There is less than a week to go before the budget is announced and it is apparently "elbows out" at the Cabinet table, or at least that is what the newspapers are reporting. We are told there are battles going on behind the scenes as Ministers try to secure money for their Departments. You would swear this was a Government that made every single penny count. Of course, then we read the latest damning Comptroller and Auditor General report about enormous levels of waste across government and public bodies. A total of €20 million was wasted on renting unoccupied offices and €248,000 on unused hotel rooms for gardaí for one event. Tens of millions of euro of public money have been flushed down the drain because of the same old story of no controls, no oversight and no accountability. Never before has a Government had so much money to spend and achieved so little. The opportunity those record budget surpluses represented were wasted by the previous Government on one-off measures. What do we have to show for it? We have an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, a worsening housing disaster, threadbare disability services and crumbling infrastructure.

What is most alarming is that it seems no lessons have been learned. We do not hear anything from the Government that indicates it wants to change course. This is why the kite flying about this year's budget is so concerning. If leaks are anything to go by, this will be an uninspiring budget which just tinkers around the edges. What strikes me is the lack of ambition and the absence of any imagination. The disconnect is staggering. Where is the understanding of how much some people are struggling? Where is the ambition to do better? Where are the big ideas? Where are the radical measures that can make a real difference in making this country more affordable and more equal?

This afternoon the Social Democrats will announce our alternative budget to show people that there is another way and that it is possible to drive down costs for families and target money wisely. Our plan includes a second tier of child benefit that would lift 40,000 children out of poverty; a weekly cost-of-disability payment; abolishing the means test for carers; a reduction in childcare fees of €200 per month as well as finally rolling out a public model; plans for the State to acquire a modular housing factory to turbo-charge the delivery of affordable homes; and a €400 energy credit for households in the bottom 40% of income. Does the Minister support any of these ideas and, if so, why is the Government not adopting any of them?

I have not noticed any elbows out at Cabinet when it comes to budget negotiations. In fairness to Ministers, their objective is to try to ensure they can get sufficient resources to fund their Department for the year ahead. In my area of justice, it is something I am seeking to do but I also have to be conscious and responsible that we need to keep restraint on public spending. Notwithstanding that, we find ourselves in a unique position in this country whereby we have a very large surplus. We are not in the position in which other countries find themselves, whereby they do not have a surplus. Many countries cannot agree spending in any specific area.

It is also important to point out that this did not happen by accident. The surplus we have arises as a result of political decisions that were made by Governments of the past. When Deputy Cairns is criticising this Government, she should just recall the fact that the reason we are in such a sound financial state is decisions made by previous Governments, and they deserve credit for them. We decided we would try to adopt an open economy that would attract in outside investment and have the effect of creating large surpluses that we could spend for the benefit of our citizens.

I agree with some of the Deputy's criticism regarding what the Comptroller and Auditor General identified in his report. I previously replied to Deputy McDonald in respect of the chapter on IPAS. Deputy Cairns identified another chapter in the report relating to wholly unnecessary expenditure by An Garda Síochána in respect of rooms for the Europa League final last year that subsequently were not used. This type of spending should not have occurred. The Garda has accepted the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General in his report and recognises it should not book rooms that far in advance and, if it does so, that it does not need to book them all. It also needs to ensure it has an appropriate cancellation policy in place to ensure the State and the Garda are not left in a position whereby they have to meet such a large bill for unused accommodation.

I am very pleased to hear that the Social Democrats will today launch their prebudget submission. I have no doubt that the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers, will give careful consideration to it. I note what the Deputy said about some of the proposals the party is putting out there. I have no doubt that, together with Deputy O'Callaghan, she has carefully crafted the expenditure to be spent on them. However, as the Taoiseach said yesterday, this comes down to a matter of choices. The choices that Deputy Cairns has identified may all be creditable and appropriate but they will have an impact on other types of expenditure. I can assure her that the Government will give consideration to the Social Democrats budget. I cannot give any assurance that we will adopt the policies put out in its budget. It is not the case, however, that simply because they are in the Social Democrats' budget, we will not give them consideration. The Ministers will, and the Deputy will be able to find out what is in the budget next week.

I do recognise the big surpluses, and something the Social Democrats highlight every year at budget time and, indeed, throughout the year is that they need to be spent wisely because they are not necessarily forever. It is exactly a year ago today since the previous budget, a giveaway on steroids basically to try to buy the election. Now that there is no election on the horizon, the Government has suddenly realised that untargeted one-off measures are not a good idea, as if giving €100 million in energy credits to owners of holiday homes ever made sense. Meanwhile, last year the number of children living in consistent poverty doubled. I will repeat that. There were record budget surpluses, €100 million was given to holiday home owners and the number of children living in consistent poverty doubled.

This Government and the previous Government have consistently squandered opportunities to make a real difference to those children's lives. Budgets are about choices and the Government has a big choice to make next week on how it spends public money. The Social Democrats has outlined a number of suggestions and new ideas that would alleviate child poverty. Will the Government reconsider introducing a second tier of child benefit payment?

It is unfair of Deputy Cairns to describe the budget introduced last year as "a giveaway on steroids". When the one-off measures were introduced, I do not recall anyone in opposition describing them as that. In fact, they were wholeheartedly accepted and there was no criticism of them by Opposition Members.

That is not true. We clearly called them out.

Child poverty is an extremely important issue from the point of view of the Government. I have no doubt that when Members see the budget that will be announced next week they will see recognition given to the importance of child poverty from the Government's point of view. In terms of a second tier of children's allowance, as the Deputy identified, I cannot give an assurance or confirmation as to what will be in the budget.

I am sure the Deputy will have costed such measures and will appreciate that they will have significant consequences for expenditure elsewhere. I assure her that, as I identified before, the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers, will give careful consideration to what is contained within the Social Democrats' pre-budget submission.