There will be statements on the budget later but as I am not due to speak until tomorrow, I wish to touch on a measure in the budget which was announced a short time ago, that is, the extension of the help to buy scheme. This has been pivotal in assisting 28,500 individuals and families to build or purchase their first home. It has been an essential measure to assist them in getting their deposit together. Under the Central Bank rules, that is 10% of the price. People my age seeking to get on the property ladder for the first time, tell me that this scheme has been important in enabling them to buy their first home. That is why it is a very positive decision by the Government to extend that scheme in the budget for the coming year.

All Opposition parties want to abolish that scheme, which is absolute madness. What is their solution for those people trying to get their 10% deposit together to get on the ladder? It is all well and good to saying they will build affordable homes, but under the Central Bank rules you still need a 10% deposit to get on the property ladder and purchase that affordable home. I would welcome a debate in this Chamber where every party can lay its cards on the table in regard to what its affordable housing plans are. Under both our schemes, which will commence next year, an equity stake is being taken in the property whereas in other schemes being touted, you will not own the land on which the property is built and you will be restricted on who you can sell the property on to. If I was a first-time buyer, I know which scheme I would prefer.

Like my colleague, I will not be speaking on the budget today but I want to welcome the disability budget that was announced today. I especially welcome the single biggest increase in personal assistance hours, totalling 3 million. This is a very welcome announcement.

On another note, I propose that this House has a series of debates where each Department could show how it is going to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The UNCRPD needs to be implemented. We will be ratifying and implementing that protocol, hopefully next year. Departments have a role to play in that implementation and I would like to see their strategies. They would be very welcome to the House.

Last Friday 88 branches of the Bank of Ireland throughout the country closed. This is another blow to the rural economy. Along with that went the only ATM machine in a number of towns. One of those towns was Granard in County Longford where the local credit union has applied for planning permission to install an ATM at its facility. When that happens, I urge people to support their credit union and their post office. As a postmaster, I am naturally biased. We have those facilities available but I would urge people to support the financial institution that remains in many towns in rural areas because the reality is that within the next 24 months, it is likely many other branches of other banks, such as AIB, will also close. I would ask people to support the financial institutions that remain.

As Members are aware, I am still battling to get support for the post office network. The reality is that within the next 12 to 15 months, unless there is a significant increase in social protection payments going into post offices, which decreased at an alarming rate specifically after Covid-19, we are looking at in the region of 300 post office closures in early 2022. That is a reality and people need to grasp that.

When a post office closes - a number have closed, in particular in Dublin - I ask people to transfer those payments to another post office rather than to a bank, which is more than likely going to close its branch. We have always used this analogy of use it or lose it, so I ask the public to support those financial institutions that remain because otherwise they will be gone within the next 24 months.