Maria Bailey (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everyone will be glad to know I got out of bed on the right side this morning, as I do every day. My children are learning Irish and they are young. I do not expect to see those kinds of statistics in a document like this. However, the document allows decision makers to take into account what results are to be achieved by expenditure. In that respect this document is very transparent and easy to read.

The intention behind this document is to help sectoral committees that have very little time. For example, Deputy Cowen is a former member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government which sometimes meets twice or three times a week. On occasion, that committee has very limited time to focus on particular areas. The report facilitates delving down into figures far quicker than was previously possible . It also demonstrates the overlap between different Departments of which we might not have been aware prior to now. I am very familiar with the format. It is very easy to read.

It is worth looking at impacts. We are talking about what impact the Government is having or the country is having. It is very clearly lays out what has been delivered in 2017. We can drill down into those figures when we go into our sectoral committees. I do not expect the witnesses to come in and talk about climate action, housing, planning, local government or transport. I do not expect Department of Public Expenditure and Reform officials to have those detailed figures that I need. However, what is presented here is a very good overview of each Department.

Deputy Eamon Ryan spoke about the protection of our coastal areas. We have strategic policies such as Project Ireland 2040 to protect our coastal areas, which are of immense benefit to the country. The committee has already completed pre-legislative scrutiny on the Bill on plastic microbeads. I do not expect Department of Public Expenditure and Reform officials to come in and have details of those policies with them. However, as Oireachtas Members, we need to challenge what is being spent in those areas. Is it enough? Is it too much? Are we getting value for money? That is our role.

Sadly, Deputy Boyd Barrett has left. As I said to him before he departed, I was delighted to hear him having such an interest in tree planting. Ten or 12 years we were councillors together. One member wanted every tree in the constituency to be named. He will be glad to hear that 3,000 mature trees have been or are in the process of being planted in Cherrywood on a site of 163 acres. I cannot give the details of what is being planted throughout the country. However, I can give him a snapshot of what is happening in his area.

It is important not to take out of context some of the numbers presented here. Given my area of interest, it is great to see the housing figures provided. We are about to start either the tender process or the capital appraisal process relating to 846 sites throughout the country on which more than 13,000 social homes will be delivered. They will be delivered this year, next year and in subsequent years. It is not possible to get into that detail on one page in this document. However, I certainly can through my committee. We can put those pertinent to the officials in those Departments.

I very much welcome the document, which gives a great overview of the various Departments. It gives great information that can be benchmarked off the previous or following years. It is very easy to read and I love the detail it offers. I also love the monthly economic bulletin the Department of Finance provides. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform gives a lot of detail. I also get a lot of detail from the Department I am interested in, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. We are never short on such detail. When it is all out in the open, people can make their own decisions on whether the impacts we are having are good or bad, and they are to be challenged. That is the role we, as Oireachtas Members, play.

I do not have any questions for the witnesses. I thank them for the document, which contains the kind of detail that I like and that affords me the opportunity to delve further into details relating to particular Departments in a way in which I might not have done previously. I thank the witnesses for that.