Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The Government's failure to invest in social infrastructure must be challenged, not just on the basis of morality but also on the basis of logic. We should look at the example of Finland which has the most competitive economy in the world. I do not need to remind the Minister that the Greens have been elected and re-elected to government there. Finland also has one of the highest levels of social infrastructure. It has proven that it can support its workers and care for its poor, as well as providing decent health care and education to its citizens without jeopardising its economic health.

Ireland has one of the lowest rates of spending on social protection in the EU 15. It has also been shown that our pensions and social transfers have little impact on reducing our at-risk-of-poverty rate. There is a vital need for rethinking in this Government in order to understand that we can be both competitive and caring. We can be innovative in industry and business, together with being innovative in our social supports and infrastructure.

The Green Party has long advocated and promoted the concept of the Irish economy thriving on high-tech, new industries, particularly in areas such as renewable energy. However, the Government has back-pedalled from the renewable sector and the departure of companies such asAirtricity bears testimony to that. This is in line with the Government's low standing in innovation and technology indicators where we languish when it comes to investment in research and development. In this area, we are light-years behind countries like Finland and Sweden.

Ireland is not alone in the EU in failing in the area of research and development. A recent study showed that a key goal of the Lisbon Agenda, to devote 3% of GDP to R&D by 2010, is seriously under challenge in that European companies have not raised their R&D spending in the past few years. Meanwhile, US and Asian companies have made major increases in such spending.

The Green Party notes that the Lisbon goals at mid-term are not receiving a good report card. The Government should stop shying away from embracing such models as those presented by the Scandinavian countries, particularly the Finns, who have shown up the myths driving the mean-minded Fianna Fáil-PD approach to social supports. The Scandinavians have also shown up the Government's paucity of imagination. The Government refuses to embrace environmental sensor innovation. A government can be green, competitive and caring, as has been proven elsewhere. Mark my words, unless economic activity starts to reflect the real costs of goods and services — for example, the embodied energy, resulting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions — the Government is creating a distorted economy that is out of sync with the earth's eco-system. It is an economy that is destroying its natural support systems and job opportunities for many of its citizens in the future. The transition to an eco-economy is already under way in countries such as Denmark where there is a 50% wind energy target. Kyoto is no more than a promotion for the revolution which is underway in other countries. Those who anticipate and plan for the emerging eco-economy will be the winners. Those who cling to the past, like the Fianna Fáil-PD Government, will become a part of it.

See this speech in context