Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to welcome the spring economic statement. I have been around this House for quite a long time and one of the things that always frustrated me, particularly when I was spokesman on finance, was the extraordinarily opaque way in which budgets were put together. Typically, budgets were produced in massive secrecy; so much so, that if the slightest information got out, a person's career was on the line.

We have seen many cases where Ministers pulled rabbits out of the hat on budget day, often to the long-term detriment of the country. Decisions were made on budget day that were poorly researched and prepared. I remember the decentralisation programme and many tax reliefs that were not thought through in a way that would have made them sustainable. Neither were they circulated to other Departments so that the best information could be brought to bear. There was no chance for the public to participate in debating or shaping the priorities to be set.

We are successively moving away from that opaque way of setting budgets, which is an important development. The budgetary system has improved in many ways in recent years. For the first time, the comprehensive spending review moved away from the traditional manner of adding on a percentage every year. No budget ever contemplated a root and branch reform or the alternatives. It was a question of getting a little bit of an increase in the budget, but that was no way to run any programme.

We now see an increasing emphasis on the impact of, and outcomes stemming from, individual programmes. Through the new Estimates procedure, Deputies get a chance to examine how well various programmes are performing. They can also make judgments on their impact. The Spring Economic Statement is a further step forward. It adds to procedures such as the pre-legislative scrutiny that seek to treat the Oireachtas seriously. It allows Deputies to consider options in the coming years and how we can best shape the options available to us. The Spring Economic Statement provides material about the resources available to us, as well as how and where we should deploy them. It gives Deputies a chance to engage seriously in shaping future choices.

I particularly welcome the forthcoming process whereby the public will have a chance to propose ideas for the forthcoming budget. People have made extraordinary sacrifices to get to the point where we have budgetary stability and employment growth. People want to be assured that the sacrifices they have made will not be squandered by decisions that would not copper-fasten the strength of the economy and its potential to grow. It is absolutely right that people should be able to participate in this process to solidly shape future options.

I am surprised at the Opposition's reaction to the spring economic statement. It has been singularly disinterested in seeking to engage in such a debate. Many Opposition contributions this week have featured lists of things that should be done. We need to move away from long, uncosted lists and focus instead on opportunities that can be delivered.

Employment is another important area. I regard the employment journey as one where we are half way on a very difficult road. Back in 2011, we took on an economy and the only thing on people's minds was whether their job would be the next one to go. As the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, said, we were locked out of borrowing markets and our banks were in free-fall. Businesses that had been built up over a lifetime, or over generations, were wiped out in a couple of months. Over 300,000 jobs were lost, people were facing into emigration, and all their hopes and dreams had been shattered.

We have had to work really hard to deal with this. I acknowledge that the heroes of this recovery are the enterprises and workers of this country who stepped up to the plate. They went to remote markets and built an export-led recovery for us. That is evident in today's Enterprise Ireland figures. Over 3,000 companies that participate in Enterprise Ireland programmes are now sending €18.6 billion worth of exports across the world. The highest growth is in emerging markets. That is the sort of enterprise base we need to build in new and sustainable sectors.

I must also acknowledge the major role the public service has played in delivering this change. People forget that the public sector has been reduced by 10%, yet we are treating more patients, educating more pupils, and supporting more companies to build enterprises and go abroad. Many people have radically changed the way they do things in order to facilitate that. My own Department has revised many of its institutional structures to make them leaner and more effective. That represents a huge change.

We can now realistically set a target of achieving sustainable full employment within the lifetime of the next government. I believe that we can have full employment by 2018, built on sustainable sectors and not on a building boom that will vanish no sooner than it arrives. Nonetheless, that is a huge challenge.

The spring economic statement clearly shows that the full employment target will not just fall into our lap. We will have to adopt further changes in the way we do things. Business as usual with no policy changes will not deliver it for us. We face major challenges in new areas. For example, the War for Talent will be crucial if we are to deliver on that target. Deputy Ó Cuív will know that from his own travels in the United States and elsewhere. We have the capacity to build our own enterprises to world-class standards and to attract some of the most ambitious companies in the world to develop from an Irish base.

To continue to do that in the next decade we will have to develop new skills, have an education system that is much more responsive to innovation and use technology to develop the way people are taught but also build incubators and build entrepreneurship within their four walls. We need to be able to share the innovation that is possible with companies and grow companies out of that environment. That is a massive challenge in the education sector.

It depressed me when I heard some prominent leaders of the trade unions in the education sector say recently that they need more pay but that there could be no more talk of productivity. Productivity in that environment, which is the boiler house of the future, is about better outcomes for our children and better job opportunities for them. To turn their backs on change and improving a system that is pivotal to where we want to get as a nation is selling short the challenge we face.

Growth in jobs cannot be taken for granted. The Action Plan for Jobs process has proven that if we adopt a whole of Government approach in terms of getting all Departments focusing on enterprise and employment as a challenge, setting targets and monitoring those targets as to their capacity and ability to deliver on time on changes that are necessary, it creates a great spirit around a national priority but also a great momentum.

I have sat in this House for many years and seen strategies produced by Governments. Governments have never wanted for ambition, but they have never had that focus on implementation that we have delivered. They have never been able to work across silos and make sure the resources and planning in an education Department are aligned with the resources and planning in an enterprise or a finance Department so that collectively we can develop sectors in a coherent way.

As we look to the future and the challenges of creating employment, increasingly it will be our capacity to build those systems and networks that support growing employment. It will be that mix in terms of the infrastructure, and we all know the role of broadband and the way in which technology is developing, the so-called Internet of things. In other words, we will have smart products that, for example, will allow people monitor their own health. It is no longer a question of just going to the doctor and taking a pill. People will be able to monitor their progress and respond in a preventive way. Those sort of technologies are available to be developed in Ireland but we have to get our manufacturing system talking to our health delivery system so that they can be test bedded in an Irish environment.

This spring statement has been portrayed as Government celebrating where we have got to but I see it as setting out huge challenges on the road ahead. What is optimistic about it, however, is that we now have a proven track record of being able to deliver the reforms within the public service and build enterprises that are sustainable. As the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, said, we now have to take the next step and consider how we maximise the opportunity in every region and build the clusters we need. It is a time of important input into this national debate, and I am glad to have an opportunity to contribute.

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