Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset I wish to record my personal admiration for the extraordinary achievements of the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform in very difficult circumstances. The concept of the spring statement is a good one in that it will help us to avoid boom and bust scenarios in the coming years. It lays out projections, figures and parameters, factoring in the new fiscal rules at European level. This will inform the subsequent debate because it forces both Government and Opposition to present workable and realistic proposals within those parameters, which is to be welcomed.

The optimism and possibilities set out have their basis in four pillar achievements of this Government. The first thing this Government set out to do after its formation was to restore Ireland's international reputation and it went about that meticulously and painstakingly. The fallout of that for the Irish people was the successful promissory note deal, involving savings of €20 billion over a decade and the consistent and continuing reduction in our interest rate bill. The second issue the Government wanted to take on was the state of the public finances, which had implications for inward investment, the delivery of services and the workability of the country. Prior to the Government coming into office, this country was spending €50 billion per year but only taking in €31 billion, leaving a deficit of €19 billion, which was completely unsustainable. Now the deficit is down to €4.5 billion and it will be under 3% of GDP this year. The third plank of the Government's work programme was to bring sanity and order into the banking system with the stabilisation of the two pillar banks and ultimately the liquidation of Anglo Irish Bank. That has been achieved, although challenges remain in that area, particularly with regard to the remaining distressed mortgages, numbering 30,000 households. I gather that proposals are due shortly in that regard and I hope they will be effective, comprehensive and will ensure, where possible, that people do not lose their homes. The other challenge in this area is that of mortgage interest rates. The Minister for Finance has been working consistently to get the banks to adjust their variable interest rates downwards. The fourth enormously important issue, to which the other three were related, was dealing with unemployment. The unemployment rate is now at 10% and we will achieve effective full employment by 2018. That is what it is all about and that is a huge achievement. In summary, we had a growth rate in 2014 of 4.8%, an expected rate of 4% for this year and an average of 3.4% for the decade as a whole, the highest rate in Europe currently. In jobs terms, since the low point of 2012, we have created 95,000 jobs which is absolutely crucial.

Of course, all of this required enormously skilful management and the maintenance of industrial peace throughout the period through the buy-in of the social partners and so forth. While all of this was skilfully handled by the Government which led from the front, nobody should deny the fact that ultimately this all came about through the sacrifices of our people. The people made enormous sacrifices and those sacrifices are fructifying now. The people deserve a dividend now - a reasonable and sustainable dividend. The sacrifices of our people must be rewarded and in that regard, the average industrial wage has increased, in net terms, by 10% since the last budget. We need to continue with further tax reductions and the Minister for Finance has secured €750 million for that purpose in the coming budget. The aim should be to reduce the amount of tax deducted from the lower paid in particular as well as reducing the number of people liable for the universal social charge. Doing that is an important element of social engineering because the USC in particular is very oppressive for many people, particularly those on lower incomes.

I am also happy that the Government has opted for a 50:50 split between public expenditure and tax reductions. There are a number of important areas deserving of additional public expenditure and I firmly believe that we should introduce a second year for the preschool programme. As a former primary school teacher and as a parent I would argue that a second preschool year is vitally important and would be enormously beneficial for our children and for society as a whole. The benefits of preschool education do not need elaboration here and I will not insult the intelligence of Deputies present by giving my reasons for arguing thus.

Another critically important issue is the need to deal with the biggest infrastructural deficit in the country, namely the lack of high-speed broadband in all areas. I hope that progress will be made on this in the next year or two. I am delighted that Cavan town now has exceptionally high-speed broadband through a recent initiative involving Vodafone and Eircom but I want to see that extended across Cavan and Monaghan in the coming years.

The Minister promised a regional dividend. He promised to try bring the rewards for the sacrifices made to every region of the country, which is extremely important. In that context, while I am happy with what has been achieved in my constituency during the worst of times, I would like more to be achieved in the period ahead. In the midst of the recession we built new schools in Mullagh and Virginia in County Cavan, approved a long-overdue secondary school for Kingscourt and invested in numerous schools in Cavan town and throughout the counties of Cavan and Monaghan. While all of that was welcome, I would like to see further investment. I would like to see the Holy Family School in Cootehill get a new school building, which would be a very worthy capital expenditure project. I would also like to see a new third level or further education campus in Cavan town. Such developments merit investment in the coming years and I have had meetings with the Taoiseach recently to discuss these specific issues.

The people of Cavan-Monaghan deserve infrastructural capital investment because they were part of the national sacrifices that were made. We achieved 460 new jobs in County Cavan in 2014, notably 83 in Lakelands Dairies, in Bailieborough, in Lagan Brick in Kingscourt, and recently 200 new jobs in Combilift in Monaghan. That is all good but we need further regional inward investment in counties such as Cavan and Monaghan. We need more IDA Ireland itineraries and more investment. Of course, the broadband and the proper road structure will assist that.

I know this is reflected in other areas, but I am elected to talk about Cavan-Monaghan within the national context. Cavan-Monaghan was very badly hit by the dislocation of the construction sector. Many people who worked in the construction sector have lost jobs there. That major issue needs to be addressed.

The spring economic statement sets out an optimistic scenario coming out of the lost decade, as the Minister, Deputy Noonan, called it. It is a stark but valid description. People have been to hell and back, as they say in one of those orienteering activity places. Now that we are back we need to create an optimistic scenario and the spring economic statement sets out possibilities. The people who made the sacrifices now need to experience the dividend and it needs to be spread nationally and sectorally. Of course, initially it needs to be targeted more at the lower paid. While doing this, it is critical that we do not revert to boom and bust economics and do not recreate the same situation again. With the aid of fiscal rules and domestic prudence we need to steady the horses here because if we do not the people will go through another lost decade. That is our challenge.

See this speech in context