Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To add to what the Minister said there, we all acknowledged during the last two years of Covid that issues that do not always get a high level of attention or traction in political debate are important to people in their day-to-day lives. We all got a renewed sense of appreciation for the environment, local amenities, walkways, greenways, biodiversity and all the issues the Deputy touched on. The adoption of the well-being framework now is particularly timely. It includes 11 overall dimensions from which the well-being dashboard of 35 indicators flows. Those are wide-ranging, as the Deputy has acknowledged. We have examined the experience of other countries, including New Zealand, which is seen as a world leader in this regard. We have also looked at the work of the OECD and my Department has established a well-being public policy unit. It is a work in progress and we are going to continue to develop it. There are future phases for the development of the well-being framework. Well-being issues very often come down to the fundamental things people need in their lives, which is a roof over their head, accommodation, access to healthcare when they need it and a basic level of income to give them a decent quality of life. Particularly at a time of high inflation, that is where our focus lies.

While we have a well-being framework, it is not something we look at as separate to the budget. We do not consider all the other issues and then look at the well-being framework and see how that influences us. It has to be a thread running through all our considerations in the budgetary process. We have to think about what things contribute to well-being that really matter to people in their day-to-day lives. In the Deputy's question and in our responses we have acknowledged what we believe those things are, namely, the basic supports and services people rely on. It is a very welcome departure in Irish politics and in our budgetary process to include well-being and equality budgeting. In recent years, we have increasingly published more and more material on equality budgeting and we will continue with that in the context of the budget, as well as later in the year as part of the Revised Estimates when more and more Departments and budget-holders will bring forward metrics and evidence on how they are accounting for equality budgeting. It is a very welcome change. It takes the focus away from the hard numbers in isolation. It is about what they mean for people in their day-to-day lives. That is what really matters. We are elected public representatives and we know from talking to people every day in our constituencies what the issues that really matter to them are. We have to make sure those are our priorities in the budget.