Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank members for this opportunity to appear before the select committee as they consider the 2023 Estimates for Votes 1 to 6, inclusive. A detailed briefing document for each of these Votes has been supplied to the committee in advance of the meeting.

While I have certain responsibilities to the Oireachtas for administrative matters in some of these offices, they operate independently of my Department. I will, therefore, mainly focus on the work of my Department in light of the proposed 2023 Estimate.

On Vote 1, the Estimate for the President's Establishment is just over €5 million. This includes €3.4 million for pay and administration, with the balance used to fund the centenarians' bounty.

On Vote 3, the Estimate for the Office of the Attorney General is €26.8 million. Some €15.8 million of this relates to staff costs and €2.9 million is allocated to the Law Reform Commission. The consolidation and revision of planning legislation subhead has been allocated €4 million, down from €12 million in the Estimate for 2022, as the planning and development Bill has now been published.

The Central Statistics Office Estimate is €72.4 million, down from a budget of €103 million last year because 2022 was a census. The figure includes €3.9 million for the ongoing 2022 census costs and €1 million for plans for the 2027 census project. Other areas funded are the household budget survey, the integrated farm statistics project, improving data security, accessibility and protection and the development of an online platform for the 2027 census so it can be done online.

The Estimate for Vote 5, which is for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, is €56.1 million. This provides €23.7 million in administration and pay, which is an increase of €4.9 million on 2022. Some €19 million has been allocated for fees to counsel and €8.4 million to fund the local State solicitor service.

Vote 6 is the Chief State Solicitor’s Office. The Estimate is €49.5 million, the bulk of which relates to salaries and administration. A provision of just over €20.9 million is allocated for the payment of legal fees incurred.

The 2023 Estimate for the Department of the Taoiseach’s Vote is €38.7 million. Two thirds of the Estimate, €25.5 million, relates to staff and administration. The remaining €13.2 million provides funding for the citizens’ assemblies, the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, Covid-19 public communications and also several independent inquiries. The Department is currently developing its new statement of strategy for 2023 to 2025. This will reflect the central role of the Department in advancing a number of whole-of-government priorities over the coming period. One of these is helping families and businesses with the high cost of living. We all know that the past 12 months have been difficult for many people, with significant cost-of-living increases, particularly related to energy, and that is now feeding through to groceries. However, we face these challenges from a position of strength, thanks to the strong economy and the prudent management of the public finances in recent years. Despite an uncertain international environment, our economy continues to grow. We have record numbers of people in employment and we are seeing the highest levels of labour market participation in more than a decade.

Many of the measures announced as part of the budget in 2023 are only now coming into effect or they will come into effect shortly. This includes the payment of a further energy credit of €200 for every household this month, the abolition of inpatient hospital charges for adults in April, and the introduction of free schoolbooks and reduced costs for further and higher education - these relate to the student registration fee and improvements in the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant - come into effect in September.

Two weeks ago, we announced some additional steps to help families and businesses, including a lump sum child benefit payment of €100 per child to be paid in June and a €200 lump sum to be paid in April to all long-term social welfare recipients, including pensioners.

The Government will continue to ensure businesses and families are assisted to manage rising energy costs. Alongside these short-term responses, we are encouraging continued investment in sustainable energy and the national grid to ensure that we rapidly decarbonise our energy and reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels. We are also investing heavily in economic and social infrastructure to secure our future competitiveness, as well as ensuring balanced regional development, through the national broadband plan, the regeneration of our rural communities and job creation outside of Dublin. We are also promoting the digital transition across our economy and society, to the benefit of all.

On housing, we will do whatever it takes to solve this profound social crisis and reverse the trend of rising homelessness and falling home ownership. Housing for All is a comprehensive plan that will increase the supply of homes for our citizens and bring a fundamental reform of our housing system. Working with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, we are driving its implementation with quarterly progress reports. Last year, 2022, saw the largest annual completion of new homes in more than a decade, with roughly 30,000 new homes built. That does not include student accommodation and derelict homes being brought back into use. Some 8,000 new social housing units were built, which is the highest number since 1975. Commencement notices and planning permission approvals also increased in 2022. There are now clear indications that Housing for All is starting to work. However, the results will take time, given the scale of the challenge and the need for fundamental reform.

In the year since Russia’s brutal invasion, Ukraine has seen immense suffering and destruction and a wide-scale displacement of its people. To date, Ireland is accommodating almost 80,000 people who have fled here from Ukraine and also people applying for international protection who have come from outside of Europe. We have also enrolled almost 15,000 Ukrainian students in our schools.

This response is unprecedented in the history of our State.

The recently established Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine, which I chair, oversees the whole-of-government humanitarian response for people from Ukraine who have sought temporary protection here. Given the continuing volume of people arriving, sourcing suitable accommodation at scale and at speed is extremely challenging. The State has a moral and legal obligation to provide accommodation for people seeking international protection here and for people from Ukraine seeking temporary protection. The crisis began as an emergency, but we are now developing a more long-term sustainable response. We want services and assistance to be adequate, consistent and equitable. We are developing a more agile response to providing accommodation beyond the use of hotels and tourist accommodation. We are accelerating the refurbished buildings programme, continuing the unoccupied homes campaign, and providing pledged accommodation and rapid-build homes on suitable sites. The €50 million community recognition fund is being provided to ensure that access to public services and community centre facilities is maintained and expanded, and there is at least some reward for communities that are welcoming so many people from abroad.

The Government recently approved the participation of 30 Defence Forces’ personnel in the newly established European Union military assistance mission, EUMAM, for Ukraine. All of Ireland’s assistance to Ukraine, whether through the European peace facility in the form of bilateral aid or through Ireland’s participation in EUMAM, is done consistent with the principle of military neutrality and in full recognition that after a year of war Ireland has not, at any stage, been politically neutral in this conflict. We are on the side of Ukraine.

Climate change is the most pressing long-term global challenge of our time and Ireland is facing up to that challenge. The Cabinet committee on environment and climate change oversees the ambitious programme for Government commitments in this area. The updated climate action plan, published last December, sets out the actions required to respond to the climate crisis and meet our EU and national commitments to significantly reduce emissions. It puts climate solutions at the centre of Ireland’s social and economic development. The climate action unit in the Department of the Taoiseach drives implementation of our ambitious climate agenda, including by co-chairing the climate action delivery board and reporting on the implementation of the climate action plan. We have set the ambition to halve our emissions by 2030 and become climate neutral by 2050. The changes required will be transformative and will require the involvement of all sectors of the economy and all parts of society. We will continue to provide leadership and pursue more effective environmental and climate protection across our policies and programmes.

We are continuing our shared island initiative, to benefit the whole island and work with all communities for a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. The initiative is driven and co-ordinated through the shared island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. Over the past two years, the Government has allocated €191 million from the shared island fund to move ahead with long-standing cross-Border commitments, such as the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water Bridge. New initiatives this year include the €3 million shared island civic society funding scheme and a €15 million electric vehicle, EV, charging scheme network of publicly accessible, community-focused, EV charging points at sports clubs across the island of Ireland.

Over the past 24 months, more than 2,500 citizens and civic representatives from all regions, sectors and communities on the island of Ireland have participated in the shared island dialogue series. A comprehensive research programme is also under way, working with the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, the Irish Research Council and other partners. A stream of high-quality work has been published to inform discussions and engagement by all communities and traditions on the island on the opportunities for our shared future. The continuing absence of the executive and inability of the North-South Ministerial Council to meet impacts on what is possible and there is an urgent need to get all of the political institutions of the agreement operating again. The breakthrough deal achieved between the EU and the UK provides the necessary certainty for trade in Northern Ireland. It also provides a firm platform for the future of relations between the EU and the UK to move onto a more positive and productive footing and paves the way for restoration of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

Through the work of the Cabinet committee on health we will continue to invest in our health services to improve outcomes for all. Our health service has major challenges, which was evident during the difficult winter period. However, our health system has responded and expanded dramatically in recent years. We are treating more people with better outcomes than ever before. Life expectancy in Ireland is now one of the best in the EU. Waiting lists, using the Sláintecare targets, that is, nobody should wait more than ten to 12 weeks to see a consultant or have a procedure they need, fell by 11% in 2022 and are down almost 25% from their peak. We are targeting a further 10% reduction in waiting lists this year.

We are committed to expanding the core capacity of our acute hospitals, with more health professionals and more acute hospital beds. Over the past three years, we have added nearly 1,000 hospital beds to the system, with further additional beds planned for 2023. This does not include community beds, which are also being increased. We also aim to increase our public health and social care workforce by another 6,000 this year.

On access, under Sláintecare, last year we removed inpatient charges for all under-16s and this year we will remove them for patients over-16. We are expanding free contraception and GP care and introducing State-funded IVF. Regional health areas are being developed to drive integration between community and hospital medicine and the new public-only consultant contract is now a reality. This the beginning of the end of private practice in our public hospitals. Sláintecare is happening.

On child poverty, our vision is to make Ireland the best country in Europe to be a child. Poverty restricts a child’s opportunity. The first few years of life are so important. The child poverty and wellbeing unit will build on what has been achieved by the Government and give a greater focus to improving the lives of all children in Ireland. We want to ensure that unit brings added value, as well as strategic leadership and enhanced accountability, to the child poverty reduction agenda and makes a tangible difference in the lives of children and families. We aim to have this unit up and running by the end of this month.

The Cabinet committee on children and education will oversee the programme for Government commitments, with a specific focus on child poverty and wellbeing. This year we will reduce childcare costs, increase the child dependant allowance and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, waive State exam fees, reduce the cost of school transport, introduce free school books in all primary schools in September, and hot school meals in all DEIS primary schools and all special schools. Members will see we are taking action on this agenda already.

We will build stronger and safer communities through reforms in policing and community safety, including oversight roles in the implementation of A Policing Service for our Future and the Dublin North East Inner City initiative. We will build on the work under way to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. We will provide additional resources to An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, the Prison Service and the court system, as well as passing new laws to ensure we apprehend criminals and deal with them appropriately.

Last June, the Government launched a new strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which is at epidemic proportions in Ireland. It is an ambitious five-year programme of reform aimed at achieving a society that does not accept domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, or the attitudes that underpin it. The Cabinet committee on social affairs and public services oversees implementation of the strategy.

I want Ireland to be a world leader when it comes to gender equality. We have new gender pay gap legislation, additional parental leave, and we are ensuring better gender balance on boards and increasing gender candidate quotas for Dáil elections. Last year saw many public and private organisations publish their first gender pay gap reports required under the new legislation. This is bringing much-needed visibility to the gap that still exists in pay levels between men and women. It will drive change and increase the promotion of women within organisations.

We have also agreed to introduce legislation to provide better gender balance on corporate boards; we have already done so on State boards. For too long, women and girls have carried a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities, been discriminated against at home and in the workplace, overlooked, objectified, and some have lived in fear of domestic or gender-based violence. We are committed to responding to the matters raised by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Equality. As part of our response, earlier this week, the Government agreed that a referendum or referendums will be held in November 2023 to amend the Constitution as recommended by the citizens’ assembly and joint Oireachtas committee.

As a first step, we will convene an interdepartmental group to determine the policy scope of the referenda and to develop policy recommendations for consideration by the Government. The group will be convened by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and will include representatives from all Departments, the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the translators, and other agencies will be asked to contribute as the work progresses. While the detail will emerge from the interdepartmental process, at this point it is expected that two separate constitutional amendments will be proposed, one amendment to focus on equality in general, and the scope of the second amendment will be in relation to care.

Ireland is widely regarded as a world leader in deliberative democracy. Citizens' assemblies have become an important part of the Irish democratic process, and the recommendations of previous assemblies have influenced significant changes in how we live our lives, including through constitutional change, legislative change, and changes in the design and implementation of policy. Most recently, the Dublin Citizens' Assembly submitted its final report and recommendations to the Oireachtas in December. The Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss held its final meeting in January, and its report and recommendations will be submitted to the Oireachtas in the coming weeks.

The Government has recently established a Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use. Selection of citizens is under way with the first meeting scheduled for April. The Department of the Taoiseach provides a secretariat for the assemblies. The assembly will consider and make recommendations in respect of the changes the State might make to reduce significantly the harmful impact of drugs on individuals, families, communities, and wider society. An important part of the assembly's work will be developing an understanding of the lived experience of individuals, families, and communities impacted by drugs use. The assembly is scheduled to conclude its work and submit its report by the end of this year.

Finally, provision is also being made in the Estimate for a number of independent inquiries, including the Moriarty tribunal, the Cregan commission, and the Cooke commission. The Estimate includes an allocation of €2.5 million for the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, for its work in providing forward-looking, strategic advice on economic, social, and sustainable issues. The current NESC work programme includes a programme of research on a wide range of important topics such as the private rented sector in Ireland, the nature of Ireland's economy, climate, biodiversity and transition in agriculture, and how Ireland’s new well-being framework can help identify inequalities. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and I look forward to discussing the Revised Estimates with Deputies.