Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to attend and for the opportunity to appear before the select committee to consider the 2024 Revised Estimates for Votes 1 to 3, inclusive, and 5 and 6. 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 for the Oireachtas for the administrative matters in some of these offices, they do operate independently of my Department. I will focus mainly, therefore, on the work of the Department of the Taoiseach and its proposed 2024 Revised Estimate.

On Vote 1, the Estimate for the President's Establishment is €5.26 million, up 3% on 2023. This includes just under €3.6 million for pay and administration, with the balance to fund the centenarians' bounty.

On Vote 3, the Estimate for the Office of the Attorney General is just over €24 million. This is a decrease of 10% on 2023. A total of €16.2 million of this relates to staff costs and €3 million is allocated to the Law Reform Commission.

On Vote 5, the Estimate for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is €61.3 million, up 2% on the previous year. A total of €21.5 million has been allocated for fees to counsel and €9.6 million to fund the local State solicitor service.

On Vote 6, the Estimate for the Chief State Solicitor's Office this year is just under €48.9 million, the bulk of which relates to salaries and administration. A provision of just over €18.2 million is allocated for the payment of legal fees incurred.

The 2024 gross Estimate for the Department of the Taoiseach's Vote is €37.9 million. A total of 70% of the Estimate relates to staff and administration operating costs. The remaining €11.9 million provides funding for the National Economic and Social Development Office, which incorporates the National Economic and Social Council, the proposed Covid-19 evaluation, citizens' assemblies and several independent inquiries.

The priorities of the Department of the Taoiseach are set out in a statement of strategy for 2023 to 2025. They reflect the central role of the Department in working across government to implement programme for Government commitments underpinning a sustainable economy, a successful society and the pursuit of this country's interests abroad. With my appointment as Taoiseach, a new statement of strategy for the Department will be published in the coming months.

Despite a backdrop of weakening growth and rising international economic uncertainty in recent months, including the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Ireland's domestic economy continues to perform strongly. This is evident in the number of people at work, namely, a new record level of just over 2.7 million, and within that female participation in the labour market is now among its highest ever levels. Job growth, I am pleased to say, is also taking place in all the regions. While prices have been rising annually since April 2021, we have seen a welcome moderation and downward trend in inflation in recent months. March was the fifth consecutive month since December 2021 when the annual growth in the consumer price index was below 5%, with inflation now at 2.9% over the past 12 months. This week's stability programme update projects headline inflation of 2.1% for this year.

We cannot, however, take our economic progress for granted. What has seen us through recent challenges is our commitment to an economic model that has served Ireland well.

This includes a stable and competitive tax offering, a pro-enterprise environment, membership of the European Union, support for free trade and investment agreements, investing in critical skills and welcoming people with those skills to our shores and incremental and real improvements in working conditions. We have assisted businesses in recent years to remain operating and to ensure our continuing competitiveness, innovativeness and resilience into the future. We are also taking significant steps to increase public capital investment, while establishing two longer-term funds to ensure our corporation tax receipts are available for future investment and to provide for the needs of future generations.

While budget 2024 measures are continuing to come into effect, a number are already in place and are assisting with the cost of living. This includes the payment of electricity credits to every household, and the third payment of €150 is taking place during this current billing cycle, an increase of €12 to the maximum rate of all weekly social welfare payments and a once-off double week for all qualifying social welfare payments, an increase to the national minimum wage, lower income taxes, an increase to the ceiling at which USC will apply and increases to the VAT registration threshold for businesses.

While, as I have said, our economy is performing well, events in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to be matters of grave concern. Ireland condemns the large-scale attacks by Iran on Israel. They are reckless and a flagrant threat to international peace and security, and we continue to call on all parties to show maximum restraint. It is now even more clear that the conflict in Gaza must end, for the sake of the people of Gaza and the wider region and for international peace and security. There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, there must be an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and there needs to be a massive and sustained surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza. This country, as committee members will know, does stand ready to recognise the State of Palestine and is minded to do so in the short time ahead, ideally along with a small number of other states of the European Union.

The situation in Ukraine is also of serious concern. I spoke to President Zelenskyy by phone during my first full day as Taoiseach and also heard from him at the European Council last week. I reiterated to him this country's unwavering commitment to Ukraine's freedom, democracy and territorial integrity, to its future as a member of our European Union and to President Zelenskyy's peace formula. We remain steadfast in our strong political and practical support for Ukraine as it exercises its legitimate right to self-defence against continued Russian aggression.

Record numbers of people are now seeking protection in Europe and Ireland due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, indeed, due to other conflicts across the world. In excess of 138,000 people from Ukraine and asylum seekers from elsewhere have arrived in Ireland since the start of 2022. To date, the Government has been providing more than 96,000 people with State-sourced and funded accommodation, between those people who have fled the war in Ukraine and the approximately 27,400 people in international protection accommodation. Irish people know more than anyone the importance of helping people in need and our communities have made people welcome. I thank them for this. Many of the new arrivals are now working in areas like healthcare, retail and tourism or are volunteering in their communities. Ireland does have a duty to offer shelter to people fleeing the war and persecution and we assess each person in a fair and firm manner. We are fair and welcoming to those who come here legally or need protection but we must also be firm with those who do not and to anyone who seeks to abuse our system.

This is an important point to make. Irish people are extraordinarily fair, decent and humane. We are a country known for our céad míle fáilte. Irish people, however, also like a degree of common sense and to know there are rules, that they are in place and that they are being followed. It is important to show in the weeks and months ahead to the people of this country that we have a rules-based migration system and to look at every way we can to improve the efficiency in respect of how we implement this system.

The high number of arrivals has required a crisis response and I very much appreciate this has had an impact on local communities. We must try now to move away from this emergency approach in terms of what accommodation is available and the overreliance on the private market, to a much more sustainable longer-term plan. As I said, this needs to be founded on common sense, on respect for communities and on better communication. The Government is also working collectively to ensure that we counter misinformation and disinformation on migration, and this is important. This country is the better for migration. This country benefits from migration. Of that, there is no doubt.

Migration remains a core concern across the EU. It is a regular discussion point at European Councils. A comprehensive approach is required that deals with all aspects of the challenge. This idea that this small country can go it alone in this area is fantasy-land stuff. We must work at an EU level and with our EU counterparts. We must look at how we can strengthen the EU's borders and solidarity within the European Union and we must work much more closely with countries of origin and transit. I genuinely and passionately believe the EU asylum and migration pact will ensure greater co-operation at EU level on migration, because Ireland believes Europe must deal with the shared challenge of migration through collective effort. This is important. So many people who come to our country have what we call secondary movements. This pact will provide Ireland with a really important opportunity to be able to address this issue. I fear how we would make progress on this issue without the support of a European-wide approach to migration.

Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, we are making real progress when it comes to new homes and apartments being built all over the country. More houses were built last year in Ireland than in any year since 2008. You would not often think it given the debates in this place, but let there be no doubt about it. More homes were built in Ireland last year than in any year since 2008, and data on the number of new homes completed in quarter 1 of this year is due for release tomorrow. I expect that to continue to show very strong momentum. The future pipeline is also very positive. We had the quarter 1 update of Housing for All launched this morning, and it shows that for the first three months of this year, we have seen almost 12,000 new homes commenced. This is an increase of 63% on the same period last year. These are real numbers and real homes. They are being built and this is not happening by accident. It is happening because of the interventions we have made in terms of trying to create the right environment for supply and in terms of trying to reduce barriers and costs when it comes to supply.

Affordability initiatives under the Housing All policy are also having a real impact by giving people some of their own money back through the help-to-buy scheme to help them to put it towards a deposit and helping to bridge the gap between what people can save and the cost of a house through the first homes scheme. This is important. Yesterday, we had five memorandums on housing at Cabinet. One was on student accommodation, and we will have news in relation to that tomorrow. One concerned vacancy and how we can do more in relation to an action plan around putting vacant stock back into use. One concerned what I believe is a very important initiative to extend the waiver of development contributions and Uisce Éireann charges to make it cheaper for builders to build new homes. This is a measure that without doubt has had an impact. If anyone doubts this, I can provide them with the county-by-county breakdown as to how many homes or apartments in their county or constituency have benefited already from the scheme. The idea that it would have come to an immediate end this April, when we believe there is potential for it to do more between now and the year, would have been foolish. I am pleased, therefore, that we have done this. The fifth memorandum yesterday was also to boost funding for another initiative that is also working really well, called the first homes scheme. This has now really taken off and it is helping people to bridge the gap, as I said, between their mortgages, their deposits and the price of a new house. We topped this scheme up this week by another €40 million from the Government, matched by another €40 million from financial institutions, bringing it to a total of an extra €80 million. Yesterday at Cabinet, therefore, between those two announcements and the student housing, we invested more than €300 million more of taxpayers' money, that is, more than a quarter of a billion euro more of taxpayers' money, into housing supply and assisting with affordability.

We are also committed to improving the rental market by providing greater security, affordability and viability to tenants and landlords into the future. We have done this in a number of ways. We will have legislation shortly on short-term lets. This is an important aspect. I would like to work with all political parties in this Dáil and Seanad to get this legislation passed by the summer recess in order that we can have certainty about short-term lets and what is appropriate for the tourism sector. What should not be a short-term let should be a long-term let and should be available as part of housing stock. We have also, obviously, put in place the renters' tax credit. I would like to see this increase further in the years ahead because it gives a little bit of help with the cost of rent, which, therefore, might make it a little bit easier for people to save towards a mortgage. We will have an overall review of the rental market and this is due later this year too.

The number of people accessing emergency accommodation remains a serious concern for the Government and for society. The matter has been given absolute priority. This is evidenced by the fact that we have invested €242 million into homeless services in budget 2024. This funding will ensure that local authorities can provide homelessness prevention services and emergency accommodation and other services to ensure people can exit homelessness and get into tenancies as quickly as possible. I do need to say that in any honest debate around homelessness now we must have an honest debate about the migration impact too because around 45% of people in emergency accommodation are non-Irish citizens. We are, I suppose, seeing the impact of two major societal challenges, housing and homelessness and migration, somewhat interacting as well. To have a joined-up conversation, we need to look at all the aspects involved and begin to have an understanding of the composition of homeless numbers and the various policy levers that may be available to us as a Government and society to address the issue.

The climate action unit of my Department 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 continue to witness record temperatures, wildfires, floods, prolonged droughts and extreme weather events, resulting in the tragic loss of life and livelihoods.

We know that much more of this and worse is in store if we fail to dramatically reduce emissions at a global level. I will be honest about this. Climate action is not a political ideology and climate change is not something any political party dreamt up or wished for. It is the major emergency facing this planet but how we deal with it matters and we do not deal with it by lecturing people or finger wagging. We deal with it by helping people transition in their home, workplace and farm and we have to do a lot more of this together to get us to where we need from a societal and an economic point of view and harness the potential for new green jobs and huge opportunities. I think of renewable energy as one such area. It is essential that we continue to build on the foundations we have tried to lay as to how we reimagine and reinvent parts of industry and society.

In December, the Government published a draft update to the climate action plan. This will guide our efforts and form the basis of how we implement the challenging but urgently needed changes to so many parts of our lives. I do hope we can get to a point in this House where every time we discuss climate action, we do not think it just involves talking about farmers and what farmers must do. There are very encouraging signs regarding how agriculture is making the transition in this country and the fall in emissions from agriculture. We need to make sure this does not become a conversation about whether you are on the side of the farmers or the side of the planet. The farmers are on the side of the planet. They just want Government to help them get to where they need to get to and I am very determined that we do that.

I will briefly update the committee on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme office in the Department. This is a really important initiative commenced by my predecessor that works to prioritise actions across government in areas that will have the greatest impact on children and families experiencing poverty. The office's initial programme plan, which is called From Poverty to Potential, was published last year. The programme builds on six key areas identified by Government that we believe have the potential to bring about significant changes for families and children. Breaking the Cycle: New Measures in Budget 2024 to Reduce Child Poverty and Promote Well-being was published in November. The report outlines new and increased budget spending across 12 Departments and reveals how the new budget focus is accelerating and deepening our collective ambition for children. The idea that child poverty or the policy response to addressing child poverty resides in any Department is clearly outdated and ill-advised. The purpose of this unit and the Cabinet committee is for all of us to stress-test and challenge ourselves to see what we can do within our own Departments, organisations and agencies to play a positive role in addressing child poverty and promoting child well-being. We will have the first national summit on child poverty and well-being on 23 May. This is a pivotal moment where we can take stock of progress and the challenge ahead and try to shape the agenda for future action.

I want the Government to improve its commitment to people with disabilities. I want us to work to empower them and provide greater independence in accessing the services they choose and enhance their ability to tailor the services required to meet their needs and plans for the future. This is why, on becoming Taoiseach, I reconfigured Cabinet committees to ensure there was a greater focus on disability issues. We now have the Cabinet committee on children, education and disability. This will oversee our programme for Government commitments in the area of disability but will also have a strong focus on the forthcoming national disability strategy. The first meeting of that committee was held this week. It will meet again in two weeks time.

Through the work of the Cabinet committee on health, we will continue to invest in our health services. It oversees the progress of health reforms, including Sláintecare, the reform of public health and health system preparedness for future health threats. We are committed to expanding the core capacity of our acute hospitals. That means more doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals and acute hospital beds. Again, it is worth saying that we have added more than 1,000 permanent hospital beds since 2020. We have also increased the total number of people working in the public health sector by more than 26,000 since the beginning of 2020. This includes 1,000 more hospital consultants and 8,000 more nurses and midwives.

We are now seeing waiting lists fall for the second year in a row. I do not say that from a place of complacency. They are still too high. Of that there is no doubt but not many countries are seeing their waiting lists fall after Covid. If we look at the North or England, we can see that this is not happening. We have seen waiting lists fall in this jurisdiction for two years in a row. We are now trying to look at Sláintecare wait times because Government and Opposition parties in this House agreed that Sláintecare was the way forward. Sláintecare basically sets wait times. You should not wait longer than ten weeks for some things and you should not wait longer than 12 weeks for others. We should be measured against the progress on reaching those Sláintecare wait targets.

We have also made a lot of progress together on trying to make healthcare more affordable. Hospital charges have been removed, there has been a very significant widening of eligibility for free GP care to most of the population and the cost of medicine has been reduced. There are still enormous challenges but it is important to acknowledge the significant amount of work being done in that area.

Provision in our Department's Estimates has been made for the staffing requirements and the non-pay cost to support the independent Covid pandemic evaluation. This will be a comprehensive evaluation of how our country managed Covid-19 and will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experience in dealing with the pandemic. It will include a review of the whole-of-government and wider societal response to the pandemic, how we might do better and how we might be in a stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type of event was to occur. I believe it needs to include consideration of our health service response, including our hospitals, communities and nursing homes, along with the wider economic and social response. Following consultation with Opposition parties and stakeholders, it is my intention to engage with Government colleagues on this and bring terms of reference to Government shortly.

The return of the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland is hugely important. It has brought renewed hope, and I think there is palpable hope, about what can be achieved through the Good Friday Agreement. This was reflected in the 27th plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council, which took place on 8 April. This was very positive and well-attended and the warmth of political relationships was evident. I look forward to seeing the sectoral meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council resume. On my first full day as Taoiseach, which happened to be on the 26th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, I spoke by phone with First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. I told them of my commitment to the Government's role as co-guarantor of that agreement and that I look forward to working closely with them. I expect to meet them towards the end of next week.

On the same day, I had a very positive conversation with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in which we both acknowledged the depth and breadth of the British-Irish relationship and the value we both attach to it. On 15 April, I addressed the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and welcomed the growing opportunities for North-South co-operation, including in infrastructure, research, healthcare, innovation and tourism - some of the issues we discussed in depth at the North-South Ministerial Council the week before. An important way we pursue that is through the shared island initiative. This is part of our Government's commitment to engage with all communities to build consensus around a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

In February, the Government announced unprecedented funding of around €1 billion for shared island investment priorities. This includes funding for the A5 upgrade, the redevelopment of Casement Park, investment in a renewed visitor experience at the Battle of the Boyne site, the introduction of an hourly frequency rail service between Dublin and Belfast and moving ahead with the construction of the landmark Narrow Water bridge to link the Mourne Mountains in County Down with the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth. These unprecedented investments are in addition to the already near €250 million we have allocated for more than 15 major projects over the past three years, including the Ulster Canal restoration and something about which I am very passionate, namely, funding for the new building to expand access to higher education in Derry at the Magee campus of Ulster University. I hope these commitments affirm the strength of our commitment to working with the new Executive and institutions in Northern Ireland towards a shared island.

The shared island youth forum has an important role to play as many young people on this island were not born when the Good Friday Agreement was agreed, let alone old enough to vote in the referendum. It is really important that we do not exclude their voices from what the future of this island looks like. The establishment of the shared island youth forum, which I was honoured to launch last September, is a really important development. It brings together 80 young people aged from 18 to 25 from all different backgrounds and traditions to set out their vision and values for a shared future. I believe it is meeting in Belfast on Friday to discuss equality issues. This is part of a broader shared island dialogue series that has been very beneficial.

Three of the four citizens' assemblies referenced in the briefing and committed to in the programme for Government have now been completed. The relevant Departments are drafting detailed responses to the Dublin Citizens' Assembly and the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. An Oireachtas joint committee on drug use is expected to shortly commence examining the most recent report from the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use. With the co-operation of parties in this House, I would like to establish that committee with haste so its work can get under way. The establishment of a fourth citizens' assembly on the future of education will be a matter for consideration by the Government in due course.

The 2024 Estimate also includes an allocation of almost €2.5 million for the National Economic and Social Council for its work on providing strategic advice on economic, social, environmental and sustainable development issues. Its current work programme is focused on four issues - housing, accounting for nature, good jobs and shared island. I welcome the opportunity to discuss these with colleagues.