John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I welcome the opportunity to address the House in this debate on the pre-budget outlook. Before I deal with the spending profile of my Department, I wish to acknowledge the new and innovative approach of the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, in publishing, before budget day announcements, expenditure profiles based on existing levels of service. This provides greater transparency on how public spending for 2008 is related to the overall budgetary process and how expenditure increases will be financed. In this way, the budget day announcements by the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance will give a full elaboration of all aspects of our public finances both in terms of revenues raised and the public services that are funded by taxpayers.

The published pre-budget Estimate of my Department provides for €2.8 billion, comprising capital spending of €1.978 billion and current spending of €888 million. This is a very substantial amount of public expenditure and provides a very robust foundation for the wide range of programmes for which my Department is responsible for delivering in 2008. However, the provisions published now are not the end product for 2008. It is important that financial resources meet public service demands arising from economic growth and demographic change.

Since coming into office I have placed great emphasis on the achievement of the highest environmental standards through partnership with the local authorities and other agencies within my remit. I have also placed strong emphasis on monitoring performance and promoting best practice to maximise the benefits of the considerable resources being made available.

I now turn to the main aspects of my Department's activities, the first of which is in the area of the environment. This Government is committed to a policy framework that will protect and enhance our environment now and into the future. Integrating environmental considerations into all policies and programmes is the key to achieving sustainable development. Public expenditure is one means by which we will embed the principle of high environmental performance into our policies and delivery mechanisms and make it a reality.

Our environmental objectives bear upon all the environmental media but climate change is now widely recognised as the most critical global challenge we face. It affects everyone on the planet and for many, their very survival at stake. Their homes, livelihoods, the food they eat and their very existence are threatened. The international community must act quickly if we are to maintain control over climate change and avoid its worst consequences. We must act globally and locally because climate change is everyone's problem. That is why the Government strongly supports the European Union target of minimising global warming to 2° Celsius or less. This Government, along with the other European governments, unanimously agreed to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. The Government is committed to an ambitious and binding international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol from the beginning of 2013.

The current programme for Government emphasises the national commitment to comply with our adherence to international agreements and to go a step further in this critical area. In addition to emissions reductions, which will be delivered through the implementation of the national climate change strategy, the programme for Government proposes a challenging target of a 3% reduction per year, on average, in our greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to complying with the Kyoto Protocol, we will put ourselves in a very strong position to meet the challenge of the more demanding targets we face in the post 2012 period.

The programme for Government commits us to setting a new ambitious waste management target, with maximum re-use and recycling as well as very modern waste treatment, to ensure we match the best international performance in the EU for recycling. The objective is that only 10% of waste, or less, is consigned to landfill, down from the current level of 66%. The programme also includes measures to broaden our approach to managing residual waste, with an increased emphasis on alternative technologies, including methods for the mechanical and biological treatment of waste, known as MBT. My Department is commissioning a major review of waste management planning, as provided for in the programme for Government. We want to reduce the amount of waste substantially, with 50% of it being recycled; after MBT approximately only 400,000 tonnes of waste would have to be dealt with annually. Those targets are achievable. We will meet the landfill directive and the target of 400,000 tonnes by 2016.

In the interim I am considering using my powers under section 60 of the Waste Management Act to ensure a policy direction regarding the involvement of local authorities in put-or-pay arrangements in the context of public private partnerships in respect of incinerators and landfills. This is currently the subject of a regulatory impact analysis, which should be concluded shortly.

The Government's commitment to the sustained improvement and expansion of national water services infrastructure is reflected in the €4.7 billion detailed in the National Development Plan 2007-2013, an increase of 27% on the €3.7 billion spent under its predecessor. The national development plan sets out a series of environmental and economic objectives for the water services sector that will provide the primary backdrop to investment decisions over the next few years. The priority will be to meet the environmental goals and objectives that are enshrined in the programme for Government, while also facilitating strategic economic and other development. Specific objectives include meeting in full our obligations under national and EU law on higher drinking water standards and the protection of our rivers, lakes, groundwater, estuaries and marine water through improved disposal of waste water. The recently announced water services investment programme from 2007 to 2009 outlines the schemes being undertaken in the period ahead to meet these objectives.

There has been a remarkable transformation in the quality and coverage of our water services infrastructure in recent years. Our compliance rate with EU secondary waste water treatment requirements stands at 90%, compared to 25% as recently as 2000. This has involved the provision of additional waste water treatment capacity equivalent to the needs of a population of 3.1 million. In environmental terms, this has meant that the pollutant load from municipal discharges to rivers, lakes and the sea has been reduced by approximately 45,000 tonnes per annum. On the water supply side we have, since 1997, provided additional drinking water capacity for a population equivalent of over 1 million. We must build on this success in the coming years by continuing to invest in schemes that will deliver the high standards to which we aspire.

As my title suggests, heritage is an integral and extremely important part of the work of my Department. My Department performs its work in the heritage area in close liaison with the Heritage Council, the Irish Heritage Trust and a network of conservation officers and heritage officers operating at grassroots level in the various local authorities. The importance that the Government attaches to heritage is evident from the number of objectives contained in our agreed programme for Government relating to heritage policy. The programme sets out 14 objectives in this important area including the completion of the national survey of our built heritage, strengthening the role and operation of the Heritage Council, supporting the newly formed Irish Heritage Trust and introducing a national landscape strategy. I announced how the latter will evolve while in Kilkenny last week.

I now turn to housing. The Exchequer provision for housing in 2008 of almost €1.5 billion will allow us to consolidate the progress made in recent years under social and affordable housing programmes. Significant progress has been made. More than 13,000 social housing units have been completed since 2005 to mid-year 2007. Work will continue in 2008 on the redevelopment of Ballymun and other regeneration activities. Finance for private housing grants will continue to fund house improvements for groups with special needs under a new regime recently announced by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. Funding will be maintained for the provision of homeless and Traveller accommodation. Households will benefit from ongoing implementation of the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Support will be made available to voluntary and co-operative housing bodies, including a revised capital assistance scheme which will make 100% funding available to the sector.

The commitment to the provision of assistance to low-income households to acquire affordable accommodation in the private sector will also be maintained. Exchequer funding in this area focuses on the provision of subsidies including site subsidy, mortgage allowances and affordable housing subsidies to make homes more affordable. Other expenditure relates to the funding of mortgages by means of loans raised through the Housing Finance Agency.

Significant Exchequer finance has been made available to housing. In the previous national development plan it came to €10 billion and some €18 billion was committed in the recent plan. Investment on this scale comes with a responsibility to ensure moneys are spent wisely and to best effect. The commitment to multi-annual capital programmes and local authority action plans for housing provides a strong strategic framework for the major investment programme in progress.

The Government remains committed to supporting policies to boost the supply of housing and improve affordability. It will also continue to assist low-income groups and those with special housing needs through a range of targeted social and affordable housing programmes, for which substantial levels of funding have been approved. I am confident that with these significant levels of investment announced and with local authority action plans in place to support delivery, real benefits will be seen in the output and quality of social and affordable housing provision in 2008.

The publication of the pre-budget outlook demonstrates the commitment of my party and the Government to greater transparency in the consideration and priorities of public expenditure. The pre-budget Estimates demonstrate the Government's commitment to the wide range of activities, services, investment programmes, the local government and heritage sectors of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I look forward to presenting my detailed spending Estimates in due course.

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