savings fund, which will protect the future for young people today, 20-year-old and 30-year-olds today, not in decades ahead, but in the decade ahead.
“And we will be providing funding annually now to provide for services, to provide for infrastructure. That is, I think, perhaps the most important legacy of yesterday's budget, as is the infrastructure fund and climate fund.
“Why? Because if a recession comes or the economy downturns, the tendency has always been to cut capital projects.
"But we're saying by this measure is we want to maintain momentum on a Metro.
"We want to maintain momentum on new rail systems and public transport and more busses and so on, and electrification of the bus fleet. And we don't want a situation in the future if there's an economic downturn that we don't have a sufficiency of capital to meet those infrastructural needs because we do need to do that properly into the future.”
Mr Martin told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that inevitably, in the aftermath of any budget there would be varying criticisms. But it had been challenging after “a very significant inflationary period of the last two years”.
Also, the population was aging and the population was growing which meant increasing pressures on public expenditure and the existing levels of services.
The Budget had included “very significant impactful measures” on education and childcare provision, he said.
Mr Martin said that the Government’s evidence was that the measures would help those most in need and would address the gap between rising inflation and the cost of services and the prices that people have to pay in daily goods and services.
“So we have been very focused and targeted in the combination of measures towards easing the pressure in the first instance on the most low paid.
"But there's many in the middle income groups who are also struggling with what has been an extraordinary period of price increases in the most basic of goods that people buy on a daily basis.”
Mr Martin said existing targets for housing were not a limit to what could be delivered. There had been a significant increase in the delivery of social housing , he said, along with an increase in schemes to help first-time buyers.
The Tánaiste acknowledged that more availability was essential and that the current momentum must be maintained. Over 250,000 people availed of the rent credit. There was an issue with the registration of landlords and that must be pursued by the RTB.
Efforts would continue to simplify the scheme and make it easier for young people to access, he said.
