Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

I am sharing time with Deputies Clare Daly and Mattie McGrath.

While this is called a programme for Government, it is more than that because what is needed is a programme for the survival of this country. I read a section on the statement of common purpose and noted the point that the public demanded change. No doubt there is a great desire for change, but it must be real and meaningful in the way that we operate at national level, local authority level and right throughout society.

There are parts of the programme that I welcome and that I want to highlight. For example, it states that the policy of blank cheques for banks will be ended and that those directors who presided over failed lending practices will be replaced. I await those developments. I welcome that major capital projects will be subjected to proper cost-benefit analysis because there have been far too many overspends on such projects. I have concerns that we will not even debate the corporate tax rate and that we are becoming a tax haven for foreign companies.

On the proposed referenda, I welcome the ones on the salaries of judges and children's rights and other aspects of constitutional reform, but I wonder exactly how local government reform and the commitment to the fundamental reorganisation of local governance structures will pan out so that local communities will have greater power in particular aspects.

There is much that is aspirational, particularly when it comes to health. However, there are parts that I welcome, particularly the ring-fencing of funding for additional psychologists and counsellors for community mental health teams in the area of early intervention, particularly those at risk of suicide, and also to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. I welcome that there will be better care for older people in the community and in residential settings, and I hope to see it. I also welcome that unsuitable psychiatric institutions will be closed. I am also pleased that there is a possibility of further compensation for the victims of thalidomide.

As a former teacher, I would have liked more acknowledgement of the good practice that is going on in so many schools, whether in educational disadvantage, children with special needs, anti-bullying or literacy. I make a special plea for community education and the need for a new funding model.

The section on homelessness - I glad it was referred to here - is aspirational and I wonder about the funding of resources to achieve it. Having chaired the North Inner City Drugs Task Force, I looked at that section. I am glad there is a commitment to the national drug and alcohol strategy and plans to strengthen the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau, but I ask that a portion received from drug seizures would be ring-fenced for those communities most affected by drugs.

Like many others, I am looking for action. I hope it will not be like the U-turn on stag hunting that seems to be proposed. The main action I would like to see is that people are served before banks and that bank debt is not public debt, with a greater emphasis on social inclusion and equality.

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